Thread regarding Cisco Systems Inc. layoffs

Don't forget promotions. Just because I don't get promoted, no one else should get promoted.

Cisco really should abolish stupid "Promotion" system immediately.
I'm so sick of getting this stupid " got Promoted" emails year after year, even on weekends.

I don't care who received this or that promotion. I know there are ALWAYS Same Old employees getting that stupid promotion Recog over and over and over. They did not do anything outstanding or accomplish anything great. It's just a tiny mark of completion of a small task which can be done by anyone, even by high school students.

Yet they keep getting it again and again just because they've been staying at Cisco for so long, whereas truly talented and skilled employees get no Promotion ever, whatsoever they do hard, howsoever they accomplish.

"Promotion" is a symbol of unfairness and meaninglessness. Stupidity. So childish!

It is frustrating to see some of the buddy to buddy CRs. Yes I see some repeat offenders. One guy I know of in particular is good on getting his name on everything but does very little. He is “an advisor, consultant and mentor to many” but reality is he says he will help and someone else actually does it, still he gets mentioned in the long list of names being thanked in various group CRs.

Other times it’s expected though. If it was a big project that was completed.

They’re just a small token of appreciation, nothing wrong with over thanking. I prefer that to under thanking.

The main issue I have is when I see people expect it too much. For example if someone volunteered to do something in a project along with other dozens of volunteers. If you did a small task like that don’t ask for CRs. Especially if thank you’s were indeed given in other ways. It is not the ONLY way of saying thank you.

It’s so impersonal, honestly I’d rather just get a nice thank you DM from my manager.

Is NO ONE going to mention the Stereo MC's reference by Anon on March 11, 2023?! +1000!

Rumor is that Fran wants to change it to “Connected Recognition of Kolor” or CROK, since minorities are not getting the majority of the awards. With this scheme, you find somebody with darker skin or more purple in their hair and give them money to recognize their diversity.

Sounds like the attitude and opinion of someone doing the bare minimum to keep their job. Be a part of something beyond yourself. I get connected rec all the time for helping team members, doing stretch assignments, covering while others are on PTO... And I send them all the time, for TAC going the extra mile, for co workers covering while I'm off, for someone working with me when it's not required. Whining about not getting any won't help, but being involved beyond what your role requires will. If you don't want to do any more than squeak by and stay under the radar, more power to you, but some of us give a sh-t.

we all know the CR game, and play it just to look like we actually care what someone else is doing by "recognizing " their hard work, but what we are really doing is making ourselves look good. Oh yeah dont forget the guys who work 80 hours , on 10 calls a day making the customer happy dont get CR, its expected of them ,only the manager pets and admins get the CR, its pretty amusing seeing the write ups. Good scam if you can get it lined up with a buddy.

I've been a Cisco employee for 20 of my 50 years. Joined via acquisition. Connected Recognition is a valuable tool to recognize those who go over and above to help you on efforts. I use them to thank people for helping me to help solve customer problems. Could I do my work without it? Sure. But nothing says 'thank you' like a Benjamin. If you're not getting them, you may not be excelling in your current role.

Unfortunately Cisco has decided to hire for diversity rather than skill and its culture is changing.

I was at Cisco decades before this became the fashion and lost well over a year of my life fixing bugs for people who couldn't pass an intro to data structures course and therefore there was no way to deterministically free many structures.

If people don't know what they're doing and the quality is measurably poor the only thing that's changed since the late 1990s is the value of the stock compensation.

People abusing the CR program has nothing to do with the CR program but rather the people abusing it. If you are seeing abuse then report it. Don’t blame the CR tool. As for people taking credit for work, that will happen whether or not the CR program exists. Unfortunately Cisco has decided to hire for diversity rather than skill and its culture is changing. There will always be credit stealers and virtue signaling leftist gum flappers that get promoted up just by running their mouths and off the backs of the hard working skilled people. Lastly, if your manager is not recognizing your good work, move to another team or leave. I have had good managers at Cisco and I have had bad managers at Cisco….a good manager makes all the difference. Work doesn’t speak, remember that…you have to speak up about your good work to be recognized unfortunately.

Jealous and Envious much? While people can abuse CR’s that’s not the norm from what I see. I give out CR’s to people that deserve CR’s, most often when they bail me out of a jam….. and I get CR’s from Project and Delivery Managers as well as my peers for going above and beyond all the time. If I had to guess, sounds like you work in TAC. I used to work in TAC and it is often time a thankless job…but if you become more of a technical leader and you take the time to teach your co-workers and do case escalation…as well as provide great customer service, you will get them…I know I did! Maybe you should try harder?

I miss the days when managers put up "Walls of Shame." Good times in SJ!

@1pbby+1lAHUMrK, while some people do have a group of friends to do CRs among themselves, many managers will use that fund to recognize their IC's who've worked hard on projects or tasks assigned.

My manager frequently recognizes people on my team work worked on some "flashy" or "high visibility" task. My only issue is that I had to provide the infrastructure or infrastructure changes to to support those tasks and I usually don't get any recognition for enabling them to do that work, at least not from the manager. Sometimes that person recognized will turn around and thank me w/ a CR for enabling them to complete their task. I just don't know if my CR was for the same amount as theirs or not. If it was a significant amount of infrastructure work, or I had issues working w/ an external team to get the infrastructure changes implemented, then I might get recognized for pushing on the external team to make progress.

Stop whining about "fair" and start offering CRs to your team or people that helped you run your initiative and soon they'll reciprocate CRs to you. I'm assuming that your manager isn't recognizing your other team members either. If they are, and you're being overlooked, then you have a disconnect in how you view how you ran initiatives and how your manager views how you ran them.

CR works great for those who have a circle and they take turns nominating each other. It;s not really a fair way to do it but I know that's what's going on. I could be doing great work, running initiatives and doing a great job but if I don't have a clique or group of friends that would send CRs among ourselves, I won't be a recipient of these extra cash every month. It is really not fair and works only for those who know how to game play game.

Maybe you need to find a place that doesn’t have connected recognition and go work there instead of defunding it for the rest of us.

Sounds more like a case of sour grapes and someone with limited self-awareness.

My manager successfully bam it from my team. Not related to us anymore.
But I can not understand why !

Hey OP
Unless you are axed and pretending here, you deserve to be the first in the next round.
as if your inbox is super clean and you are very productive

@1pit+1lAHUMrK, do you not know how email rules work?

While you can't unsubscribe, you can create a rules that marks as read and moves to the deleted folder any messages from .... and optionally with a subject that contains "received recognition recently".

@1iwq+1lAHUMrK, why do you think it's an "unreasonable tool"? It's meant to be used by anyone and everyone. You can submit a CR for a co-worker on your team or some other team. Your manager can submit a CR for anyone on their team or on someone else's team. The only catch is that CR's over some minimum amount have to be approved by your manager, and above a higher threshold by your director. That's why managers tend to give out larger CR amounts than everyday individual contributors, but it doesn't mean that IC's can't award CR's.

Don't blame "stupid ignorant unskilled (people)" for getting CRs because they've been at Cisco much longer and better known among the org. They know how to work the system and you don't, so who's the "stupid ignorant unskilled" person? Submit a CR for a friend. Have that friend submit a CR for another friend in a different team. Then have that 2nd person submit a CR for you. Find a circle of approx a dozen people and you can rotate around who's nominating whom so you're not all recognizing the same person or persons month after month and you can give each other $25 every month. The hardest part is coming with some simple statement each month that's not a repeat of last month.

Bottom line, get some friends instead of whining here.

CR gave them a way out of the glory days when people were recognized with a couple thousand dollars at the end of every project. Nothing says thank you better than $25 for all the extra effort. Sacrificed family time for over a year? Well, then, here's $50!

The connected recognition is the most horrible, most unreasonable, most disgusting program in any existing programs at Cisco. It's representing a toxic, political culture of Cisco.

If you are currently doing something good or helping or assisting any project or for anyone, unfortunately, you would not be the one who would get a Connected Recognition, but another person would actually be the one who's getting it even if he is a stupid ignorant unskilled person even if he was just supported by other people simply because he's been at Cisco much longer and better known among org.

That's Cisco.

Never have I seen such an unreasonable tool in my life!

I wonder how I can stop getting email notification of Connected Recog

Getting Connected Recognition emails is not something you can stop. It's actually not an email notification. It's not something you can unsubscribe. Even if you set it to Junk box, you still get it in Junk box anyway. You can just "Clear" Junk box when you see Junk is bolded without opening Junk box. I guess that's the only way.

Of all the things to complain about at Cisco, you choose CRs? Everyone appreciates them no matter the dollar amount. If you don't like the emails just delete them and shut up!

This guy is patrolling the Cisco threads everyday, and when he found any negative thread or comment, he attacks it by any means to protect Cisco (or to hide the reality of Cisco). He is paid to do it... What a sad job.

Of all the things to complain about at Cisco, you choose CRs? Everyone appreciates them no matter the dollar amount. If you don't like the emails just delete them and shut up!

@fss+1lAHUMrK, I disagree that the OP is someone that is retired in place. They do sound bitter, but it's just because they don't know how to use the Connected Recognition system or email.

Anyone can nominate anyone for basically anything. CRs under a certain threshold don't even require manager approval, so for those "ame Old employees getting that stupid Connected Recog over and over and over" they've figured out how to get their peers to recognize them and they recognize others in return and the OP is just jealous that they have no one to recognize them for completing basic tasks for $25 or $50 each time.

My management team sends $250 CRs to people outside our team when they assist us w/ tasks that we need outside technical support for, or for escalating cases we have to get them closed expeditiously instead of the 2 week SLA. Our management team will also spread the word as the quarter gets near the end that we have X amount left in the CR budget and to use it up before the quarter ends and it's reset for the next quarter. Why throw away free money when everyone can get $50-100 in CR near the end of the quarter?

I wonder how I can stop getting email notification of Connected Recog, which just makes feel so sick!

Hey, OP, you do know you can create an email rule to auto delete these emails if they bother you so much don't you? It's not hard. It's "a small task which can be done by anyone, even by high school students."

whereas truly talented and skilled employees get no Connected Recognition ever, whatsoever they do hard, howsoever they accomplish.

Then that is the fault of your team and no one else. Anyone can submit anyone for a CR. Take some time to nominate someone on your team that did something hard. Maybe they'll take the time to nominate you in return at some later date. If you're not getting nominated, is it because you're not doing anything talented, or is it because no one likes you? Ask yourself that. I get close to $1000 in CRs every year. I get either $250 a quarter, on average, or $500 in the first half of the year and $250 in the second half of the year, and then usually a $25 CR once a month every month, which is about $250 a year.

It's all about your team culture, and your management team. My team likes to use it's CR budget every quarter, and managers will use about 40% of it for people outside our team that assist us getting tasks done ahead of SLA's, 40% for recognizing people on our team who complete special projects, and 20% for us to nominate each other for doing the busy, cr-p work our team has to do that no one wants to do with the monthly $25 CR's.

The connected recognition program is one of the few good things cisco has done right. It is a great way to reward and recognize people across the organization that have done something above and beyond or stand out.

The OP sounds like someone who is bitter that does below standard work and is retired in place.

The program is being changed to the inverse: introducing the "Unconnected Ignorance" award.

With "Unconnected Ignorance", award winners are recognized for ghosting others' email, voicemail, and text correspondence. There will be a VP level award for the VPs and Directors that demonstrate special abilities such as not knowing their employees names, never having skip levels with their staff, and best narcissistic smirking and gesturing at all hands. Bonus points awarded for hoarding new stock options for themselves while laying off the staff they never talk to.

If you make sure you're connected
The writing's on the wall
But if your mind's neglected
Stumble you might fall
Stumble you might fall
Stumble you might fall

Feeling the same on those.