HP Has Chopped 22,700 Employees From Its Workforce Since Last Year

HP is slicing jobs at a faster-than-expected rate.

The company has axed 27,700 people from its workforce, out of the the 29,000 it plans to cut, it said Monday in an SEC filing.

HP originally announced the layoff plan in May 2012, saying it would cut 27,000 (about 8% of its workforce) and then, in September, said it would cut 29,000.

HP also said the layoffs would happen very slowly, over about two years, ending at the close of its fiscal 2014 which is October, 2014.

Six months ago, in February, CEO Meg Whitman said HP had axed 15,000 employees, or was about half way done.

But HP has also been warning investors in its SEC documents that the cuts could vary by 15% as it tries to find $3 billion in savings from its workforce.

That money will be reinvested in research and development and other "innovation" activities at HP, a spokesperson told Business Insider.

Naturally, not all the jobs eliminated so far have been through layoffs. An unknown number of people opted to take early retirement and others have quit for other jobs.