Thread regarding Cisco Systems Inc. layoffs

@11b i would be surprised if AI knows about I.T people abusing csco work ethics. You must be one of them.

@117 AI wrote that post, be honest. Wipe the spittle from your lips and grow up yourself

@116 bad leaders, who are they? Sure classmates from I.T, and bad PE ICs? Sure those are I.T classmates i promoted over time. Why will i put them on improvement plans? will always finds someone else(o.d/wh.t.) to be on improvements plans as my classmates are supernatural on paper(but can not fix or create anything in real world). Pls grow up and open your eyes to see whats really happening at Cisco.

@zk Are there bad leaders, sure. There's also bad IC's too. There's badness everywhere and an acceptance of mediocrity at many levels. That's life, and people in here moaning about "bad managers" sound pretty childish honestly

If you actually believe the OP here has no idea and this is "out of the blue" though, I've got a bridge I can sell you.

@xf The mis-information is a direct result of Cisco not documenting processes and policies. It's also a direct result of absolute sh-t mgmt not clearly explaining what is going on in situations like this. If there were more quality leaders explaining wtf is going on to their ppl vs protecting their own as--s, things like this would be easier to understand and react to. Perhaps you are one of those, but know you are in the low single digit % of the "leadership" population that has gotten their roles via actual leader skills. The workforce here is suffering and it's full on lack of skilled leaders.

@xf 100% manager is at fault. What else is manager’s role?

There are good managers, and then there are su-kers who think they are paid highly to put employees on DC and then LR. Get real and get the F*CK out.

So much misinformation and paranoia in this post. @w7 said it the best. This is not some rebranded PIP or some ELT scheme to cut cost. Fact of the matter is that your performance is sub-par, and your leader is trying to address it. As a leader, we can’t just put you straight on a PIP. We have to open a performance case with HR, and get their approval, only AFTER the DC process has been done can we PIP you. Think about it, HR’s job is to protect the company. They wouldn’t let us PIP you with no supporting reasons and paper trail, otherwise that would open Cisco up to liability for a wrongful termination suit.
If HR recommended DC and eventually a PIP, it’s warranted. In other words, you’re full of cr-p that your performance is stellar and this is out of the blue. Get your sh1t together or start updating your resume.

I'm assuming it's to teach people how to say "we took three years and five times the staff to finally abandon a project we said would be done in a month because it was far more difficult than anyone could have predicted!" convincingly. Managers who do this well get promoted and a corporate specified percentage of worker bees get tossed.

Answers to questions. 1 - This isn't a PIP, it's a precursor to save you from a PIP. You're not at PIP levels of bad, this is instead of that. 2 - Yes, your managers have probably been discussing letting you go, as a result of your performance. 3 - This is a precursor to a PIP. At the end of the process, a decision will be made, did you fix things to the satisfaction of your boss. If so, then you move on and be happy, if not then you will either go into PIP or be offered to leave with a severance. If you take the severance you leave with money in hand, if you go PIP then you could be asked to leave without a severance. Chances are, if you didn't fix it in DC, then you probably won't in PIP. 4 - It does affect renumeration since being on DC will exclude you from comp increases for at least one cycle. 5 - Yes, this makes you vulnerable in future LR's since people will naturally look to those who've had performance issues first.

Listen carefully to the DC, read the letter, be honest with yourself. I don't believe, for example, that you don't know why this happened and had it explained to you. You have to have it explained to you. I've seen people go into DC and turn it completely around. Question is, do you want to? I would say, in this market yes, you do.

If you're older, white & male you're cooked. Take a ramp down leave of absence & find another job.

“No amount of perfume can disguise what something truly is.”

@OP a few months ago my boss mentioned to me they are changing what specific words they use to describe certain things. I think the new term for lr may be "strategic re-alignment" and wouldn't be surprised if they change up the name of PIP. Sure feels like ELT is afraid to face what they are doing to us all and want new "terms" to make it "more friendly" and so they can hide wtf they are really up to.

This is one reason why many politician minded folks become manager at Cisco, and then enjoy torturing engineers.

Documented coaching and PIP are reasons managers feel deeply involved with company success. And bring revenue gains .

call their bluff

I’ve run these processes with people on my team, only after months of informal coaching failed to improve performance. Documented coaching is the step before PIP. One person on my team did successfully complete coaching and we didn’t move to PIP.5

Yeah, your director was told they needed to have a certain percentage of people "not meeting expectations". Unfortunately, you're one of those people.

I have seen people come out of it before..so there's hope. You have to really look to see if there's something you're NOT doing or could be doing better. If not, you're cooked.

What youre experiencing is called 'euphemistic rebranding'. Documented coaching is just a fancy word for PIP. I suggest work the same way you are right now and look for a new role ASAP. Dont let them keep you tied up with a carrot on a stick in front of you

Sounds like a sanitized name for a PIP. Start looking for another job, since they didn't tell you this was for your career advancement.

I survived documented coaching last year, it was a six week long process with very detailed documentation about my work priorties and tasks. It ended without any result or summary or commentary. The good thing is it doesn‘t effect any bonus things that may happen in this period.

There must be something shady going on. In my team, at least 3 hard working folks with high visibility (g10-g12) have been put on such coaching plan (not PIP). Coaching objectives - most of them were fabricated total BS.

PIP = Paid Interview Period. Good luck!

They don’t need a paper trail for an LR. Documented coaching is about the individual. Sadly, they are planning to move you out of the business.

Haven't heard of this process before; it may be considered the 'new-n-improved' 90 day Performance Improvement Plan (PIP), which in years past, was an inevitable precursor to being shown the door.