As he was getting ready to depart, JC was very explicit (on several occastions):
LAYOFFS ARE THE NEW NORMAL!
Get used to it, it'll happen over and over again. We are in an extremely competitive environment and we are being pressured from all sides. Forget old Cisco, it's 2016 and the tune has changed.
Adopt to the new reality, polish your skills, stay competitive and leave if you do not like it. This layoff instance is just one in a very long sequence. Let it go...
Good thread / the best so far
This is what its all about:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3SVqbM9Nw7Q
Toxic place to be in
It's not the new norm, it's a leadership failure. The LRs that have take place to date were extremely subjective. As long as they stay qualitative, big mistakes will take place as they have in the past. Two years later, we hire the good ones back. The originator of this post is obviously young, with little experience, and has a poor management philosophy. So, if the company gets it right they should be on the list.
Cisco is looking like a baseball/hockey/soccer/basketball/football team with a lot of old players. As a member of them, I am feeling like an old player that cannot get the long term contract offered by the team management. You always feel you are on the edge of the cliff and falling off one day around the end of FY. Every year, July is like a free agent signing of a year contract renewal by the management.
If you observe your role becoming a bit part player, you need to change your mentality and move forward yourself in your own mindset. Every year will become a contract signing process. Ok, I got the contract this year. Ok, I did not get the contract this year. This is the reality.
Unfortunately, frequent layoffs are the new normal because these companies have to satisfy Wall Street demands. Investing in the stock market used to mean that investors were in it for the long haul, but now, investors are looking for quick returns and appear to be selling short more frequently. This in turn causes lack of innovation (don't develop the product; acquire a company who's already got the technology) and the need to reduce costs quickly (frequent layoffs). I'm not saying it's right, and eventually there will be nothing to cut.
And worst of all, the way that Cisco lays off by trumping up accusations of underperformance is shameful. I can't wait to see this sinking ship go down.
Karma is a b--ch, and I'm counting the days until I see a Cisco manager's resume come across my desk looking for a job. "Sorry, you're not a fit at this time!"
Good luck to everyone this round.
Of course management weigh in on the layoffs you plum. But if the SVP says cut 10% of the workforce then they have to cut 10% of the workforce. Some middle management type doesn't make the decision on numbers. "Thanks but we get enough of this perspective from you at work." I'm assuming you are not a manager then. Yet you assume I am because I have a grasp on reality?
Cisco Management weighs in on thelayoff! Thanks but we get enough of this perspective from you at work.
I think you are missing the point. Absolutely it is the new normal at Cisco and in tech companies generally but that is very very shortsighted. Unfortunately what Cisco is saying to its Blue Badges is that you are essentially on a years contract because in July you will start feeling your job is about to disappear and you better start looking. The good employees hope they will get the pay off and move elsewhere on more money. The not so good will stop concentrating on work and start job hunting. I joined in 2011 and the first thing someone told me was that come July everyone starts worrying and the company starts reorganising...limited restructure! Basically it grinds to a halt.
I have had conversations with Red badges who have been offered the opportunity to become Blue and they have turned it down. What's in it for them? More benefits? Not really. Often Red badges are on better salaries.
The point is that every year Cisco grinds to a halt as moral hits the deck. And let's not start blaming managers or HR here. These cuts are imposed from the top. People who are incredibly remote and a focussed purely on the bottom line. Every year Cisco makes acquisitions. Headcount goes up and then there is a cull.
Its just terribly terribly sad. I'm really not sure where this fits in the People Deal (Fran, Chuck ....if any of you guys read these sites).
There is noting normal in having to lay off people every year. Death by the thousand cuts. Morale is already low. It is becoming super unhealthy here...
It's too bad that you think this is the new "Normal" jacka$$. That's a pretty sad statement.