HP to Workforce: Seriously, There's No Place Like Home for the Holidays

Add Hewlett-Packard to the list of companies extending their annual holiday shutdown to cut costs in a souring economy. The company said this week that it is doubling its normal weeklong holiday hiatus. Said an HP spokesperson, “Shutting down during a period when many employees traditionally take vacation helps HP achieve operational savings and allows employees to enjoy more time with their families.”

And more time with their jobs as well. With analysts predicting a decline in PC shipments in 2009, there seems now to be little hope that tech spending will withstand the economic downturn. Better to ask that employees take a few more additional holiday vacation days than usual than to surprise them with a permanent vacation later on. Not that this is an inevitability for HP (HPQ). After all, the computer giant seems to be doing a decent job of riding out the econalypse. Today it said it expects to exceed Wall Street’s earnings expectations for its latest quarter and for the coming year.