If you want to work at HP, you had better have a degree

Production workers at HP (Hewlett Packard) are mostly temp workers. HP started to phase out hiring manufacturing  employees years ago. The great majority of production is of course outside of the USA. Even some of the R & D is now located overseas. They still have some production in the USA and it is tied closely with their R & D facilities.

Here is how HP runs their temp workers. They have a division of their company called Chimes, it is the liaison between the temp agencies and HP. They have a set of rules that all the temps must follow. The rules are not conduct but how long they will be allowed to work
at HP. The limit is 2 years. The temp can work there for more than 2 years but they must have a 3 month break between the 2 year contracts. The other MAIN rule is that the temps cannot attend any HP meetings even if they are production meetings unless they have a manager who insists that they attend (which is rare).

I know one woman who has worked for HP as a temp for 8 years. Liz has survived as a temp for 4 contract periods. She earns about $10-$11 an hour which is what they pay for temp workers even though the temp agency gets $22+ an hour for her. She has no health insurance and goes to the local free clinics for her check ups and prescriptions. The last time I worked with her at HP (about 4 years ago now) she was collecting wood on the edge of the road for her fireplace because she couldn't afford to turn on her heater. Liz is a single woman in her late 50's. She is the look of the new working poor. She works at the largest computer company in the USA and is paid at below the poverty level. Thank you HP for helping make the USA the new slave country.

HP actively recruits college grads. They are the ones that HP hires direct. If you have a degree in engineering, software or IT then they are looking for you but be aware that your job could end up overseas as well. While I was working there, one of the managers had tears in her eyes when she was told that she had to travel to Ireland to train her replacement and get that division set up to eliminate her department. If I was her, I would tell them (HP)  to go and screw themselves. Of course no one has the balls to tell a company where to go, because they need what little pay they are getting from them in the first place.

So next time you are in the market for a printer, laptop or other electronic gizmo, think about HP and how they treat the people who are building those items. Remember that an unhappy employee often doesn't give a shit about the quality of their work.

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