OK, so what do we know so far? There will be a split in November 2015, but are we going to be laid off in November or do we have more time? It'd be stupid if they were to let all 30,000 people go at the same time, so I think that we, especially HPE folks will have a little bit more time before it all goes south? I am not sure what will happen on the hardware side, maybe it'll be much worse. HP has been so secretive about the whole thing, I am not sure why Meg even announced it, they could have waited until last moment. Look, what's happening now. Everyone is freaked out and everyone is expecting it. I am telling you, my productivity went down like 95%, seriously, I cannot concentrate on work, and the client will notice it sooner or later. It's stupid. I am not sure who was providing consulting about how layoffs are done, I would guess that a big company like HP can effort to hire someone who knows how to handle things like this professionally.
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The rumor is that there will be another wave in Mid Dec 2015 and Jan 2016
It does seem unusually frank of HP to let current employees know their jobs are in peril again. But, having been laid off from HP myself, I'm sure there's a method to the madness. What's the current head count? If a company cuts more than 10% of the workforce, there has to be an announcement in advance to comply with DOL laws. The announcement is also required in that situation to qualify displaced workers for training and other unemployment benefits but HP would be more worried about avoiding the fine for not following labor laws.
This announcement will make some number of employees find new jobs now (probably the employees with least time invested or most marketable skills), so that will save the bosses cutting some jobs. That might clear maybe 5% of the job cuts. But in my office, the vacancies created by attrition or layoff were not filled and the work was piled on the survivors. Then, the layoff managers could pick and choose the next cuts based on whatever secret criteria they devised until quota was met. The only pattern seemed to be saving the blitzkrieg for Friday before quarterly earnings announcements. Oh, and cutting people who complained or didn't keep up with the work. So mind your tongue and keep your own counsel at the office, it could make a difference.
Don't bank on HP cutting jobs in small batches to be logical, their reasons are different from yours. Mark Hurd laid off thousands of people in a single week from state Medicaid accounts all over the US. Rumor was that HP did it that way so the layoff victims wouldn't see it coming, and targeting medicaid accounts focused cuts on positions in the EDS service line. Supposedly HP had paid a big fine related to a Medicaid contract and there was some payback disguised as "cost savings" in those cuts.
Now is the time to look at the big picture and apply HP self guided career strategy to your situation since your options might depend on your own wits. Tune up your resume now and start researching companies where you could use your skills. Get active on linked in, jibberjobber, meetup, linkup. You need to figure out your local market so you have job leads in the pipeline in case anything happens at your site. Even working in a reasonably sized city, a mass layoff at any large company is enough to flood the job market here so there are many applicants for every advertised position. But if you can find and tap into the unadvertised job network, you'll have more opportunities and less competition. You might find a better job too instead of being forced to find one.
Good luck, and take care of yourself!