Tech giant Cisco has announced layoffs this year. This is the second layoff happening in the company this year. Due to the layoff, about 5,600 employees have lost their jobs. These employees are about seven percent of the total employees of the company. Earlier, Cisco had fired more than 4,000 employees during a similar layoff in February this year.
Given that Cisco indicated in August 2024 that it intended to reduce the number of employees, but did not provide details about which individuals and departments would be affected, this most recent wave of layoffs is surprising. Employees were not informed until mid-September, resulting in nearly a month of uncertainty for many of them. This delay has resulted in growing discontent among employees, as many of them were misinformed throughout the process.
Insider reports paint a picture of a deteriorating workplace culture, with some employees describing it as toxic due to a lack of communication. TechCrunch, which first broke the layoff news, was told by one employee that it was the worst work environment he had ever experienced at Cisco. The delay in notification resulted in increased anxiety among employees, as they continued to wonder about their future for quite some time.
The company’s threat intelligence and security research section, Talos Security, is also affected by the layoffs, according to information obtained by TechCrunch. In a statement released in August, Cisco said it would be able to “invest in key growth opportunities and achieve greater efficiencies” as a result of its second layoff of the year. In its most recent full-year financial report, Cisco announced that 2024 would be its “second strongest year on record,” reporting annual revenue of nearly $54 billion. The report was released on the same day. According to company records, Cisco CEO Chuck Robbins received compensation of approximately $32 million in 2023.
