Thread regarding Cisco Systems Inc. layoffs

The LR doesn’t solve the real problem at Cisco: lack of vision [ability to execute on anything] from leadership. [Also the lack of ability to develop reliable software at the "software company."]

FTFY.

Look at Cisco stock performance over the past 10 years. It’s pitiful compared to other tech companies. When will the investors lose patience with the board and executive team? The LR doesn’t solve the real problem at Cisco: lack of vision from leadership.

The carnage has started....

What’s the typical severance package?
How is TAC affected?

Our managers just had to submit an assessment of each of us. I wonder if it's related.

If Cisco is really considering keeping people from being laid off because of their gender, age, etc, this is something that I wholeheartedly disagree. Corporates need to focus on keeping qualified employees and not keeping someone so they can check a minority-box to show how inclusive we are.

Where have you been the last 20 years?

loose looser loosed. if I get LR'ed I will loose my job but I wont be a looser.

OMG let’s cull that looser[sic]...

It loses all its impact when you can't spell "loser."

anyone watch the loser competitive clowns do their Xmas video dressed as Santa?!?? No shame. OMG let’s cull that looser who couldn’t FILL any BRIDGES.. Complete toxic waste

Did anyone receive email asking to complete registration for resume or career coaching?

Taking this text from your message out of context:

...it doesn't mean you don't know the material, it just means that you didn't excel compared to that top 5-10%.

I worked on every routing/switching OS at Cisco and the software engineers regardless of demographic very much did not know the material. I'm not saying they missed some corner case points from graduate classes, I'm talking core stuff taught to kids in primary school for nearly a half century in introduction to programming classes.

Someone with average smarts, but a solid work ethic can be a better employee than an above average person who doesn't want to do any work because most of it is "beneath" their intelligence.

In addition to this, the good who continue to learn will ultimately exceed the great who don't. The corollary is if you aren't continuing to learn at the company you work for you're going to be overrun eventually. This doesn't just mean learning newer techniques and technologies but refining timeless skills over an entire lifetime. If you don't know exactly what that last part means for your particular career path you're already behind the eight ball.

If Cisco is really considering keeping people from being laid off because of their gender, age, etc, this is something that I wholeheartedly disagree.

Well over a decade ago in an all hands meeting an executive said they wanted the average age of an engineer to be 25. Considering the average engineer gets a degree at 22 you're not going to have a lot of engineers over 28. It's just another goal on which Cisco failed to execute.

May we know what are the impacted orgs ?? When laid off people will be notified?

Due to the ELT's "transparency" they won't tell anyone who the impacted orgs are and only notify the impacted people. You'll have to wait to see what orgs people are in as they post that they've been impacted.

Most likely, people in the US/Canada will be notified 1-3 days after the earnings call while other countries w/ stronger labor laws will be notified according to those country's laws.

If Cisco is really considering keeping people from being laid off because of their gender, age, etc, this is something that I wholeheartedly disagree. Corporates need to focus on keeping qualified employees and not keeping someone so they can check a minority-box to show how inclusive we are.

You can say that now, but once you get older--and you will--you won't "wholeheartedly disagree" with Cisco laying off older employees just to keep the average age of employees down and it's your neck on the chopping block. I agree that the focus on keeping qualified employees over checking the minority-box, or the age box, but there needs to be anti-discrimination laws in place too. I've long thought that DEI initiatives that just focused on #'s instead of giving people in categories where they face additional challenges were short-sighted and the wrong way to go about it. Once you allow minorities or others an equal chance at an education, then employers are free to hire based on qualifications & experience instead of diversification goals. There also needs to be inclusive training so that women get the same consideration as men. There were a lot more women in my college classes than I've worked with professionally, and it's due to a gender bias and not any inherent lack of skills on their part. I know some of my female classmates had better grades than I did. In fact, I had to join the military and get my "on-the-job" experience to the point where employers no longer cared about my college GPA. I attended a school where they tended to grade on a curve and 60% of the class got a C, so when you're average, it doesn't mean you don't know the material, it just means that you didn't excel compared to that top 5-10%.

Someone with average smarts, but a solid work ethic can be a better employee than an above average person who doesn't want to do any work because most of it is "beneath" their intelligence.

Thank you for the post and raising this up. As a LBGTQ+ member myself, I was not comfortable with the saying "reviewing the business cases and refining the list to reduce liability IE: removing people from the list that are likely to sue due to age, gender, pronouns (this is not a joke), etc..."

If Cisco is really considering keeping people from being laid off because of their gender, age, etc, this is something that I wholeheartedly disagree. Corporates need to focus on keeping qualified employees and not keeping someone so they can check a minority-box to show how inclusive we are.

Networking right now is critical

May we know what are the impacted orgs ?? When laid off people will be notified?

What is the best thing to do to prepare for a layoff? I am new to this whole environment and have a brainstorm, but don't know what is best:

• Sell vested RSUs
• Max out 401k for company match / HSA
• Ensure personal files/accounts are saved elsewhere than work computer
• Ensure resume is updated
• Use any Connected Recognition budget

What else?

"I don't understand why the leadership who are ultimately responsible and lead the direction for the businesses (Networking, Security, FSO, CX, ...) are not impacted when we have cuts. Where is the accountability?"

In the corporate world, the goal is authority without accountability. That takes strategic relationships and an undiagnosed personality disorder.

Practice good situational awareness as these layoffs are conducted. Always know where the closest exit is.

Excited about the Splunk employees joining our team. They are super smart and driven.

I don't understand why the leadership who are ultimately responsible and lead the direction for the businesses (Networking, Security, FSO, CX, ...) are not impacted when we have cuts. Where is the accountability?

VPs, Directors, and Managers are protected by HR at Cisco. Those people are unbelievably incompetent and useless, and they don't have any skill or expertise. But they've been with Cisco for over 10 years, over 15 years, even over 20 years. Length of the tenure is the most important thing at Cisco! They are supposed to be respected and are protected by HR. They're allowed to do anything they want. Even bullying and harassments are allowed at Cisco.
Leader

I don't understand why the leadership who are ultimately responsible and lead the direction for the businesses (Networking, Security, FSO, CX, ...) are not impacted when we have cuts. Where is the accountability?

A lot of false information on this site.

CX Getting cuts? Sales is in the cr-pper I can see.

Ugh. My heart goes out to folks. I read these threads when thinking about getting motivated to go find a new job.

I am one of the fortunate ones LR'd now five years ago. Miss Cisco camaraderie, but not the constant pending doom and gloom.

Had a great long run and great LR payout. Very fortunate.

Went to high compensation startup after LR. Now working lower pay much less stress job.

Come back just to say hang in there while going through all this. Take care of yourself mentally; get help if you need it.

If you are anxious, and busting your behind at work, and still feel nothing is good enough to survive here; it is not something wrong with you. It is the toxicity; inherent.

Once I was away from it; it took a good year to realize how much living in the constant LR limbo messed me up.

To the people up the chain making these repeated, irrational, and consuming decisions that affect the mental well-being of thousands of people; while you live your high-off-the-hog lifestyles at the expense of others...may you someday see what is happening.

To the younger generation; true change only begins when people refuse to play the game. It the money worth it?

is meraki impacted?

What is the Severance package?

As the rumors have spread, the numbers have varied from percentage (20%) to headcount ranging from 10k, 16k, and as much as 18k. If the size of the rif is at that level then this had to have a lot of prior planning to coordinate with global HR to review and prepare each severance package. It goes without saying that HR didn't have much of an end of year shutdown as they prepared thousands of "it's not you, it's me" letters.

Makes you wonder, who from HR writes the severance letters for the people in HR that finished doing their job only to be let go for a job well done. Recursive HR, slap AI on it and sell it.

I've never seen a company try to buy their way out of a lack of focused effort in innovation given their engineering pedigree. If you acquire a company for strategic positioning, have an integration plan in place before you go on a marketing blitz of a false promises that only hinders your employees who have to tap dance around the bullsh-t they're told to sell. You lose the most valuable asset, trust.

Cisco acquired X company, ugh.. what now? Meet you're new account team of 15 people who are all on calls for basic sh-t with the one engineer trying to help the customer as they're being sold a renewal for shelfware.

It goes without saying, never listen to the rah rah we're in this together bullsh-t, were not. They leveraged outside consulting firm(s) that they paid a lot of money to make short sighted decisions to use as an excuse to obscond from their obligations.

Seems like Cisco is becoming more of a PE company run by paper suits who look at what gartner says is a new segment, then buys the 4th best solution. Slaps Cisco on it, renames it to a 3 letter acronym, and it becomes a market leader in vaporware and charges 10x for it.

Pro tip: if you acquire a company, use your resources to enable their growth and don't fu-k up something that was working when you bought it only to break it.

HR employees that live near HQ asked to attend mandatory meeting on Sat

Going by experience, I can tell that the turkeys at Cisco are now waiting to see on whose head the sword of Damocles will descent. The s-cking up sessions have started, coat-tail hangers of the Directors in Sales and SE teams will be running around like headless chickens trying to get brownie points sadly oblivious to the fact that the lists are already out.

The musical chair fest is on! This time the music is DISCO: Disposable Imbeciles Sacrificed for Cisco's Opex.

The sleepless nights start. The clueless SEs with absolutely no skillset except for bragging about redundant certs in long forgotten legacy skills start to enroll frantically in Udemy and other such courses via company enrollment sadly unaware that these courses won't even get them an interview in this market, leave alone help them get through that interview.

Hasta la vista Bebe. It's time to pipe down and face reality.

To my experience, Cisco UK was the worst and I am so glad that I got out of that toxic mess when I had the choice. Ciao Baby!

is cut for janitors true? i make not good pay cleaning, if cisco layed me off, rest room gonna be messy.

Yes red badge contracts were being cancelled as of Tuesday 1/16/2024

Sales and engineering will be hit the hardest according to my sources.

Are red badge cuts already being announced or will that also be post earnings?

And here I thought I was safe as a red badger working in Supply Chain.