So, since this derivative lawsuit has hit the fan Cisco is doing the unthinkable to be able to get their bonus and please the board. They are hiring minorities specifically black people only to fire them once they get the numbers that they need. I heard a VP talking about it and it made me sick. I’m thinking of going to the Department of Justice because this isn’t right.
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Seems to be timing true. SMH
While it is accurate there is job discrimination against white men 55 and older in Cisco and throughout the technology sector, the problem with Cisco's BOD is not their color complement but their inaction with an ineffective CEO and ELT. The company has an inability to develop new technologies in a timely manner so resort to buying poor companies. They also have not transitioned to a software company in Chuck's time as CEO when that was his main message to Wall Street. The BOD should take action and this is their shortfall.
A decade ago I hired a guy that I concluded would be a good fit for the team and help effect the strategy. Shortly thereafter my Cisco Sr Director called me to his office to advise he was complimented by a HR VP (unnamed here) for hiring a black guy to his team. In the interview process we had good discussions so told my boss I did not notice the man was black. Interesting but isn't this how it is supposed to be?
"What happened to the days where our father's or grandfather's worked for 3 or 4 companies after high school? Now, if you stay more than 3 years at a company, you're stagnating because the only way to advance is to change companies."
Personally, I believe the lack of anti-trust enforcement is causing job security issues. Amazon, Facebook, Google, Microsoft, and Apple should be broken up into 100 different companies. Without competition these gigantic corporations could careless about employees. We are literally just useless numbers on a spreadsheet.
Please don't be naive and pretend white people do not have their good ole boy networks.
I don’t get it. Wh---s can claim age discrimination all day long but bl---s “use a catch all phrase and scream discrimination”.
Why is it so hard to see that if a company is discriminating against age they can also be discriminating against race? Is this not plausible?
A court of law would determine that the two are symbiotic and closely related hands down.
What I see here is assumptions that all Bl---s are incompetent and this absurd. Just because you write that or think that doesn’t make it so.
A couple of these posts you can clearly pick up on the subtleties of bl---s aren’t good enough and don’t belong, therein lies the problem.
Yet, the white guys all want sympathy because according to them they got LR’d because of their age and how unfair it is. The lack of equal understanding is overwhelmingly unbalanced.
We have to do better folks.
A quick look at Chuck’s ELT shows NO AA’s why is that? Are there no competent leaders out there that would be interest in working for Cisco? This why AA’s don’t get the roles that they should it comes from the top. Cisco just got an AA on the board this whole time Chuck has been CEO and that was only because of the lawsuit. If he could have kept his board devoid AA’s he would have. Again, it comes from the top. Change can only begin with the leader and everything else will fall into place. Lead by example Chucky boy!
Across corporate America you will find very few AA’s. They for the most part are mostly excluded and aren’t invited to have a seat at the table. Me being white I see this all the time and at every company I’ve worked at. Previous posters are correct it’s not what you know it’s who you know and most AA’s in my opinion don’t have enough representation and for some reason are never thought of first for anything other than termination. Promotions, stock, bonus at every company I’ve worked out the blks were not at the top of the mind of any leader. I’m being truthful because I’m anonymous but I wish this weren’t my experience. Now that I’m in upper management I make it a point to include them as much as I can and do my best to advocate for them because it’s the right thing to do. It’s not about pulling the race card it’s the reality that blks are an afterthought for most white bosses and I think that’s because of implicit bias and lack of relationships.
I’m going to assume (I could be wrong however) you replied to my post regarding grade 12 since you specifically pointed that out.
Now where in my post did I “scream discrimination” based on ethnic or racial lines. I said the bottom line is managers keep who is in their inner circle. If you’re not buddy buddy with the manager and especially if getting paid well, the more likely you’ll get cut, regardless of your performance.
Maybe your comprehension is slow or possibly you are reading into it something I didn’t state attempting to “make it so” based on your own belief, as you stated.
Org charts don't lie.
Sounds like the usual cop out, catch all phrase being used yet again. Scream discrimination and that makes it all true. Here's the deal, that coveted GR12 position has you being graded against the other 12s in your manager and director's sphere. You may have walked on water compared to a 10, did more than the average 11, but be at the bottom 5% of all 12s. Probably didn't scale that into the whiny diatribe you put together.
Nothing surprises me and it's possible this has some validity in an indirect way.
I'm black and worked at SJC 15 years and was let go in one of the recent waves of layoffs. I know I was let go for 2 main reasons:
#1 Money
#2 Not being in the inner circle in my department
The amount of money I was making put my head on the chopping block. Not being in the clique got me chosen to chop.
#1. Money
Over the years, I busted my a-s, got promoted, and worked my way up to that coveted G12 status. 2016 and prior, performance meant bonuses, raises, and visibility. 2017 and beyond these things made you a target. I had RSUs vesting every 2 out of 3 months from past bonuses. I knew the bottom was going to fall out eventually. I was a target.
#2. Not being in the clique
I've been in cliques before but after a few re-orgs and managers I was close to left, I ended up in a team with an already established inner circle. This was right before I was let go. I was a contributing team member and go to person for what I did, but an outsider. I didn't play any political games to establish myself in the team other than working and bringing results on time.
I don't know about other locations but most bl---s at Cisco SJC are outsiders. Pre-covid if looked and observed people at lunch walking around Cisco campus. For the most part you'd see Indians with the Indians. Chinese with the Chinese. Vietnamese with the Vietnamese. Korean with the Koreans. The wh---s with the wh---s. Sometimes you'd see a mixed group (wh---s and different east Asians groups). Asians at the basketball courts. I get it though. When it boils down to it, it's human nature for people go with who they are most comfortable with, can speak the language easiest, and can relate to in humor/slang. The bl---s? You see black guys by themselves in workout gear exercising/running around Cisco campus, alone. At Cisco gym, alone. Sitting in the car eating lunch, alone. You might see a black woman mixed in with other groups, but you rarely if ever saw a group of bl---s.
2019 and beyond Cisco has laid off so many people to the point where departments are slim. Socially, it's easier to let the outsiders go than the people you're close to. When I got let go my department was mostly Indian including the manager. Who got let go? Me, a white guy, a few east Asians, and one Indian. Whose left? All Indians. That's not to say "oh the manager singled me out because I'm black". But, the manager kept people in his inner circle and let others go. I expected it as such.
Not everyone has the same experience but leaving Cisco was great career-wise. The package was great. Better salary and I'm not worried about layoffs on a quarterly basis.
It's possible a bunch of black people got hired across different teams and the above phenomenon occurred across the teams of managers keeping their inner circle during layoff time. Legally, I'd be more inclined to believe that more than some evil plot to hire a lot of black people for the sole purpose to fire them later. Same end result though.
Don't worry we have our own site where we talk about the Westerners and it is more exciting than this site.
All of you holier than tho folks listen up. The earning report is coming out shortly we will see how amusing this is when your number is called. I hope your have at least a years worth of salary in the bank because you’ll need it.
What does hiring anew director have to do with this? The lack of common sense is astonishing. Good grief!
Layoffs? We just hired another director
“Grow up and enter the ‘real world’.”
Fool, STFU you sound stupid as he-l. GTFOH with that BS!
Not good enough. Yeah ok birdbrain.
Cisco plays musical chairs if you haven’t noticed. It’s not about being good enough it’s about how much can we shave off only to turn around and need the help. Cisco is notorious for LRs and hiring contractors to do the same work because they don’t have to pay benefits and “think” they are saving money.
Only a moranic knuckle dragger would not understand that being LR’d has almost nothing to do with your job performance. Stop judging people and get a life!
Cisco makes poor business decisions and the employees suffer for it. There is no job security and being LR’d for the most part has nothing has nothing to do with your ability to do the job but the company’s lack of strategic planning.
It’s easy to blame racism, hate, age discrimination or any other excuse for losing a job instead of just accepting the fact that you lost your job because you just weren’t good enough compared to your coworkers that got to keep their job.
As the saying goes, “Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they aren't after you.” Yes, it's easy to blame it because it true a majority of the time.
I was let go 5 yrs ago. I, and several others, were supporting a "legacy" product. We all had other duties/responsibilities too. When the bean counters said to cut the budget, it was easy to single me and another guy out. We were both older than most of the team. He'd been with the company longer than me, but was about 5 yrs younger that I was. Unfortunately, our additional duties were for product support that was dwindling and the newer/younger team members were the primary support for newer products getting a lot more attention/use. So, because we were older and more expensive workers, we were cut. Could management have cut the younger, less experienced and cheaper team members and given us their work and could we have handled it as well as they could, he-l yes. But it was cheaper to keep them and let them struggle to handle our legacy product(s) support because it was dwindling down and there was enough documentation around produced by us old-timers to help them "muddle" through it until the product(s) were retired.
Simply put, it was age discrimination disguised as cost cutting. Cisco could have kept the older guys with more experience because we had just as much experience with the new products as the newer guys and knew the new products just as well as they did. Cisco could have had greater experience and therefore better customer support by keeping us, but it would have cost more.
I get cutting costs and improving the bottom line. But as the younger generation gets older and gets to the same place I was, where they're more experienced and more expensive than their peers, they're going to get cut too. And if companies won't hire older workers and pay them what they're worth for their greater experience, then there's going to be a lot of older workers unemployed and unemployment rates will never go back down. Retirement ages are going up yet the ability to find work is going down as you get older. Pretty soon, it's just going to be young menials and older management/corporate officers.
Just like the military, you need a lot of individual contributors or young enlisted troops. You need fewer and fewer leaders the higher/older you go, like a pyramid. At least, in the enlisted ranks, you can go terminal at E4/E5 and do your twenty yrs and retire, but in the officer ranks, you can't go terminal at O3. If you don't make O4, you're bounced out and have to start over in civilian life.
Cisco has a lot of similarities to that. Managers can go terminal as just a middle level manager and last out 20 years. But, those that have connections with higher managers, they're the officer corps and the ones that have better connections rise up the food chain and those that don't get bounced out.
What happened to the days where our father's or grandfather's worked for 3 or 4 companies after high school? Now, if you stay more than 3 years at a company, you're stagnating because the only way to advance is to change companies.
"weren’t good enough compared to your coworkers"
When has Cisco ever been a performance based company? Even used car dealerships have performance goals. There's no accountability for failure at Cisco. At least realize Cisco has a 100% relationship based culture.
Being a VP and an officer of the company, this person can be held legally liable if what you say is true and they knew about it.
So either this VP is a clueless id--t or this ‘rumor’ is just that.
It’s easy to blame racism, hate, age discrimination or any other excuse for losing a job instead of just accepting the fact that you lost your job because you just weren’t good enough compared to your coworkers that got to keep their job.
Employment is ‘at will’. You can leave anytime you want and the company can fire you anytime they want for no reason.
Grow up and enter the ‘real world’.
Realize how the world works and adjust accordingly. Choose your employer carefully...
Cisco hires plenty of people to just fire them. It's not just minorities. The lack of strategic planning is astonishing.
If you feel like it’s racially motivated DO NOT SIGN ANYTHING. It’s unlawful to discriminate against anyone. Find an attorney and have a consultation you may have more rights or bargaining power than you think. Bringing an Atty to the table will increase your package tremendously. If there is no discrimination then just sign the stuff, update your resume and network so you can land on your feet.
Good luck. I got my walking papers 2 years ago and it was the best thing to happen to me. I was angry at first but I landed a better opportunity and you will also.
At the end of the day, there is nothing you can do about it. The sooner one accepts this and signs the papers the easier it will be for you.
Accept reality and move on. It happened to many, many others before your number was picked.
Sorry it happened. It is a good life learning experience. Seriously.
It is work. Nothing more. Nothing less.
Just this week two blk people I know took the off ramp program that Cisco offered. Both of them said it was to take care of family now I wonder if they were made to say that. It seemed odd to me but maybe they were told to say that. Very bizarre.
What can you about it? Employment is at will. If they don’t like the color of your shirt they can fire you for that. So what bl---s are dropping like flies as long as Cisco says “it’s a business decision” that’s what will stand. Now if this person who heard that VP does something that would help because then it would be clear discrimination and with the amount of blk folks getting canned it may raise eyebrows.
Take a stand and DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT!!!!!!
... and to work on a story to tell the team. ... You’re letting me go but want me to lie to the team about why I’m leaving.
Nope. Not lying for Cisco or my manager/director. S/he can come up with an excuse of their own. And if anyone wants to ask me questions over beer after work, well, again, I won't lie.
That's cold. I might take that one to HR and claim that's pretty sketchy asking me to lie about it and ask if there's something underhanded going on with my termination and ask if I should talk to state labor boards, employment commission, lawyers or did they want to pay me additional money for a non-disclosure agreement? See where that leads. Cause someone is being sketchy. Manager, director, SVP or Cisco, but someone definitely.
Look at most org charts it is no surprise which group is king and do a great job to keep everyone else out. Not only work together but play together on the weekends and holidays. Sure they might sacrifice a head or two just to play it safe but don't be fooled. They make sure the casualties are back on their feet the following Monday at a different company with a going away gift.
Post ID: @1gtg+1aJwAadF
No I’m not part of an LR no one else on my team got the boot. Just me. Maybe the poster is right Cisco is doing stealth layoffs. Whatever they are doing isn’t my concern anymore because they told me I don’t have to do anymore work and to work on a story to tell the team. Who does that? You’re letting me go but want me to lie to the team about why I’m leaving. Too much dishonesty and BS for my taste. At this point Fu-k Cisco!!
Sorry to hear. Welcome to the club.
Same thing happened to me.
Promoted one quarter and received signed JC Thank You letter. Cool.
Two quarters and one new Senior Director later...LR'd. Not so cool.
Cisco's loss. Have been asked back. Nope.
Cisco has been conducting stealth layoffs for 14 years. Great way to eliminate groups of people without any bad PR.
Forgot to mention that no PIP was offered to me either. Why would they? I was nowhere near the bottom 5% and my being LR'd was not performance based. Age based most likely.
"I’m not sure what’s going on but a meeting showed up on my calendar out of nowhere and I’m told to find another job within Cisco or get canned. I’m still trying to wrap my head around this one no PiP, no negative feedback or nothing just so random. I thought it was just me. WTF is going on here? A mass sweep of blks getting the boot from the same company at the same time?"
Are you saying that you are not part of a current LR? I was there almost 17 years. Your story is not much different than mine and I would guess many others. But I was let go as part of an LR. Director told everyone in his group that we were safe. Total BS but in his defense he also got LR'd in the same round so maybe he didn't really know. Hard to believe though. He probably knew but didn't know HIS # was up as well :)
I’m not sure what’s going on but a meeting showed up on my calendar out of nowhere and I’m told to find another job within Cisco or get canned. I’m still trying to wrap my head around this one no PiP, no negative feedback or nothing just so random. I thought it was just me. WTF is going on here? A mass sweep of blks getting the boot from the same company at the same time?
Me too. Over 50, AA, F with 17 years of stellar performance evals told the company is moving in a different direction. So much for the best place to work :(
African American here forced to take a measly package. Sucks but I’m free from the hate, shame, bigotry, criticism and ridicule. On to better things with peace in my life. Two decades of this almost ki---d me.
It’s true if I didn’t sign MY settlement docs I would tell MY story an awful story...
Fake post
Any kind of discrimination is illegal. One is no better than the other. It’s all wrong.