Thread regarding Cisco Systems Inc. layoffs

New here, I am glad I found this site, lots of info
After reading the above I have a few questions:

• some of you indicated that you low level formatted your drive -is that possible/permitted ? Can they say anything if you did?
• also some of you are indicating that you checked in in dedicated repositories all the info/docs that belongs to Cisco. Can you still do that after they cut you off from accessing all the Cisco Network Systems ? I mean if you pretend that you did not know you were going to be laid off then you won't do that in advance so then how do you check them in ?

Whatever you return, make sure you get someone to sign a sheet saying that they have received it on behalf of Cisco.

Reviews, pay stubs and other personal information can end up on it and I don't trust Cisco so I did everything I could to wipe the drive before returning it. Everything that was Cisco's was checked in to relevant repositories managed and backed up by Cisco before the wipe.

For me, it's not a trust issue, it's a human error issue. Especially during a mass LR where hundreds of people are turning in their laptops on the same day at a site, and each site is then sending all of these laptops to the Asset Team where it's now thousands of laptops that have to be sanitized. It's just too easy to think a laptop has been purged when it hasn't.

In years past, I was sort of the "go to" person for my team when they had a refresh. Once they'd transferred all their data from the old laptop to the new one, they'd give it to me to do a DBAN (HDD days) or a low-level format or secure erase (SSD days) of the drives and re-image them to the basic "Cisco" image.

When someone who worked remote (pre-pandemic days) on our team quit, he shipped back his laptop and our manager had me pack it up & ship it back to the US Asset Team in SJC. Turns out, when they received it, it was not his current laptop, but the previous one. Apparently he failed to return the old laptop during his refresh while on another team so our manager didn't know he'd kept one. They reported him to HR who contacted him to try to get the newer laptop back, and when they didn't, they filed a police report for stolen property against that ex-employee. Yes, the BU had to pay for that laptop and the previous BU apparently paid for the older laptop, but he got "dinged" for stealing from the company when he kept the new one. Not sure how badly that impacted him, but it's there for a background check in the future to find.

Things that have to returned are things with asset tags.

That haven't been depreciated off the books...

Things that have to returned are things with asset tags.

I’ve been on the other side of this - chasing someone to return a laptop. It honestly doesn’t matter. Even if you return it we still get told it wasn’t returned and are on the hook for the cost. They might care about a deskpro but that’s it. If it’s not registered against you when you look up the equipment assigned to you through the portal then just keep it.

I think they are more worried about what is on the laptop SSD than the value of the laptop itself.

Reviews, pay stubs and other personal information can end up on it and I don't trust Cisco so I did everything I could to wipe the drive before returning it. Everything that was Cisco's was checked in to relevant repositories managed and backed up by Cisco before the wipe.

I think they are more worried about what is on the laptop SSD than the value of the laptop itself. That's why its return is non-negotiable.

I randomly had two laptops (came via an acquisition). I kept both. People chase you for a while but speaking as a second line leader at the time, all that happens is that your cost centre pays for the 'loss'. No big deal.

@1rbu, so you are the one that made a piercing through the SSD! Expect to receive a bill soon.

I only returned my laptop. Nicely returned it and made Cisco pay to ship it back. I kept everything else including the power cord.

I was going to pop off the letters spelling Cisco but I didn’t, not worth the time. And I’m an adult.

The laptop mainly, but plenty of people don't bother returning that, either. It just hits the cost code of the dept you left, no one actively chases you for that long

I returned my laptop after I drilled a hole in the SSD.

Did you ever think about reading the email or contacting HR? Did you pay for it or do you just want to keep the stuff?

keep the monitor, the docking station, the chair, the mouse. laptop MUST be returned.

Did some just steal your laptop? ;-)

Just return the laptop. Try not to damage it lol.

Just the laptop needs to be returned within a week after you sign