AUGUST 20, 2024 — 6,000 EMPLOYEES TARGETED
In a second round of layoffs this year, the company has announced it is targeting 7% of its workforce or approximately 6,000 employees. This follows 4,000 layoffs last year.
AUGUST 10, 2024 — DANGER AHEAD
Published reports claim that “CISCO will cut thousands of jobs in a second round of layoffs this year as the U.S. networking equipment maker shifts focus to higher-growth areas, including cybersecurity and AI.”
The sources, who were not authorized to speak publicly, said the number of people affected could be similar to or slightly higher than the 4,000 employees Cisco laid off in February. They also said the number will likely be announced as early as Wednesday with the company's fourth-quarter results.
FEBRUARY 29, 2024 — 700 LAYOFFS
Cisco has announced layoffs of 729 employees in San Jose (447), Milpitas (174), and San Francisco, California (108). The layoffs are scheduled for April 15, 2024.
Thousands more remain at risk.
FEBRUARY 9, 2024 — WARNING: THOUSANDS OF LAYOFFS AHEAD
According to published sources, “Cisco is planning to restructure its business which will include laying off thousands of employees, as it seeks to focus on high-growth areas, according to three sources familiar with the matter.”
The company previously laid off 4,100 employees, or about 5% of its workforce, as part of a workforce reduction launched in November 2022.
SEPTEMBER 17, 2023 — 350 EMPLOYEES TARGETED FOR LAYOFFS
The company has reported that it plans to lay off 350 employees on or around October 16, 2023, affecting workers in San Jose, California, and Milpitas, California.
JULY 21, 2023 — NOTHING TO SEE HERE
Cisco is claiming current layoffs were part of the 4,100 job cuts it had previously announced in 2022.
According to the company, “As we announced then [2022], this is not about cost savings as we have roughly the same number of employees as we did before the process began. This rebalancing is about prioritizing investments in our transformation, to meet and exceed our customers' expectations in the changing technology landscape.”
DECEMBER 15, 2022 — LAYOFFS BEGIN
Quarter 1 - The fiscal Year 2023 statement…
“On November 16, 2022, Cisco announced a restructuring plan in order to rebalance the organization and enable further investment in key priority areas.
This rebalancing will include talent movement options and restructuring.
Additionally, Cisco will optimize its real estate portfolio, aligned to the broader hybrid work strategy.
Cisco will take action under this plan beginning in the second quarter of fiscal 2023.
NOVEMBER 17, 2022 — 4,000 EMPLOYEES TARGETED FOR LAYOFFS
Cisco Chief Financial Officer Scott Herren announced a “limited business restructuring,” to be shared with employees, that will right-size its real-estate portfolio and impact about 5% of its 80,000 workers worldwide — or 4,000 people. “This is about rebalancing across the board,”
NOVEMBER 19, 2021 — RED FLAGS FLYING?
The company has announced that it is extending its annual holiday shutdown and doubling the amount of mandatory paid time off that North American employees will have to take at the end of the year.
A company spokesperson noted, "This time away not only benefits our well-being, but it also has a positive financial impact on our business and helps support our sustainability goals. This is why the Executive Leadership Team has decided to extend the shutdown."
“Cisco employees look forward to the holiday shutdown each year to disconnect and recharge for the new year. We also know that this past year has been difficult for our employees as they continue to juggle work/life demands and uncertainty amid an ongoing pandemic.
There is nothing unusual about the shutdown which Cisco uses as a way to reduce operating expenses for the year, reduce energy consumption, and encourage employee wellbeing.
AUGUST 12, 2021 — FEAR OF LAYOFFS RETURNS
According to published reports, “Cisco's fiscal year ends in July, and August and September typically bring the biggest layoffs. The firm's business has traditionally centered on selling networking switches and routers, but CEO Chuck Robbins has charted a course to transform Cisco into more of a software company, leading to ongoing upheaval among the company's workforce.
Cisco laid off at least 3,500 employees in 2020, or roughly 4% of its global workforce, which the company described as part of a "restructuring plan."
OCTOBER 6, 2020 — EMPLOYEES FEARING OCTOBER SURPRISE
After the company announced plans to cut their expenses by $1 BILLION on August 12, 2020, CISCO employees are fearfully awaiting layoffs — rumored to begin in October 2020.
MARCH 14, 2020 — ANOTHER 395 EMPLOYEES GONE
The company has announced the layoffs of 395 employees, 224 layoffs in San Jose, California and 171 in Milpitas, California.
According to a company spokesperson, “This is part of an ongoing process of aligning our investments and resources to meet the evolving needs of our customers and partners. Our continued focus is on transforming Cisco and driving the innovation that will secure the long-term, profitable growth of the business.”
AUGUST 15, 2019 — ANOTHER 488 EMPLOYEES GONE
While the company refuses to elaborate on the decision-making process or the reason for the layoffs, filings with the State of California indicate that 488 employees were laid off; 397 from the company’s San Jose headquarters and another 91 from their Milpitas office. The layoffs were as of July 31, 2019.
The layoffs were mostly contained to mid-level personnel including: analysts, business operations managers, designers, engineers, product managers and technical leaders.
Original post…
San Jose, California-based Cisco Systems, the iconic manufacturer of networking hardware and telecommunications gear, has announced that it will being executing an organizational restructuring, cost-cutting and consolidation effort resulting in the layoff of about 500 employees from their San Jose headquarters, Milpitas, California facility, and elsewhere. The layoffs include employees from product marketing, business operations, global architecture and technology services.
According to Chief Customer Experience Officer Marina Martinez, “we have made the difficult decision to move forward with a restructuring that will affect some of our CX [customer experience] colleagues. Over the past 34 years, Cisco has established itself as a remarkable company by all measures. We’ve remained relevant and competitive because of our ability to adapt to the ever-changing needs of our customers. We now find ourselves at an important inflection point — one that calls us to, once again, evolve in order to stay ahead of the market. With that, comes changes in some parts of the company, including CX. CX is a people business above all else, and I have witnessed the phenomenal care that this organization takes of our customers and our colleagues. This will serve us well as we work through this season of change. You have my commitment that we will continue our culture of looking after one another."
The customer experience group is primarily a sales support group dedicated to providing customer service with the end goal of getting enterprise customers to updating their systems hardware, software and renew their Cisco support licensing.
Cisco is no stranger to mass layoffs with 5,500 layoffs announced in August 2016, 1,100 layoffs in May 2017, and 310 layoffs in September 2017. Which is not all that unusual for a company with approximately 70,000 employees worldwide, including 14,000 in California’s Silicon Valley.
Change is coming. There will always be a tomorrow, no matter how much you may try to ignore it. There are no guarantees in life, or promises for a bright future. Just because something bad hasn't happened yet, doesn't mean it won't. It can happen to anyone, anytime, anywhere. No one is guaranteed to wake up tomorrow and still have a job by evening. Are you now wondering, Am I Next?