I took a package in the last 4 years and am happily ensconced at a SaaS startup. Not making quite the same coin as at Cisco, but am much happier (my wife continues to comment on this).
An opening came up for a role at Cisco that I would fit, and for a brief moment, I considered applying. Then I realized I was still suffering some amount of Stockholm Syndrome, and let it go.
Honestly, I don't know how you long term-ers at Cisco function day-to-day. Good luck to all of you.
For people over 40 who've been LR'd instead of being eligible for the early retirement opportunity, another reason is to get their foot back in the door for conversion to employee status for however long it's necessary to be eligible for the retiree benefits.
A person on my team came back for 5 yrs as a contractor after a LR where they were 11 months short of being eligible for the retiree benefits, so they enjoyed the paycheck w/o having to deal with weekly check-ins, writing V2MOMs, bi-weekly 1:1's, etc. but missed out on the 401(k) and ESPP as well as the much better health benefits at a lower cost. Now they've converted and are eligible for the next ER offer and get the retiree benefits if they're LR'd w/o the option of taking the ER package, so they've said they'll put up with the employee BS while they wait for the axe to drop. Due to their age, we all know it won't be long before it drops and they won't have to put up with it for long and they can enjoy the easy money & low stress working environment. I'd probably do the same thing if I was close to 55.
I know someone that came back from retirement as a contractor. All I can think is why? There's a million other places I'd rather be at that age.
For the money. Especially as a contractor you've cut out all the drama of being an employee and can focus on doing the work, Every payday the books are cleared and you make a decision that this arrangement still works for you.
There's a lot of good people at Cisco that are a pleasure to work with. Unfortunately there are also some negative situations. I've been at multiple companies in my career and have experienced ups and downs at all of them. If you find yourself in the latter group you should be working to move to a more positive setting.
I know someone that came back from retirement as a contractor. All I can think is why? There's a million other places I'd rather be at that age.
It took me four months to land a new job. You have to be living in fear for not taking the package when it was offered. Who ever did not take the package and denies being scared to find a job in the outside world is lying to you. Main reason they stayed was out of fear.
It's a whole different world outside Cisco .
I took the ER in 2020. I can't imagine ever going back to Cisco. I enjoyed my time there but like working in a smaller and growing company much better. Not to mention better pay, work like life balance, and better atmosphere overall.