Thread regarding Cisco Systems Inc. layoffs

great post!

"over-emphasizing irrelevant issues" is done on purpose and is meant as distractions from poor business performance, lack of vision, lack of solid product pipeline.

CEO brought in so called "new blood", so there's no personal attachment and these EVPs/SVPs can let folks go with no sense of shame or attachment. I get that it's all business, dont take it personal, but thats what separates great companies from mediocre. You must have courage to actually reach impacted folks and help them.

Cisco new executive team is full of wimps. Just another upper management team full of hypocrites, a-moral selfish pricks who only care about their golden parachutes.

It's not a coincidence when MPLS guys left, chief strategy guys jumped and several other leaders. It's getting toxic...

What's worse is when the upper management IS technical, and they're STILL full of st. I thought Gee Rittenhouse must be a clueless MBA type so I looked him up on LinkedIn -- No! He has a freaking EE Ph.d. from MIT! And he's STILL an asole. Talks like a corporate suit and never answers a question straight -- always the weasel words and the BS.

Social issues that an IT company is not charged or equipped to solve are a big distraction, but forgetting your core business is another reason the market leader is losing share to competitors who actually want their hardware business.

@W0T0Im5-vhm - was yesterday tough for you to 'do what you were told'?

@W0T0Im5-kam - "best run financially"? Laying off qualified engineers to replace them with unqualified third party vendor call centers overseas seems like a sound financial decision to you? This is what Maria was hired for specially - so there is specifically an issue somewhere we little people just don't know about yet.

Cisco can't help it. The word is its going belly up.

@W0T0Im5-kam Certainly would expect him to be jaded.

Best financial run we’ve had in a long time as you say, so why layoff right before the holidays? I was not impacted but know many who were, several already on teams with low resources and support from upper management, those engineers left over are going to have an even heavier workload. I know people who are already working 12-15 hour days and now are expected to do more even though the company is supposedly doing well?

Who is benefiting from the company doing well? I’m certainly not, my colleagues are not, I haven’t met anyone who is. Perhaps that’s because those who are benefiting get to tell you remotely over webex from their new house paid for in stock options that you’re losing your job or your valuable team members are losing theirs. If you were involved in any of these types of conversations I hope you at least had the balls to tell them eye to eye.

yes i agree that the frequent layoffs is not healthy for employee morale and loyalty. Maria is focused on customer satisfaction and ignoring employee satisfaction. Employees make the company, there is nothing we can sell to customers if there are no employees.

Sadly money is where the power is -- that is becoming evident with today's layoffs. I am not saying this to vent out, i am not affected this time - but this is the blank truth.

If you are talented you will find job somewhere else. Why crib sitting here ? We know nowadays business leaders are become like a FALSE house calling family n team when needed. They will chuck the same family member out. So be practical and keep moving ahead with new technology without holding any sentiments.

Those at upper VP level have no choice. They are told to cut. It’s not something they would like to do as most of them get it. It’s mandated above them who don’t get it.

sounds 100% accurate. only an empty suit in the good ol' boys club would say the original poster is jaded

Sounds pretty jaded to me... best run financially for numerous quarters, major transition into next generation platforms.... layoffs are never easy but your comments are emotional, non specific and inaccurate

whoever you, you are 1000 percent right.

The same applies to Intel, HP, etc...

#GOLD POST

Longevity, loyalty, and technical skill mean nothing to Cisco.

Over the past few years, Cisco has made it increasingly clear they are more concerned with propagating irrelevant social issues rather than maintaining focus on its core technologies and product line. Those in charge of the CX "restructuring" are wildly out of touch with what is required for Cisco to thrive long-term. Offshoring jobs for cheap, cutting key technical players, and over-emphasizing irrelevant issues like homelessness and race/gender all are damaging Cisco at a rapid rate.

Keep in mind most of these fools in upper management are non-technical, and thus aren't equipped with the knowledge or skill set to make rational decisions for this company. Once you reach VP level and above it's all one big boys' club facilitating corruption and ignorance. We continue to see upper management and PR teams grow and grow, while it's the technical teams that are taking the blow, all in efforts to manipulate quarterly earning reports. This model is not sustainable, and morale continues to lower as we witness Cisco's total disregard for its employees. This great "culture" we hear management so often boast about is blatant propaganda, existing only to coerce employees to trust Cisco and provide loyalty, while they will inevitably stab us in the back without giving a second thought.

And yes, as other's have stated, Cisco is not the only company with these issues. Rather, Cisco is becoming a phenomenal example of what happens when a company gets to big for it's own good, becomes mismanaged, and begins to stray from it's core business model that once made it great.

Amen x2!

Amen...