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GM CIO Says HP Hiring Probe "Not the Best Use Our Legal System"
dcblogs writes "General Motors CIO Randy Mott Thursday said the automaker plans to have the 'best jobs in the IT industry' at its four 'IT Innovation Centers' in the U.S., as it announced its third one in Roswell, Ga., near Atlanta... As part of its effort to insource its IT work, GM recently hired 18 HP employees from its IT organization, who left 'en masse,' prompting HP to go to court to seek depositions from two former IT managers who left for GM. Mott, the CIO at HP before moving to GM last year, said HP's move is 'not the best use our legal system.' Mott called HP's court filing a 'fishing expedition' that 'feels very retaliatory and harassing to the individuals. I think talent will go where talent sees opportunity.' GM is building a tech staff of about 10,000. As part of it, HP is transferring over about 3,000 employees. HP is a longtime services provider for the automaker via its services unit, the former EDS."
overpriced products lagging behind and becoming less robust, workers leaving in droves, talent being driven off......only a matter of time. HP the has-been is circling the drain
In all fairness, I don't think anybody has any clue what he's talking about.
GM CIO Says HP Hiring Probe "Not the Best Use Of Our Legal System"
I was going to check the summary for mistakes but it seems to have been written by M. C. Esher. Goin' up the sideways stairs!
systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
True.
...Steve
It's like it's 2005 all over again.
These companies that don't value talent should not whine and cry foul when said talent leaves for greener pastures.
Heads up, companies. You want talent to stay? Then stop resisting reasonable raises, deserved promotions, and piling on extra work for no reason other than you feel you can get away with it because the "economy is bad and you should feel grateful you even have a job, prole!"
Greed is doing this to itself and I have ZERO sympathy.
... then I think that they deserve to do a little bit of poaching, seeing as EDS's motto while I was there was "How can we screw you while staying within the bounds of our contract today?"
HP is pretty much a sinking ship, and they keep firing torpedoes at themselves... why would anyone stay if they can work elsewhere
Each company seems to be valuing employees as assets . . . instead of liabilities.
Usually companies only sue each other over patents, not over people.
Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
Considering how HP has been shedding business groups and teams to China, India and Dell after upper management screwed with their unit managers, I can't believe anyone thinks these people are surprised the rats are fleeing the ship. If HP wants outsourced, bottom-dollar employee costs, they're gonna end up with outsourced, bottom-dollar employees. And when you fuck over people who were saving the company millions of dollars per year and were almost universally respected by colleagues and appreciated by their direct reports, it's no wonder those teams feel marginalized and like they're next of the potential chopping block. 12 straight years of layoffs/outsourcing takes a toll on the best of us.
Mr. Mott doesn't make a very convincing defense. Sounds like "Yeah, we did what we are accused of - but so what"
this is probably a very simple case - assuming HP made their employees sign some form of "non compete" or other employment agreement/contract, but proving collusion or conspiracy and getting damages is going to be hard for HP. Sure, the employees in question were free to "'resign en masse and without notice' but were probably contractually limited from going to work directly with GM - (which is why HP wants to talk to the people involved).
my IANAL opinion is that no matter how this plays out, HP looks bad and "loses."
It ain't what they call you. It's what you answer to. http://mylyceum.us/
I think talent will go where talent sees opportunity
Which begs the question, where do the untalented people work? Obviously not for failing computer companies or near bankrupt automotive manufacturers.
Not completely sure I agree. HP will most likely continue to exist and thrive.
Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
It's like they're trying to shoot themselves in the foot. They are having trouble attracting and retaining talent? So they sue their former employees? Who would want to work for a company that does that? Do they think they can keep their current employees from leaving using fear? Disgusting.
A slashdotter who didn't build his own computer is like a Jedi who didn't build his own lightsaber.
...keep missing and hitting own face for some reason. Stupid gun!"
HP layoffs (not all layoffs, really, but also including early retirement offers accepted and attrition without replacement) total over 120,000 for the past decade (includes the 29,000 in the latest round announced last Spring and increased by 2,000 in September, but not all yet realized). The issue with the workers jumping to GM is simply whether GM violated the contract. If those employees had gone, en masse, someplace else, HP would not have grounds to question it. From my point of view, the employees in question helped HP get closer to reaching the downsizing goal.
So the leader of the group of employees who departed HP's EDS division (to go work for GM instead as direct employees instead of as contract employees via EDS via HP, whew need a breath of air after that) wants to tell HP "hey, you're worrying to much. We've already left... Why worry about the legal implications or if we broke any contractual obligations or noncompetes or anything... Just let us do what we want!"
.
tldr of that leader's rant: "We are not the droids you're looking for".
Now who can argue with that? I think we're all indebted to Anonymous Coward for clearly stating what needed to be said. I'm particulary glad that these lovely children were reading Slashdot today to read that speech. Not only was it authentic Internet gibberish, it expressed a courage little seen in this day and age.
If Slashdot were chemistry it would look like this:Cadaverine
Look, I'll put up with interviews and coding tests. But if the nurse from HR comes at me with a probe, I'm leaving.
Have gnu, will travel.
All day long, HP tries to make cheaper computers than Dell and GM tries to make cheaper cars than Ford, because that's what they exist for -- to make as much money as they can. But when GM offers some HP employees (I presume) more pay, all of a sudden they want to make a federal* fucking case out of it? Fuck them.
They've been laying off literally thousands of employees -- what the fuck is this "NO! You can't leave! Stay here until we fire you!" shit?!?!? WHO IN THEIR RIGHT GODDAMN MIND would wait around to be treated like that? If you can get a good job, go get it, because HP sure as shit doesn't have any loyalty to you. Who knows when their CEO-of-the-week is going to wake up one morning and decide to shitcan your whole division? Again I say: Fuck them.
* OK, Texas, but still... "state case" isn't a catchy impression.
Dear Slashdot: next time you want to mess with the site, add a rich-text editor for comments.
are you kidding 3Q worst earnings in company history, 4Q 2012 even worse.
HP is going down
overpriced products lagging behind and becoming less robust, workers leaving in droves, talent being driven off ...
You forgot to mention their penchant for burning through [mb]illions on seemingly ineffectual CEO after CEO.
"Tongue tied and twisted, just an Earth bound misfit
Shrinking, diminishing revenues, loss of key personnel, etc do not contribute to "thrive". "Exist", sure, but not "thrive". You might want to check a dictionary.
"Windows is like the faint smell of piss in a subway: it's there, and there's nothing you can do about it." - Charlie Br
Oh wow - you've forgotten all the lessons taught to us by current economists and management elite. You've GOT to pay those failure CEO's those millions and billions! How else can you attract quality failure CEO'S?
Come on, man, get with the program! This isn't the early 1900's where people were rewarded for success. Today, you are only rewarded for being a yes man, or for nepotism, or for destroying a company.
"Windows is like the faint smell of piss in a subway: it's there, and there's nothing you can do about it." - Charlie Br
It's not the best use of our slashdot either but here it is. Actually, crushing that gigantic piece of crap that they call a company with the US legal system is like 8 different kinds of awesome and useful. They should go after Paypal and AOL and AT&T for whatever reason they can pull out of their ass too just to get them the hell out of here.
Indeed. Were I chairman of MS, HP, or AMD, I'd be looking at the summary executions of the CxOs who ran my companies. I mean, we're making business history here with the sheer number of large companies seemingly capsizing through ineptitude.
I am John Hurt.
Interestingly prior to his death Steve Jobs fought to have Mark Hurd reinstated after his ouster, arguing that a strong HP was fundamental to Silicon Valley and that without Hurd, HP would face a death spiral.
Alas, the board didn't agree (despite Jobs) and Jobs got to see his prediction come true.
cool
I guess someone should tell this guy:
Akerson's GM outlook cautiously bullish
"General Motors Co. is poised to post 12 consecutive quarters of profits and shed remaining government ownership, but Dan Akerson sounds like a CEO who needs more."
ooops what were you saying again? get some new talking points.
To paraphrase Spinal Tap: Their customer base is becoming more selective.
Your "fair share" is NOT in my wallet.
The non compete we do make people sign are about working in the same industry, or the same type of projects. Are the non compete in the US so screwed up that you can't work anywhere no matter the industry ?
C. Sagan : A demon haunted world:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0345409469/
visit randi.org
Yea, "exist" in terms of SCO existing... But no one would say they are thriving.
Joseph Johnson is Right!, Hey, i didn't get a harrumph out of you!
You refer to an opinion page as proof?
Because it's a conflict of interest to bid on a deal for a customer and then 'magically' go to work for them. It smacks of a payoff.
The reason that HP is so pissed about this is that GM has broken one of the cardinal unwritten rules of Big Business: Never treat your employees like they are anything other than cogs in the machine. Noisy, expensive, whiny cogs. Cogs that arrogantly ask for reasonable wages and raises, and health insurance, and 401ks. Don't they know that those things eat into the profits? They should treat their employees like liabilities to be minimized. If GM or another big company starts treating their employees like human beings, pretty soon those employees are going to feel like they have a right to be treated that way, and stop asking 'how high' when some overpaid suit tells them to jump. Arrogant selfish bastards, all of them.
Never underestimate the power of stupid people in large groups.
Reality trumps all. Like Ford, GM seems to be making good use of their bail out money. When Ford went to Washington and told the committees that the interest free bail out that they received a year prior helped them get everything under control, they let GM have a nice chunk of cash, but with interest this time. Seems to be working so far. Ford is healthy, GM is healthy. Jobs are being made.
Were I chairman of MS, HP, or AMD, I'd be looking at the summary executions of the CxOs who ran my companies.
MS & HP, yes. I don't agree about AMD. I don't know (or much care) about how the company/stocks are performing, but I swear by their products and they won their suit against Intel (as they should). I've no complaints about AMD. I like the AMD stuff I've owned.
"Tongue tied and twisted, just an Earth bound misfit
GM was one of the first large companies to outsource most of its IT when it divested its IT to Hughes Electronics in the 1980s. (EDS acquired Hughes; HP acquired EDS) Many other companies the did the same. Now GM is one of the first large companies to insource back these operations.
One of the other ways. Treating them well helps too (and doesn't necessarily cost money).
Otherwise, I'm with you 100%. I thought they'd banned indentured servitude?
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
They say rats desert a sinking ship, and I guess the smartest rats are first over the side.
Of course, this can be avoided by not sailing into rocks and shit.
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
Truly, this is internet gibberish in it's natural state. Undisturbed by the arguing of trolls or muting of moderators, magestically wafting across phone wires, cable lines, and forever through the air in a radio frequency being read and misunderstood by all who see it, whilst making observers ponder the meaning of truth when statements without any meaning at all can be made. Perhaps the OP is right, perhaps we should all just occasionally bundle together english-like but apparently arbitrary statements to proclaim passionately, as if imbued by the thoughts of the millions of internet kids before us and to spread forward through time this truly beautiful and inane practice of making no sense, to ensure it lives forever. If ever this kind of almost-sense stops being spread by AC, I'll make sure to pick that torch up and carry it myself until I see a new generation willing to keep the flame alive.
Reminds me of IBM's trajectory through a fair portion of the last decade, they ended up finding stable footing, just in a completely different space than they were before they fell down so hard: As a leading outsourcing contractor. They'll gladly give you overpriced contractors of any sort you want; except North American. They make good money in this practice no less, and have started growing again. HP I suspect will find a corner of it's company that has remained profitable regardless of the shitstorm it's executing onto itself, and just retreat into that corner and continue to grow from there like IBM did. My curiosity is, what version of HP will come out of this? Be interesting to find out.
You can always make jobs by throwing money at something. The question is, did you lose more jobs in the places you took the money from?
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."