The official word was the LR is similar to the ER. How similar is the question that needs to be answered.
There's 2 phases.
"Your role is at Risk" and here's your options. Voluntary LR package or take a leave of absence with no guarantee of a role to return to.
OR
"Your role has been eliminated" here's your package and don't let the door hit you on the way out.
Dysfunctional. I’m talking about what Fran has been saying and what they will claim on Oct 7th.
LR is “your business function is going away”.
Nope. When I was LR'd back in '16, I was supporting a legacy app and was it's SME. I was at a fairly junior level at supporting the newest tool on the block, but I was making good progress to becoming a SME for it (and I am now the #2 guy on my new team in regards to SME status on the new tool).
I was LR'd and my responsibilities dumped on a teammate. That teammate is still, after 4 years, the responsible SME for that tool which is still used today at Cisco. How is that "my business function is going away?". It's been 4 years and it's still there, just in the hands of a guy 10 years younger than me.
When I was LR'd back in '11, I might agree that my business function was going away, but it took 2 yrs for it to be gone. I could have been kept for 2 more years to retire it and then LR'd, but I was axed due to a disagreement with the manager then. The '16 LR was purely about cutting costs, not about retiring the business function.
Yes, I've been LR'd twice from Cisco. And I'm back again. Why, because Cisco needs my skills in multiple teams and I keep getting asked to come back. And I'll keep taking their severance packages and finding new jobs and putting their severance packages in my retirement savings. It would have been cheaper for Cisco to have just kept me and move me to the other team(s), but hey, I'll keep taking their money. Obviously my business function didn't go away or I wouldn't be able to come back. It just shifted teams.
Tell that to your teammates.
ER is different to LR, ER is Jack/Bill/Jane is going away.
LR is “your business function is going away”.
If the LR is 2-3%, you can spread stuff around the rest of the team.
If it’s 10-15%, then you have to seriously look at what your doing.
Yes, the lazy managers will just try to spread the peanut butter thinner, but that doesn’t work.
Additionally, my team is full of people with very different skills, at a very deep level. My skills are very rare inside the company, less than five across CX, DE, can talk about it at even a superficial level. This skill isn’t CV-19, my colleagues aren’t going to catch it by spending 15 mins in the same room as me.
If they are eliminating your position, then it doesn’t exist.
There’s nothing to hand over. I’m in the garden 2 mins later.
Tell that to your teammates. The lie is that your position was eliminated to justify getting rid of you, but unless the project ends, the service you supported is decommissioned, or whatever, then your work has to be done by someone, usually your teammates for 3-6 months until a contractor is hired.
But I was more talking about people taking the early retirement or the voluntary LR. Someone has to pick up the work for everyone that took the CEP. Teams that have to cut 10-20% of their team to reduce the budget by 10-20%, the work didn't stop existing, just your role. Someone IS going to end up doing your job. "Do more with less." "Work smarter, not harder." "Automate it." "Cut the red tape out of the process and streamline it." That's what teams are told after the LR decimates the team.
Anyone who declines the voluntary exit is foolish because it will pay out more than the involuntary and I know for our area, 100% of the people notified will be gone when this is over. So take the voluntary payout and find the next gig.
@1aqt+176SvKsI
When I was laid off at another IT company similar to Cisco, my manager disagreed with the people getting laid off and was told by his manager he had to do them all. The 2nd line went on 2 weeks vacation. The manager quit the day of the layoffs after telling the people. Just left his badge, computer, and all company stuff on the 2nd lines desk with a note saying "I quit". Manager had no clue about work transition, who work could transition to, and even who was let go. On my exit, he asked who I transitioned my work to and my response was "to the person my manager told me". I signed the paper and was done. He asked who it was and I told him it was my manager. No one knew what I did, how much work it was, and any of the 20 systems I used for my job.
The best part were all the calls begging to come back as I laughed that they couldn't afford my rate. I said the only way I come back is as a private consultant on a $100k contract for 200 hours. They almost did it too but in the end I told them I was just hired into a new company and would not have time for them.
The rule is do not do ANYTHING that is not clearly documented by your manager. You are no longer an employee and your direction must come from the manager. Being told to "transition your work" is not explicit. It has to be detailed.
I was once laid off by a very major computer company that no longer exists. The project I was on was a world wide launch event for a major new generation of silicon and systems based on it. I was building all the demos and stuff for the event, and the team I was on were doing the whole launch setup.
The trouble was that the launch was 7 days after our last day, and most of the team was also affected.
We got a call from the VP begging us to do the launch, for no pay. He tried to shame us into it saying that we had a termination payout and should complete our tasks if we were professionals. He refused to extend our dates or anything. Just wanted it done, just like we were still employed. I don’t know what would have happened with insurance or workplace injury. They would have been sued to hell.
In the end, they paid us contractor rates for the last 14 days. Of course, that VP got laid off soon after, but he was able to extend his payoff so that it started in the first few days of the next tax year. One rule for the goose, no rules for the gander.
If they are eliminating your position, then it doesn’t exist.
There’s nothing to hand over. I’m in the garden 2 mins later.
If Cisco offers a like LR that is the same or very similar to the ER, then expect a possible Class Action Suit. When offering these types of scenarios, it shows that the true nature of a company when Executive Leadership earns millions in incentives and spends more on them then worrying about the lives of their employees. You can say all you want, but tie ELT money to profits and Cisco fall VERY short of their goals and should bare the cost as well.
If you are affected by LR, what groups are copied in email/notice. How are project leads notified?
I imagine it will be handled just like the CEP or early retirement package was handled.
It's unclear if you'll have a 1:1 w/ your manager or if you'll get an email on Oct 7th saying you're at risk. Most likely, it will be a 1:1 meeting, or in groups that have a large number of "at-risk" people, a group meeting.
You have a period of time to decide if you elect to take the voluntary package and then, if approved it's between you and your manager on how to transition your work to others. On our team, someone who took the CEP, it was announced during the next team meeting he was leaving and his duties were delegated out to several people. For those taking the CEP, I think they were expected to work to transition their duties during the last 30 days of their employment. For the phase 1 volunteers, I can see where they might expect you to work that last 30 days to make an orderly transition as well. For those in the mandatory phase 2 LR, your manager will probably be making plans for your work to transition before you get notified.
When I was suddenly LR'd way back in '11, my manager revoked all my accounts/access to everything except the Intranet/email and building access BEFORE my 1:1 meeting and told me to leave for the day and that I could return that evening to clean out my desk. He said if I needed to use the printer or any other "on-site" services to use another building and not to visit the team's office area again. I was a dead man walking. I left it up to him to delegate my work to my co-workers and I made zero effort to pass on any status, tips, info, etc. If he was going to be a jerk about it, then I had no obligation to help Cisco any further and too bad for my co-workers who had to pick up my responsibilities and handle them. I was the only one on my team with my particular skills and had no backup, so they had to just figure it out from all my documentation that was written until they could shut down the services I supported and retire them. I heard it was a fun six months for them.
If you are affected by LR, what groups are copied in email/notice. How are project leads notified?
Phase 1 is only to keep people for another 4 weeks and then k–l them off with a reduced package. They are only doing phase 1 because it makes it look like it’s your choice.
So phase 1 is given to those whose role is not needed for the time being but they wouldn’t mind keeping longer term, whereas phase 2 is more personal as you’re out whether you like it or not??
Wow, if so that’s possibly the most soul destroying redundancy program I’ve heard of.
There will be two LRs. Phase One notifications go out Oct. 7. Employees will be given 3 choices: (1) take LR package and leave; (2) take a LOA w/ 12 months medical but no pay, w/ no job guarantee upon return; (3) stay for X # of weeks and look internally/externally for another job. Phase Two notifications go out Dec. 4. No choices; exit date January 4. Don't know what the payouts are for each but I believe the second will be less than the first.