I'm new to this forum. I work in OpenDNS, which was acquired by Cisco a year ago.
Do you know for how long typically companies acquired by Cisco are safe from layoffs?
12 replies (most recent on top)
Two years is about right. Even Flip lasted that long.
LRs are hitting higher grade levels and those 40+ in nontechnical roles ALL OVER THE PLACE. It has NOTHING to do with quality of work. We're losing top tier talent for this reason alone. The deadwood are contractors who thru no fault of their own are tasked to infill the LR talent at lower rates and ability
Good thread
You have quite a big chance to be safe this time.
That all really depends on what was written in the acquisition convenants (so how hard (if at all) your pre-acquisition execs were willing to fight for their employees safety post-acquisition) and the degree of integration with the rest of the cisco machine.
If it was just a year ago, then you're probably not fully integrated yet. Also, if you still have your old execs, thiat puts you in a better position. However, you will not be immune forever - at some point, you may experience an "extra" layoffs, not aligned with the company wide activities. This will happen if you won't meet expectations set-out during the acquisition, or something nasty blows up. Checkout the story of NDS for some example.
If you were hired after the acquisition (I don't mean like a day or two after, but a two- three months or), then this is a whole different story. In this case, if there is any preassure on the BU to cut HC, you may be one of the first to go.
You'll be OK. I was in TelePresence in the CETG. Our division bought Tandberg. Our problem was different - Tandberg basically bought us because all the mgmt and the SVP was in Oslo, and there is all that offshore money they can't bring back without paying taxes, so offshore businesses can make more sense. They finally got rid of the original TelePresence guys last year - i was laid off a week before John's big shindig at Levi Stadium. I still went - why shouldn't I? I'm not the one who screwed up. So in some cases, it can go the other way - established Cisco people can go, even if your BU is blowing out their numbers. The comment above about replacing with red badges is spot on and that's exactly what happened to me - after my LR was complete, they wanted to hire me back at 20% less pay and no benefits. I'm in a much better place now, but good luck to the people who are still there, layoff season is no joke.
You are safe for a min two years. Will make it past this storm.
@tkn LRs are impacting many who were extremely strong non-technical performers. Those who are higher pay grades are impacted first and are replaced if at all with low paying red badges.
As long you are performing per your job duties, you are much safer that regular Cisco Employees :) OpenDNS is in good spot. That because I sort of am in same BU as yours :) If your question is about opendns team in general, no you guys are in much safer position !!!
They will never layoff people from acquired company as a matter of rule. Layoffs are based on performance and BU productivity. Your team is in very good spot !
2 years is the rule of thumb on acquisitions
@efa is a troll. The answer here is 'it depends'. It typically takes a year to integrate (relatively speaking) and they do not want to spook people off. The layoffs will come trust me, but you may be safe for year longer (or so)...
Source: Own Experience (Scientific Atlanta)
Never
What time is it?