Up to 4,000 jobs to be cut in HP's global restructure

HP has announced a global restructure to be implemented within two years' time that looks to generate savings of around $300 million.

The company lodged the filings in the United States with full approval from its board of directors.

"As part of the plan, HP expects approximately 3,000 to 4,000 employees to exit between fiscal 2017 and fiscal 2019," a company statement read.

"The changes to the workforce will vary by country, based on local legal requirements and consultations with employee works councils and other employee representatives, as appropriate.

"In connection with the plan, HP anticipates incurring approximately $350 million to $500 million in restructuring and other charges due to both labour and non-labour actions.

Of these amounts, the tech giant expects to incur approximately $200 million in labour costs related to workforce reductions.

HP's employee cull follows information from global research firm Gartner, revealing that Global PC shipments have been on the decline for eight consecutive quarters.

According to the firm, some of the challenges to PC manufacturers that were thought to have affected the results included weak back-to-school demand and ongoing low demand in the consumer market, especially in emerging markets

Principal analyst at Gartner, Mikako Kitagwa affirms there were two fundamental issues that impacted PC market results - the extension of the PC lifetime caused by the excess of consumer devices, and weak PC consumer demand in emerging markets.

"According to our 2016 personal technology survey, the majority of consumers own, and use, at least three different types of devices in mature markets," says Kitagwa.

"Among these devices, the PC is not a high priority device for the majority of consumers, so they do not feel the need to upgrade their PCs as often as they used to. Some may never decide to upgrade to a PC again.