3. Hewlett-Packard: Back to the HP Way

Reduction in salary increments: 56.8% Change in composition of variable and fixed salary: 51.4% Cut in cost to the company: 37.8% Job security: 32.4%

Employee satisfaction on most counts–specifically culture and people–is very high

A feeling of relatively low excitement and enthusiasm at work. Job security issues remainÂ

I am very stressed at work: 10.8% I get a sense of great professional and personal accomplishment from the work I do here: 73%

I would definitely recommend this company to a close friend of mine: 89% Every morning I look forward to a day at work: 73%

This one was quite a feat. After a sharp drop in the rankings last year from #2 to #9 in the immediate aftermath of a major merger, the company has quickly picked up the pieces and is back to #3 on the best employer rankings. It absorbed not merely the churn of the merger but a 40% growth in employee strength and at a time when most other big recruiters have seen employee satisfaction fall, HP’s employee satisfaction rankings rose steeply from #8 to #2.

The sense of a return of balance was visible everywhere. It was among the Top 5 in every single employee satisfaction parameter and among the top 3 in 13 of the 55 statements measured. And this despite the fact that salaries and increments–by default assumed to be the most important element of employee satisfaction–weren’t particularly great.

HP topped the ranking on the statement: “People in my company treat each other with trust and respect,” and 95% of its employees strongly agreed with the statement “this company puts a high value on honesty and integrity.” Of all the companies in the Top 20, they also said they were the least stressed at work. Interestingly, while 4.4% of its own employees voted for it as their dream company, 5.7% said Microsoft. Conversely, employees from Accel ICIM (13%) and WeP (18%) named HP their dream company.

The areas of relative concern were its HR factor rankings and, despite everything, a certain lack of excitement and fulfillment. It ranked 14th on the statement: “Every morning I look forward to a day at work”; 12th on employees’ getting a sense of professional and personal accomplishment; and 10th on “the work I do is crucial to the company’s growth.” And interestingly, despite the return of hiring,
the company did not do well on job security issues (rank 10th).

All told, however, there was a sense of pride in being associated with the company, in its work culture and the quality of its people. If there was any doubt that cultural integration issues post the merger would be serious in India, they are now probably put to rest. The HP Way definitely
Liveth.