Will Cisco engage in another round of layoffs? yes. 100%
Will Cisco LRs happen next week? in November on the Q1 earnings call? in February on the Q2 earnings call? in May for Q3 or August for Q4/FY ? yes, probably.
Is Cisco bad? no. Cisco us a soulless entity (a corporation) that exists to enrich it's owners (shareholders). Some of the people who lead Cisco may be 'bad' but that is a value judgement.
You, the employee, have a choice to make. You can work and consume based on yesterday's economy or you can make some changes now.
You WILL get laid off and the economy, hiring environment and future looks bleak. These are facts and why you and your colleagues are feeling hyper stressed right now. IT feels unnatural. It feels different.
In the past a looming LR was a bad feeling, now its panic.
Use that panic to do something.
There are essentially two levers that you have control of, Your personal investing and your personal spending.
one the spending side the alarm klaxon should be wailing right now. start with the big rocks, for maost of you these are housing, transportation, healthcare, debt servicing ann education. For some of you it's bourbon, handbags or gadgetry.
This is not a "Latte Factor" discussion, saving $4 a day will not cut it.
Go hard. Be relentless. Sell your luxury car (while you can) and buy a reliable one. no one cares.
Trade down to a smaller, more affordable house in a nice neighborhood.
Review all of you insurance and healthcare needs and find ways to reduce expenditures.
on the investing side, build a cash reserve equal to 6 moths of expenses (at a minimum) Money Markets still earn close to 4% which is a great return for short term investments.
while you are doing that make sure you are investing enough into your 401K to get the company match (I don't work for Cisco but assume 4-5%) once you have your 6 months of expenses, max your 401k.
One benefit this gives you is that it helps you to remain tied to your ethical anchor. your principles and values matter. Financial stress creates ethical dilemmas. Financial Independence allows you to avoid many of those.
Cisco doesn't care about you because Cisco can't care about you. Some people at Cisco are good, some are bad. Embrace the good, reject the bad and stay true to yourself.