The cuts come as revenue within HP's Imaging and Printing Group dropped 19% to $6.0bn (£4.19bn) in the first quarter to 31 January 2009.
Supplies revenue in the group was down 7%, and commercial hardware revenue and consumer hardware revenue dropped 34% and 37%, respectively.
The manufacturer recorded a 33% dip in printer unit shipments and commercial printer hardware units were down 39%. Operating profit for the group was $1.1bn – equivalent to 18.5% of revenue.
However, for HP as a whole, first quarter revenue grew 1% to $28.8bn, while profit dropped 13.5% to cent to $1.85bn. European revenues dropped 3% in the quarter.
Services revenue also increased, standing at $8.7bn, with a growth of 116% fuelled by the previously announced acquisition of EDS.
To help cut costs, the company revealed it is to slash its chief executive's base pay by 20%, executive council members' by 15% and other executives' base pay by 10%. Other staff face pay cuts of beteween 2.5 and 5%.
HP said in a statement: "While the actions that we are taking today are difficult, we believe they will allow us to emerge from this recession in a powerful position to create value for our customers, employees and shareholders over the long term and be in a better position to fund 2009 bonus programs."
Union Unite has said it is "astonished" by the announcement of the 5% cuts.
Peter Skyte, Unite national officer, said: "UK employees who have made a key contribution to the doubling of the HP services revenue and borne the brunt of redundancies in Europe will be astonished that a company that is increasing revenue and still making substantial profits is seeking a pay cut from its UK workforce."
He added: "While the basic pay of senior executives is being cut, they will more than make up any reduction in basic pay by increases in their executive bonuses brought about by reductions in every one else's basic pay."
According to a recent SEC filing, chairman and chief executive Mark Hurd, made $42.5m in the 2008 fiscal year, of which $1.45m was his basic pay rate, which will be subject to a cut. Based on this, Hurd's overall pay has been cut by just 0.68%.
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