After the pay cut, I wouldn't be surprised if layoffs followed.
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Red badge at cisco is a fools game, great money cause they pay 200k but you get let go on a friday when they get tired of paying your rate, so its just a matter of time before your friday comes up, and good luck being converted, thats the carrot that never happens.
- Surprised and amazed by how some H1bs are loosing jobs while some H4EAD's are still employed at cisco-
As I understand it, H4EADs are spouses or dependents of H1Bs. Can't the LR'ed H1Bs become H4EAD under their H4EAD spouses?
Surprised and amazed by how some H1bs are loosing jobs while some H4EAD's are still employed at cisco
Knew what you said there bud when Chuck was on Kramer's show in November and said he was tightening his belt meant that my belt as a red badge was about to get dropped below my ankles by him. I have worked for too many of these fake "feel good" CEO's.
Of course my contracting company kept re-assuring me stating "no worries you will be converted" my fears were confirmed and to no surprise in February when there were no longer plans for my conversion and my contract would not be renewed. Working as a contractor on and off for the last 20 years and experiencing 3 major layoffs at 3 major internet companies you get to know the signs..... Learn them and be prepared like I was.
Don’t worry, the blue badges will get their turn, and then some.
...However, the problem was that he said no layoffs on internal calls where contracts were in fact invited. Maybe they should not have invited us...
I knew that he was talking employees only, but it was nice when he got called out on it after some contractors were let go and had to clarify that statement.
Housekeeping, cafe workers, lobby ambassadors, etc. are being kept and paid even though the cafe & LA workers can't work. Housekeeping is still cleaning the buildings due to some business critical people still coming and exiting the buildings, but I don't know if all of them are still working or if it's a reduced staff. Seems like with them doing "deep" cleanings, they'd need to keep them all due to the additional time required to clean a building.
But, the bulk of the red badge community are contractors doing day-to-day or project work. Chuck clarified that as projects end, people would not be renewed simply due to the fact that the project was complete.
I have to call BS on that statement, because while true, it's not the whole truth. I know more than a few people who were "run-the-business" staff who'd been red badges at Cisco for years who suddenly got cut in April. Their "project" didn't end. The manager just got rid of people someone else hired and he inherited when two teams merged and he'll replace them with new red badges once we come of this crisis with people he likes and fit into his culture instead of the previous team's culture.
I am glad we're being invites to the weekly status meetings as I, for one, want to know what's going on.
I’m one of those longtime RB’s that got nailed (along with others) when they revoked Q4 funding. I’ve always understood that I’m not family, so when Chuck gives public interviews on the subject I knew that was a ‘read the fine print’ while I virtue signal. However, the problem was that he said no layoffs on internal calls where contracts were in fact invited. Maybe they should not have invited us...
Of course not. Contractors are not employees. That some thing [sic] that they are and/or should have the same rights as employees will always be a wonder to me.
They may not have the same rights as employees, but that doesn't mean that they shouldn't be treated like people. Corporations couldn't get by without contractors, so they shouldn't treat them like dirt or they'll find it harder to get contractors worth hiring to work for them.
Luckily there are both good & bad managers at Cisco. I've seen some contractors get little to no notice that they would not be renewed, or that they were being terminated before the end of the quarter even if the SOW was funded for the quarter. I've also seen some contractors get told 4-8 weeks ahead of their SOW ending that they would not be renewed in order to give them time to search for the next gig before their Cisco gig ended. My current manager has gone both ways with the contractors under him, but I think it's fair to say that the amount of notice has been on par with the quality of the contractor's work.
Of course not. Contractors are not employees. That some thing that they are and/or should have the same rights as employees will always be a wonder to me.
Temp red-badges have an 18-month max duration for working at Cisco. Managed services, or Statement of Work red-badges are open-ended. In both cases, in the U.S. anyway, their services are negotiated with their vendors on a quarter-by-quarter basis. The process for Q2 usually starts around the middle of the 2nd month of Q1 so the purchase orders can be funded and signed the first or second week of the 3rd month of Q1. Each new quarter takes into account the number of business days for the next quarter which changes due to corporate holidays, the year-end shutdown, etc. The budget guys usually know how the quarter is going and whether or not they'll have funds for the next quarter, so yes, it's very easy to not "renew" people on year-long or open ended contracts.
The ELT said that only projects that were ending would have red-badges not kept, but I know workers who were on open-ended "run-the-business" support projects that most certainly are still on-going but were told their last day was a Friday two weeks before the end of this quarter.
All I can say for certain is that my SOW for Q4 was funded and signed, so I'm mostly safe for another 3 months. Good luck to all those who have to look for work while companies are limiting hiring to business critical roles right now.
Contractors like hourly staff for the buildings are being paid their regular rates. Red badges whose contracts are up may not be renewed. So for right now it doesn't seem like red badges are being laid off, but they still may be disappearing over the coming weeks. Contracts with vendors typically span the quarter. I've been told POs for reds are typically processed quarter to quarter, even if their contracts span longer. So given that Q3 just ended, it is likely that a fair share of reds were just not renewed.