The strength of HP's business speaks volumes about the talent, expertise, and experience of our global workforce of nearly 325,000 employees.1 We have a longstanding commitment to develop the best and most skilled workforce in our industry.

Our approach

HP offers every employee the opportunity to excel in their current role and prepare for new challenges. We believe learning by doing builds skills effectively and accelerates development, and we encourage employees to pursue hands-on experiences. Many of our developmental programs are on-the-job learning opportunities, such as job rotations and cross-functional team experiences. We also offer coaching, mentoring, and learning communities.

HP also offers development opportunities through face-to-face training programs, live virtual training, and interactive, self-directed web resources. Ninety-four percent of our training courses are delivered by videoconference or online. Technology-based training can reach more employees, better accommodate varied development needs, and enable flexible access for people to learn virtually anywhere and anytime. Our portfolios, which contain more than 10,000 active courses on subjects including sales, technical, leadership, and professional skills learning, resulted in 1.6 million learning instances over the past year.

We also support employees in pursuing external educational opportunities such as conferences, seminars, and training at accredited institutions, including for technical certifications, as time and budget allow.

In 2010, our learning investment was aligned to business priorities as follows:

  • Sales: 28%
  • Technical: 55%
  • Leadership: 15%
  • Professional skills: 2%

Career development fairs

In 2010, we hosted on-site and virtual career development fairs to help employees better understand available tools and resources as they develop their careers at HP. The fairs included keynotes from HP's leadership, career development workshops, and live and virtual networking. More than 15,000 HP employees attended the virtual career fair held in August 2010. On-site fairs occurred in Chennai, India; Guadalajara, Mexico; Madrid, Spain; and Plano, Texas, United States, with more than 1,800 total participants. Ninety-one percent of attendees said they intend to act on their career development plan in the coming months.

Mentoring

HP employees making an impact:

Shelley Jeffcoat

Shelley Jeffcoat’s experience mentoring a struggling co-worker helped her realize other HP employees could benefit from the same kind of support. So she set out to create a department-wide peer-mentoring program. Learn more about Shelley.

One of the best professional development resources available to HP employees is the unique skills and expertise of their co-workers and HP retirees. HP facilitates mentoring experiences through the Mentoring @ hp intranet site, which contains advice and resources for both mentors and those seeking mentors. In addition, the site provides a directory of mentoring programs, which helps connect groups as diverse as young employees, senior women leaders, and professionals in finance, human resources, and sales with mentors in their fields. In 2010, more than 4,000 employees participated in HP's mentoring programs.

Learn more on our Learning and Development site.

Leading for results

In 2007, HP launched Leading for Results (LfR), a leadership development program to promote a consistent leadership approach across the company. In 2010, HP expanded the program to provide leadership and management learning modules, and allow each business group to add customized material.

LfR includes pre-program activities to establish baseline knowledge among participants, a two-day on-site program, and follow-up support activities and resources to promote ongoing learning and networking.

This program will run through early 2012, and we continually refresh content to reflect the dynamic nature of our business. In 2010, more than 4,200 HP leaders worldwide participated.

Leadership development

Leadership development is an essential driver of our business success. The ability to think and act as a leader is crucial for all HP employees, regardless of role. Every employee has the opportunity to assess him or herself against the HP Leadership Standards and develop leadership skills by attending training, engaging in self-directed online learning modules, or working with a coach or mentor.

The Executive and Leadership Development (ELD) team designs and implements leadership and management learning solutions for leaders at all levels. ELD also delivers specialized programs for HP leaders identified as having high potential for growth into senior leadership positions.

Nearly all of our leadership development offerings emphasize learning by doing. We choose projects with significant business impact to build and strengthen the leadership skills of high-potential employees. These projects, sponsored by senior company leaders, provide immersive learning experiences while supporting HP's business goals.

Most leadership development programs draw on senior HP leaders as faculty. In a typical year, more than 600 executives provide training and other developmental support for HP's leadership initiatives.

In addition to these formal learning opportunities, our Leadership Development Central Portal offers quick tips, videos, and learning solutions aligned to HP Leadership Standards.

  1. 1 As of October 31, 2010.