Is it just me or are we now at the point where Cisco is performing constant surgical cuts instead of having one major round? It feels like I hear about somebody being let go (laid off, not fired) at least once or twice a week. I don't remember this was the case before, but I could be wrong.
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Yeah except headcount is definitely growing. It was < 75,000 with JC and now it’s almost 85,000 with CR
Come on, give the poor ELT a break. It's hard to keep the headcount flat when you acquire companies too fast and don't have time to absorb them and then get rid of the redundant HR, finance, legal, leadership, administrative, and IT functions while keeping just enough of the core people who know the critical parts so that they don't ki-l the golden goose they bought before acquiring the next company.
Yeah except headcount is definitely growing. It was < 75,000 with JC and now it’s almost 85,000 with CR
As for this "Chuck the kn--e" nonsense did he ever come close to Chambers' first layoff of 27%, or dropping the bottom 5% for years? With this and a stock price that's doubled over 8 years instead of being down 70% over 15 years Chuck seems more of an amateur at failing than John was. Let's see if this Splunk thing finally makes him a worthy competitor.
You've got some good points, but you're also cherry-picking your numbers. Chambers also headed the explosive stock gains back in the day. Chambers became CEO in '95. The stock had a huge gain from '97 to '00. Then the "dot com" bubble burst and it's been pretty flat ever since. I'll grant that since Chuck took over the stock price has been generally positive, but Cisco no longer innovates and just acquires technology by absorbing companies and then laying off the number of people Cisco grew by that acquisition to keep head count numbers about the same level.
Chambers had a huge LR back in 2011 that probably totaled more people than the 27% that was let go back in the first mass layoff just because the total company size had grown so much between the first one and the one in 2011. But Chuck had just as huge an LR in 2016. I can't remember which numbers with with which LR, but one was 5,500 employees and the other was 6,500 employees. I think those exceeded the first layoff. And, if someone has the actual numbers that HR keeps hiding in the spirit of being transparent, I'd have to say that the # of people laid off via all the public and stealth LR's under Chuck since 2016 have exceeded the number of people Chambers let go under his mass reductions and bottom 5% reductions over the years.
At least, under Chambers in the beginning, you knew if you were a target when you got put into the bottom 5%. Now, you can be a top performer one day and gone the next with no warning.
Frankly, I have problems with the leadership styles of both Chambers and Chuck.
@1toz+1p3NKiyJ holy verbal diarrhoea! Either that or ChatGPT explosion. Don’t get a stroke bloke. Breathe. Relax. It’s good for you. Oh, and don’t forget to take your laxatives - you sound severely constipated.
Hope you have a good time here.
You didn't answer my question or refute any fact I put forward. This and the fact that you appeared to use the word "here" to refer to Cisco implies you're not skilled enough to be able to leave.
A few of us who left Cisco ages ago try to teach the profoundly clueless things they repeatedly show on this website they cannot grasp, such as:
- Yes, layoffs do exist, they happen at Cisco, and they may even happen to you
- No, everyone won't quit after Cisco completes what they think is Cisco's first layoff
- No, companies don't grow forever, and many market leaders ultimately fade
- No, not every executive action is all or nothing to the business or its employees
- No, a few years of "woke" doesn't explain the poor quality since the 1990s
- Yes, Cisco's quality problems are a function of actions from the top to the bottom
- Yes, you have to take responsibility for your own career by keeping your skills and professional network up to date on your own time
- Yes, if you feel you could be in a better environment, proactively make that change
We do so for the two to three each round who will eventually learn from it and make better choices despite endless down votes for explaining reality. That we have to repeat these EVERY ROUND indicates many layoffs are more justified than most want to admit.
...may the blade of Chuck the Ripper drink as much blood as possible.
This is reality, not a D&D game.
@1wxx+1p3NKiyJ Welcome to the board, Uncle of Chucky! Hope you have a good time here. Please convey best wishes for a Happy Friday the 13th of October - may the blade of Chuck the Ripper drink as much blood as possible.
"Major rounds" mean WARN (Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification) notices. As you're being adjusted think unlicensed chiropractor rather than surgeon.
As for this "Chuck the kn--e" nonsense did he ever come close to Chambers' first layoff of 27%, or dropping the bottom 5% for years? With this and a stock price that's doubled over 8 years instead of being down 70% over 15 years Chuck seems more of an amateur at failing than John was. Let's see if this Splunk thing finally makes him a worthy competitor.
Just like a kn--e stuck in your back...that is also surgical..
Keeps you off the California "warn" notices and out of the news when you just reorg one department at a time. But makes everyone a basket case of nerves all the time - never knowing when their number is going to be up, never putting in full effort because folks never know if they'll be on the same team in 3 months - so why bother?
With this many re-orgs, most folks have had 3-5 managers over the last year. There is no real point to trying to finish a project. Right as you get some good momentum, you have a new boss and all the priorities change again.
Cisco is hanging itself with it's own rope.
It seems most of the posts on this board are from the UK. Lots of whining. Drink your tea and relax.
Chuck the Kn--e doing what he does best. Scalpel time baby! He has his minions spread out like the tentacles of a poisonous octopus. All the management people right down to the Director level are carefully handpicked to fit the psychotic narcissist profile. Our own SE director in the UKI is a classic example of that. Any decent person in the management layer has been either LRed or is on the list. Bring out the champagne- it’s Chuck The Ripper time!
Death by a 1000 papercuts plus gives the legal teams less work I guess. But fear not it does not mean we cannot get the Big Bang at one moment in time. As in Cisco we always exceed our goals….