How layoffs work

Only Fran and HR know when the notification will go out. Although in the coming weeks, managers and directors may get "training" sessions so they'll know soon IF the notifications go out immediately after the earnings call.

In the past, workforce reductions (WFR) and then limited restructuring (LR) announcements were made during earnings calls and they said how many people were affected. Recall the 2011 WFR and the 2016 LR--the first one under Chuck--but then later LR's became more secretive as the ELT called them "more transparent" as they started LR'ing people immediately after the earnings call (at least in the US & Canada as other countries have labor contract laws that require more advanced notice) and no longer gave any concrete numbers about how many people were impacted or what the packages looked like. The only exception was the one that followed the most recent early retirement offering. They still didn't give out #'s for how many were impacted, but they shared the package details for the early retirement to entice people to take it, as well as giving out the details on the packages that would be given to the "at-risk" people who were notified saying that they could either take the early package or spend 60 days looking for a new internal role or risk being forced out with the late package which was basically 60 days less pay than the early package because you had stayed on the payroll during those 60 days.

So, bottom line, we won't know how many people are being impacted, if any, when they make the earnings call. If you start seeing invites for an All-hands the day after the earnings call, or the next day, then they'll probably be giving out details like they did for that "voluntary" termination for "at-risk" employees. Otherwise, if they announce an LR, look for an invite from your manager within a couple of hours after the earnings call is over asking you to meet the next morning.

I recall a manager "highly encouraging" his team to listen to that day's earnings call on quarter. He left his office immediately after sending the reminder that the earnings call was about to start and as soon as the earnings call was completed, he sent out meeting invites for first thing the next morning to the impacted people. It was easy to figure out who was impacted by looking for people who had a meeting at the same time as the manager for the next morning.

Bumping this from @vuf+1qth2nfO for pertinent info.

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I don’t think there’ll be any “voluntary” option this time around. There’d be too many that’d volunteer.

The "voluntary" part was only offered to those people that were going to be LR'd in their current role. The ELT called them "at-risk" when the fact was that they were going to be LR'd UNLESS they found a different role that open and not being cut. They tried to make it sound like the "at-risk" positions were on the bubble, so to speak, and that if enough people took the "voluntary" option to leave immediately that it might same some of the "at-risk" positions that didn't leave immediately.

It's part of the "transparent" process the ELT brags about. It's so "transparent" that it's invisible.

I got categorized as “critical to retain” and received a buttload of RSUs because of it. Guess what? Less than 6 months later I was LR’d and never got to even see a dime of those RSUs. None of that matters. When it comes time to cut costs, no one is safe.

The last annual review, leaders had to designate employees “Critical to retain”, “Desire to retain”, or “NA”. This drop down was kind of buried inside a rewards planning worksheet, and there wasn’t really a lot of emphasis placed on it during the leader trainings. Its was presented in the context of RSU awards and bonus planning, like “give this person money because we can’t lose them” type of thing.
Well guess what? If you weren’t “Critical to retain” you’re fu---d. The best part- most of the leaders I’ve asked about it weren’t even aware they made the designations for people, or what the implications were. So we are all being judged based on an obscure field that managers paid little attention to, and probably didn’t realize would result in you being on the LR list.

What's the Severance package in US?

This is going to be a haircut with a chainsaw. Everyone's gonna have to cut some. If your manager recently started talking about tracking metrics to have a better understanding of your utilization, they're doing that so when they get the list of cuts from above, they can try to save/swap people.

I find this oddly cathartic. Fu-k it.

@mfm+1qDi84ex earnings call is on feb 14. a simple google search will show. come on, be resourceful.

Please answer inline the below:

So which date exactly is the "Earnings call" you are saying?

How many permanent/full-time employees will be laid off?

Which country exactly?

Which team/dept?

I don’t think there’ll be any “voluntary” option this time around. There’d be too many that’d volunteer.

Thread regarding Cisco Systems Inc. layoffs

How layoffs work

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