When is Cisco going to held accountable for all the older employees (60+) that are always impacted in LRs at a higher percentage, many with 10 or 20+ years of Cisco experience. I know several now. One told me they got nothing extra other than a few weeks of pay for their many years of service. Cisco continues to get away with it. It is so sad to see these people treated this way. So much for thanking these employees that helped us for so many years! I'm getting near that age and I fear I'll be next. It is ironic that our culture of inclusion excludes our older workers, but we refuse to realize it is happening. When is the last retirement party you went to?
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Besides a death of a loved one, I don't think I have ever experienced so many levels of emotions as I did related to being LR'd. It's mind blowing and I feel for anyone who doesn't have a support or coping mechanism that has to deal with the fallout. You essentially become a non person, people think you had to be a poor performer just getting what you deserved. Only good friends and team members say goodbye. The you can look for another job at Cisco, is really a joke. And then of course the obvious, the shock of no longer having an income and the worry about finding future employment. And to all the other comments, for anyone close to retirement that put in 20+ plus years, was a good performer, just forget about any retirement party or acknowledgement of your efforts. I appreciate the package from Cisco and am grateful, but I would not wish this upon even my worst enemy.
Old gal here. I know what you mean!!! Had I really retired people would have sent me off well, but when Cisco LRs people the culture is you are treated like you have a contagious disease. Close friends said goodbye, but that was about it. People that leave for a competitor get treated better than LRed folks.
Cisco won't offer voluntary early retirement again because I think half of the company would apply.
To the OP bemoaning lack of retirement parties, etc. Dude, you are missing the point. It is sad to say but to Cisco, if you are long tenured then you are not loyal, you are a loser who sticks around like a bad fa**. Much better in their eyes for people to be moving around and showing determination and aspiration. That's the BS that is corporate America/world these days - no loyalty at all to anyone who may just want to do a job and then go home at night.
Also Old Guy here...
LR'd at 18 year mark, now going on six years ago.
It can be the pivotal life changing event, for the best, especially if over 50.
First, they gave an awesome going-away present. Walked with like nine months pay. Awesome.
Second, had other job lined up before PC turned in. Key was DO NOT get complacent. If technical, make SURE you are sharp and can TRULY demonstrate your skills.
Third, have your big retirement plan funded. This takes discipline in your prime working years.
Forth, don't buy expensive stuff you really don't need over the years. Stick to putting that extra money in 401k and Roth.
When you do get LR'd, (hopefully over 50); work becomes completely different. If you are genuine, work hard, and deliver; people WILL seek you out.
The BEST part is the freedom. Freedom is NOT free. You have to work to earn. But the best part is doing a consulting job for a difficult client; THEN doing a great job hitting a home run on a difficult deliverable. The client will often come around and thank you for the diving catch; but they don't realize you are FREE to then move on. I have done this several times since my LR. One very difficult company's VP has asked me to work on several additional projects; there is NO amount of money (I don't need it) to go through that same workplace drama again, so sorry I am booked on other contracts.
Hope You too get the LR, if you want one. Until then, get prepared.
Buy the ticket, take the ride.
Never mind retirement parties, retirement itself is becoming a thing of the past.
My understanding is that once upon a time it was common for families to have a mortgage burning party once the home was paid off. That has also gone the way of the dodo.
Easy access to credit, entitlement mentality, hedonic treadmill, and keeping up with the Joneses. There's no time to party, there is only time to keep working until you croak on the job and somebody sweeps your carcass into a dustpan.
Exactly how The Matrix wants it.
If I am at the tail-end of my career and is working for CISCO right now, the best thing I will hope for is that CISCO offers an early retirement option again in the next 2 or 3 LRs. I would seriously consider to jump on and volunteer that. However, base on all the discussion/information, that is not going to happen any time soon.
"Old" guy here.
Cisco has paid and treated me well over all these years and that is all the thanks I need.
At some point they'll call my number and that will be it.
Life goes on.
I don't need a party.
Old guy here. Plenty of people retired from Cisco before the stock topped out in the $80s and Cisco didn't have parties for them either.
In ye olden days you didn't get much more than a gold watch, and if you worked for the original layoff king Neutron Jack you were generally laid off before your 65th birthday so you wouldn't be able to claim full pension, and that was 40 years ago which is longer than the majority here have been working so you can't say that this is new or a surprise.
Top kids coming into tech have been seeing six digit incomes right out of the gate for the better part of a decade, and most employers provide some sort of 401K matching. It's up to you, not your employer, to trade off having some nice things with investing for the future and many of us who managed it well retired long before 65.
On another note, I know the quality metrics at that company and many of them weren't helping the company. Despite @zix+1n9GyCuo's reply it's not the deadwood who created tens of millions of bugs over the years, and it wasn't just the young people either. When you stay at one place for decades making the same mistakes by definition you aren't growing, and again, it's up you you, not your employer, to manage your career growth.
It's fascinating to see employees over 50 lose their job and never recover. Makes you quickly realize the corporate system is entirely relationship based.
You need strategic relationships to land a job if you are over 50 and laid off. Skills and experience are meaningless.
@zix+1n9GyCuo you mean people like you who post here when you are supposed to work? Yes, so why don’t YOU quit and show us the way?!
Maybe if the people that post they don't do any work all day (see thread a few below this one) just left - the overall productivity would increase and the company could afford to do things better/right.