Thread regarding Cisco Systems Inc. layoffs

How long until RTO becomes 5 days and then zero remote workers that cant commute.

This is what IBM just did and let go people who are not near an office with severance. Unsure if Cisco could accomplish the same.

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| 3671 views | | 25 replies (last March 14, 2025) | Reply
Post ID: @OP+1jnw60112

25 replies (most recent on top)

...so unless your contract guarantees WFH for an entire lifetime I'm betting they'll find a way to get rid of you if they so desire.

At least for US employees, 46 out of 50 states, plus the D.C. area are all "at-will" employment states, so odds are Cisco doesn't have "to find a way" to get rid of you if they so desire. They can simply say "You're fired."

Did Cisco send everyone home to work in other countries and is Cisco starting to say they have to come back into the office?

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Post ID: @10z+1jnw60112
I was hired as a remote worker. It wouldn't be a "return" to office, it would be renegotiating my employment contract.

In the past people have torqued off Cisco so badly that they were terminated with no package, so unless your contract guarantees WFH for an entire lifetime I'm betting they'll find a way to get rid of you if they so desire.

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Post ID: @103+1jnw60112

Before Covid, Cisco replaced cubicles and offices with open seating, starting with non-engineering teams. Cisco also shut down lots of buildings.

Suprisingly, everyone on non-engineering teams loved the new set up because the ended up working from home.

Before Covid, engineering mostly used the office space. Working from home one day a week was typical. Still the office was overcrowded with hard to fnd parking in the afternoon and don't even think of finding an unusef toilet. Cisco had only closed more buildings.

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Post ID: @yg+1jnw60112
It wouldn't be a "return" to office, it would be renegotiating my employment contract

re-read your "contract"

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Post ID: @xn+1jnw60112

I doubt RTO will apply to Sales. I'm the only one in my entire team located in SJ so why would it behoove me, my team or Cisco for me to be in a Cisco office?

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Post ID: @v2+1jnw60112

I was hired as a remote worker. It wouldn't be a "return" to office, it would be renegotiating my employment contract.

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Post ID: @td+1jnw60112
At this point way more beneficial to look outside with 20% jump in pay...

As someone who routinely did this and was able to bank enough to retire two decades early compared to what I would need from one company - there are very few companies who will employ you for a lifetime even if you are a cheap deal - I'd say if you can do a 20% jump you should do it and live like you just lost 20% of your income. Anyone who thinks a worker's paradise is around the corner is in for a world of hurt.

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Post ID: @r7+1jnw60112

I RTO due to pressure even though I’m the only one on my team at my site. I discovered that my RTO works fine where I badge into my office, then head home to work. Yes still have to drive and burn gas, but my life is much better WFH.

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Post ID: @qx+1jnw60112

shooting themselves in the foot with RTO and minimal increment. At this point way more beneficial to look outside with 20% jump in pay if RTO is on the table.

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Post ID: @qw+1jnw60112

Anyone relocating and disrupting their kids just in order to comply with this woke company’s ever changing narrative, at constant risk of being LR’d at the whim of that quarter’s numbers is NUTS.

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Post ID: @me+1jnw60112

Cisco is a follower. Once the majority of the Fortune 500 goes RTO, Cisco will follow suit. There may very well be some concession to the legions of WFH staff holding things together...keep your job, but no raises, no promotions. That would slow the attrition rate since tech hiring is in the toilet. No matter what, the legions of folks who moved to a low COL area will either have to move for Cisco or their next job. WFH was fun and a nice life hack but no one should bank on it going forward.

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Post ID: @mb+1jnw60112

Keeping cisco workers wfh helps with the testing of security products. It benefits the company having remote and local employees.

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Post ID: @hs+1jnw60112

I have been WFH the entire 15 years working at Cisco.

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Post ID: @h6+1jnw60112

I’ll take the package
never returning to SJC offices

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Post ID: @h2+1jnw60112

Isn’t there a rule that RTO only applies if you live within 40 miles / 80km of a Cisco Office?

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Post ID: @f0+1jnw60112
Working from home is a COVID-19 holdover.

What do you mean, @ap+1jnw60112, that working from home is a COVID-19 holdover. Cisco had a large percentage of “teleworkers” as far back as 2006 (and probably before that). My 1st manager was in Boston while his entire team was in RTP. Even “traditional” workers had the freedom/flexibility to WFH a couple of days a week.

Far too many people were/are hired that don’t live in SJC, RTP, ALLN, or RCDN. My team would be down to 5% if they laid off everyone who wasn’t local to an office & wouldn’t relocate to a Cisco campus.

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Post ID: @ef+1jnw60112

Glad to retire in six months and out of all this sh-t.

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Post ID: @dn+1jnw60112
Oh please do give those of us who can't be bothered wasting time in the office a package!

A PIP seems more appropriate for the useless.

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Post ID: @dk+1jnw60112

Oh please do give those of us who can't be bothered wasting time in the office a package!

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Post ID: @d9+1jnw60112

Very true I have been remote since 2016 and was Hybrid several years before that with 2 or 3 days remote depending if I was in the datacenter on the weekend and requiring hands on.

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Post ID: @cg+1jnw60112

If Cisco wasn't selling tons of buildings across multiple sites, full time RTO rumors would be more believable. Some groups and people should be in the office full time.

WFH for some might have been triggered by Covid, but for many, WFH has been normal for 10 yrs prior to Covid.

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Post ID: @cf+1jnw60112

RTO is fine for those who didnt hire on as 100% remote to begin with that dont live near the major offices. Everyone else will get sc--wed in the end or have to pick up family and relocate or quit and find a new gig.

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Post ID: @cb+1jnw60112

RTO is the new normal. Accept it or move on.

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Post ID: @c9+1jnw60112

Many of us didn't have the option or need/desire to WFH and the fight to RTO is normalcy. Working from home is a COVID-19 holdover. The more you fight it, the easier it is to let management replace you with strangers from the Sinai Peninsula. They are hungrier than you and cheaper without all the payroll deductions. Good luck!

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Post ID: @ap+1jnw60112

Quiet RTO has been happening for a few months now, ELT is probably testing the waters before making it official.

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Post ID: @ag+1jnw60112

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