Heard from a reliable management source that there will be more layoffs in the UK after the Q2 results are announced. Apparently Enterprise have had a shocking H1 and people above are viewing this as an indicator the rest of the uk will follow in the same way. Lists are already submitted.most will be overlay roles in areas not growing.
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And some of the worst in partner org even get sent to Chairmans Club because their partner has grown hugely, but if you track their overall business growth against the growth of business to Cisco, you can see the guy has actually done a terrible job. Completely devalued the honour of Chairmans when I saw that! Top 1% hahahaha
Forget enterprise matey. Partner org in U.K. has more deadwood than anywhere in the whole company. Look in the dir and try to work out who does what and what the f--- for.
Comma comma comma comma comedian, you come and go, you come and go, ohohah
It was once a "shame" to be LR'd, now it is just nasty and disgusting to remain in Cisco environment.
+1. Used to, if you were laid off, it was because you were one of the worst performers, or were part of a group/team/unit/organization that was losing the company money regardless of your personal performance and that reflected negatively on you. Now days, it's the new normal due to companies like IBM & Cisco who do this annually. Especially when they stop targeting the worst performers in favor of older workers using the excuse that they're too expensive.
I left a few months ago (not LR'd) and can't explain how good it is. I now work for a company that stack ranks sales people on performance only, not how many times you've gone to lunch with the VP and whether you laugh at his jokes.
When people heard I was going, most conceded that they were looking to, but didn't have the courage to make the leap... my advice is just do it! There is a lot of PR in Cisco making you believe it is somehow the best place to work ever. This is compounded by all the mediocraty who knows they couldn't cut it outside Cisco, so walk around as if they've won the lottery. None of this is true. Firstly there are a lot of companies out there that are growing double digits so will be able to give you career opportunity and will pay you more.
Selling infrastructure is so irrelevant today and if you don't re-skill soon your value will depreciate quicker then Cisco's stock price when to markets realise the "strategy" is just marketecture and fluff.
Doh. I actually intended to quote @2sle.
Perhaps that's why I got kicked out of Cisco... :)
Agreed on your last point. When I was in the process of getting that post-Cisco job, I didn't really have to explain why I left or why there's a gap in my CV. I just had to say "redundancy" and the interviewer gave a knowing look.
It's rather sad that this is what the company seems to have become.
@2ymz: Every LR reminds me of the musical-chair game. when the music stops, there is one less chair. Each LR, It becomes more and more difficult to hold on to a job, irrespective of you performing excellent in a rock star team. I find justice in the fact that the manager/ Director callously cutting good-performers, will himself face LR soon.
It was once a "shame" to be LR'd, now it is just nasty and disgusting to remain in Cisco environment.
The only thing that surprises me is that people are surprised by the layoffs. Since the beginning of this century it has been the stated Cisco plan to "manage out" the bottom 5% (preferable 10%) every year.
That was the plan under Chambers. Under Chuckie, they let go the "expensive", i.e. older, 5% (or 10%) workers instead of the worst performers.
I was paid above the median for my pay grade and was 50. The other person on my team was over 40, but had 15 yrs at Cisco and I can only assume he made over the median after so long at Cisco. Both of us received full bonuses the last 2 yrs, so we were not in the bottom 5% or 10%.
If you looked at the numbers from my BU, it was VERY OBVIOUS that the upper pay grades were targeted which targeted the older workers. There was the token young person to offset the bias, but the numbers don't lie. Fortunately, Cisco provided enough severance to make it not worth trying to sue for discrimination, which is probably why Cisco is so generous with it's severance packages. I've heard some people are suing, and I wish them luck.
I wouldn't mind the bottom 5% being LR'd IF, and that's the key point, if they were really the bottom 5%. And not just at the team level, but at a larger BU level. When you have forced rankings like Cisco used to before the "People Deal", rock star teams still had to rank someone in the bottom 5% putting them at risk when other teams top performer did less than the rock star team's worst performer yet was safe from LR and got a bigger bonus while the other got no bonus.
@1lyf: Cut the misogynist BS. Cisco's leadership team is as diverse as it is incompetent.
Just wait buddy. The surprise will in Architecures. Gonna get f'd up royally. The board is gonna look like a place for 40+ Aged aggressive women to rule the roost and massage the leaders...
Talking about leadership, I heard a rumour the lead for Public Sector will be off pretty soon, due to clashes in the board room. UK isn't stable and isn't performing. There is also a big issue with politics where weak people are being promoted or looked after because they suite that VP's agenda, which is not good for the business and takes years to fix. Just look at some of the promotions in Enterprise for evidence.
Interested to see what this new guy bought in to lead commercial will bring. Looking at his background I expect there to be a lot more scrutiny.
The only thing that surprises me is that people are surprised by the layoffs. Since the beginning of this century it has been the stated Cisco plan to "manage out" the bottom 5% (preferable 10%) every year. This goes on while having 20-50 billion dollars in revenues and equivalent. Reducing head count isn't an means to an end. The end is the means.
Some of the leadership announcements next will make even the most cynical shudder with terror. The business will be ripped apart by a women who only loves herself and hates all men. Management is blind to this scum.
Wouldn't be surprised. Cisco doesn't seem to have a strategy beyond decapitating departments that run at even the tiniest loss and hoping that smooths things over with investors.
One day they're going to run out of people to make redundant, and they'll still have products that no one wants or can afford.
I'm a former UK employee and still have friends who are "in". I'm hoping that they make it through the process, but I question why they haven't jumped ship to somewhere more stable!
24th
has VSS (aka SPApps) seen any UK layoffs yet? no? well perhaps that will be starting very soon then.