Thread regarding Cisco Systems Inc. layoffs

Transparency doesn't exist in Cisco. Spinning things to do whatever you like, does. ELT thrives on putting a positive spin on bad news. The are simply brainwashers. The sad thing is many people in Cisco fall for it, so it will continue until more people wise up.

"How do you generate revenue selling a service if you don't have sales staff or project managers to guide the development."

Sometimes the VPs are supposed to quietly sell off patents while reducing labor costs. You never know the true goals of the company.

Chuck and Fran, when you say you are being "transparent" anymore, I hear you say you are "brainwashing" us. You don't understand real transparency. Check-ins and events like Impact are simply ways to brainwash people and motivating people. I can't sit in a check-in or Impact anymore without thinking I am being sold a timeshare. You have lost Cisco employees trust. How about a huge apology letter to all the laid off employees and share holders you have lied to.

Just leave the company. Stop letting them torture you. Leave, and don't look back.

I've been through more than a few lay offs. All of them except for Cisco's was a true lay off instead of a "limited restructuring". In all of them, mostly in the '90's, the severance packages weren't worth sh-t. At least, with Cisco, it's like getting a huge bonus and they keep hiring me back 12-18 months later, keep me for a couple of years, and bang I get another LR bonus. Nothing like getting 18-mo of wages for no work, and an easy job to do while getting paid. Most of the other jobs I take in-between Cisco jobs want to over work me and make me work 55-65 hrs/wk. No thanks.

Companies who are bought out and decide to lay off people, usually claimed to be "redundant", give sh-t for severance packages. Companies who are going out of business, and not sliding downhill like Cisco is, can't afford to pay good severances. I quit one company before they could lay me off because they sold off what made the original business profitable, laid off the project managers and then the sales team. How do you generate revenue selling a service if you don't have sales staff or project managers to guide the development. Six months after I left them, the four executives shut down the company for all intents and purposes, gave every one 2 weeks plus one week per year of service w/ a cap of 10 weeks total severance. Then the four exec's and one administrative assistant moved into a suite of offices in a nearby business mall collecting a salary while burning through the last of the IPO cash saying they were "'shutting down the business" over the next 6 months and then paid themselves a huge severance package.

Another company wanted to close a satellite office in TX, so they let a half dozen developers go, and then a couple of weeks later, they let some project mangers, QA and testers, and their configuration management team go. Severance was a total of 4 weeks for everyone regardless of time w/ the company. The last bunch, including me, were let go the Mon following Thanksgiving, and w/ the 4 wks severance, our employment was officially terminated on Dec 28th such that they didn't have to pay out the annual 401(k) matching because they only matched once a year at year's end instead of every payday, and they didn't have to payout any year-end bonuses. Then, 185 days after they'd gotten the satellite office down to 49 employees, they closed the office entirely and screwed over the 49 employees who were left because they didn't meet the requirements for WARN.

Cisco isn't torture. It's a big going-away present and they can give me as many of them as they want to. Although, having received 3 of them already, I doubt I'll get a 4th.

Just leave the company. Stop letting them torture you. Leave, and don't look back.

Leave while you can. Chuck is a sc-mbag and most definitely psychotic. Not manic but definitely psychotic.

If you’re willing to lie to tens of thousands of people for the better part of a decade. To inflict pain on tens of thousands of people for the better part of a decade. All for money and power, then yes, you’re psychotic.

But fear not, we’re all to be judged by the highest power in the universe and on that day everything is made plain.

There’s a simple on-line test you can take to figure out your psychopathy. Most CEOs are definitely way up on the extreme of that spectrum. There’s a book on the subject n

"Transparency - Does Cisco know what the word means?"

What is a psychopath?

• lack of guilt, remorse, empathy
• pretends to feel emotions
• tend to be very successful in America
• dishonest
• manipulative behavior, superficial charm, and narcissism

The leadership of most American institutions; corporations, academics, religions, and governments would be classified as psychopaths.

I guess it really depends on what the definition of "transparent" is.

From most of these posts, the ELT is rather transparent as in everyone can see through their BS.

Tell me lies, tell me sweet little lies
Tell me lies
Tell me, tell me lies
Oh no-no, you can't disguise
You can't disguise
No, you can't disguise
Tell me lies, tell me sweet little lies

Yes they do and they want as little of it as possible. One way to do that is to say you are transparent while not being transparent.

The original post was more sarcasm or ranting, than an honest question.

They keep saying they're being transparent, but they really aren't. It feels more like they're trying to be invisible in order to hide things while claiming to be transparent to indicate that they're clearly communicating when they're not. Or they're just flat out lying to us. It was meant to point out the hypocrisy of what they're doing vs. what they're saying.

Yes they do and they want as little of it as possible. One way to do that is to say you are transparent while not being transparent.

Don’t be surprised if there is another big exodus because there are plenty of jobs out there.

Since the "because" clause isn't "Cisco is doing it's next inevitable layoff" I'm assuming you are using the word "exodus" as something voluntary. The word "exodus" is defined in terms of "a large number of people." When was the previous voluntary exodus from Cisco and how many people left in that event?

Cisco doesn’t care about individual contributors. Lie after lie, unanimously the affected are the workers because they have no voice in the corporate ladder and management always gets away by covering their you know what first. Don’t be surprised if there is another big exodus because there are plenty of jobs out there. Sharpen your resume mates.

Chuck only cares about Chuck
CFO only cares about cost cutting
PERIOD.

Our team lost two highly respected and customer focused SAs due to this “restructure” and the team targets remained the same. Customers were incredulous that they were LRd. No way is this a “reprioritisation” of resources, it is cost cutting, plain and simple.

I was looking at the "answers" clauses in @avr+1o2F0cLv and all I could think was "wasn't there a website 25 years ago that generated random mindless word salad like this?" They must have made it a self contained skull implant.

During an Ask Me Anything (AMA) today, the Q&A had the following:

Q: There was a restructuring last month, and the explanation was - "These recent notifications are part of the rebalancing effort we began in November 2022, which included a limited restructuring impacting our real estate portfolio and approximately 5% of our workforce,”. Is this rebalancing effort complete, or is more to come?

A: The recent rebalancing activity was the last wave of the announced FY23 restructuring activities. While there are no other planned rebalancing activities in the short-term, SBG will continuously look at opportunities to align our portfolio to our customers and to the market.

I can't wait to see how this person has to backpedal when Cisco has the next round of LR's and SBG is impacted in Q1 or Q2.

Q: There was recently an LR. These sort of actions are demotivating. I know job security doesn't exist, but I expect a little better from Cisco. Is senior leadership attempting to address this?

A: We always strive to be as transparent as possible with all Cisco employees while balancing the sensitivity of these difficult decisions as well as legal restrictions we face in some countries. We will continue to work on our messaging and look for opportunities to improve how we support our employees.

This is a lame answer. By not sharing the details of the packages like they used to, they are not being transparent. How is sharing how Cisco is taking care of the impacted employees by giving them a "generous" severance package being insensitive? Why do legal restrictions in some countries impact what you say in my country? Simply say that "we are taking the following actions in the US & Canada and those in other countries will be notified in accordance with their country laws." And then share those announcements when those country laws permit.

Q: It is confusing to have been told that certain products are a strong part of our security direction, our sales exceed goal, and many of our folks helped with the XDR launch - but we still lost people in the LR. Can someone explain this?

A: To transform fast, we are continuously evaluating our growth opportunities and prioritizing accordingly. This requires suite level and SBG level decisions, that enable the rebalancing of investments across our portfolio to align to our strategic and workforce plans. While restructuring is our last resort, and only happens in areas where we’ve leveraged all available workforce planning options, it is sometimes a lever we need to pull. If you have specific concerns, please direct those to your senior leadership chain.

Wait a minute! I thought this was an "Ask Me Anything" with our senior leadership chain. It sure read to me like a very specific concern. Our sales exceeded goals and we let people go. Why did that happen? Again, ducking the question is not transparent.