Of the 14,500 layoffs announced by Hewlett-Packard in July, 5,900 will be cut from company sites in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA), an HP spokesman confirmed earlier this month.
HP was required to share the specific number of layoffs with the company's European Works Council. All multinationals operating in Europe are required to have such a council, which coordinates information between employees and the company. Executives in specific EMEA countries plan to meet soon and determine where the layoffs will take place, said Ryan Donovan, a company spokesman.
As part of a massive restructuring announcement in the early days of new chief executive Mark Hurd's tenure, HP announced plans in July to cut 14,500 jobs worldwide and streamline the company's sales force. Until now, the company had not said anything about where those cuts would take place, and it probably won't say much more about specific locations in coming months, Donovan said.
About 3,200 employees in the US accepted an early retirement package that was offered in late July, HP said in its quarterly filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday.
Earlier this year, HP cut about 3,000 positions in a separate restructuring move. HP currently has about 150,000 employees worldwide, and about 50,000 are located in the US.
What cuts will be made in New Zealand is unclear, but HP has eliminated the position of enterprise sales manager here.
Earlier this month, HP corporate and enterprise marketing manager Jeff Healey told Computerworld "we're verticalising our sales practices, simplifying and optimising the sales model and flattening the structure to report to [HP NZ managing director] Keith Watson."