I recently read Vivek Thakkar’s blog “Will Hewlett-Packard’s employees ever feel safe?” and would like to offer a new perspective on the layoffs affecting HP employees. I think the issue at its core, is the company culture. When HP acquired new companies, HP also acquired the employees in those companies. This will inevitably create new challenges in management and communication. What worked well before may not work as well now that there are these new employees in the workforce. Corporate culture is rarely, if not never, the same for different businesses. Cultures that clash would be a major setback for HP, affecting productivity, effectiveness, absenteeism and turnover.

Companies are beginning to rank the importance of culture during acquisitions or mergers higher than they rank profit projections. Bi-cultural audits is one method of diagnosing two companies culture to try and understand if two companies cultures will work well together, or if they will clash. I believe that for HP to reduce layoffs, it should try to facilitate a process where all of its employees can come together and share a common culture. I would recommend hosting company events that reflect the values and rituals set by the founder of the organization.

Source: https://blogs.ubc.ca/vivekthakkar/2013/11/12/will-hewlett-packards-employees-ever-feel-safe/