Despite Regular Layoffs, Cisco’s Recent Job Cuts Have Impacted Morale

Cisco might cut its staff regularly, but the tech giant’s recently announced layoffs seem to have impacted company culture and employee morale, according to new data from the professional social network Blind.

About two out of three (65%) Cisco professionals surveyed by Blind said they “disagreed” or “strongly disagreed” when asked if they believe the company has treated its employees with dignity and empathy in the recently announced layoffs. Blind surveyed 432 verified Cisco professionals in the U.S. in August 2024 to understand employee sentiment about the networking company’s plans to cut 7% of its global workforce, or about 6,000 people, in this year's second layoff.

The negative sentiment of the most recent job cuts might be due to a perception that Cisco could have avoided this reduction in force.

Eighty-two percent of verified Cisco professionals surveyed by Blind believed the company could have taken steps in the last year to avoid the recently announced layoffs.

“Cisco is getting hammered in [the] networking business (their bread and butter),” claimed a verified Cisco staffer on Blind. “The clowns on top have no idea how to turn it around. So, instead of admitting their loss and their incompetence, they are chasing the buzzwords. They are going to fail in AI, security as well,” the same employee continued, referring to Cisco’s planned future investments in artificial intelligence and cybersecurity.

In contrast, 35% of Cisco professionals surveyed by Blind believe the company has treated its employees with dignity and empathy in this round of layoffs. The employees had a favorable view despite TechCrunch’s reporting that Cisco would only tell employees if the dismissals would impact them on Sept. 16, 2024.

“I don’t have much good to say about Cisco, but they’re generally pretty fair with their layoff packages,” said a verified Cisco professional on Blind. “I’m pretty sure everyone will get their annual bonus, 2+4 months of severance, and accelerated RSU vesting.”

Another Cisco employee agreed, noting, “There are annual layoffs at Cisco. As long as you are working in an investment/growth area and aren’t scraping the bottom of the barrel in performance you are pretty safe.”

Still, only 18% of Cisco professionals on Blind surveyed said they would recommend Cisco as an employer to others. The company has an average rating of 3.7 stars out of five on Blind, with its lowest scores in career growth, compensation and benefits, and management. A staff security engineer at Cisco reports there is a “lack of interesting technical work, [the] company culture is pretty depressing (especially after repeated layoffs), leadership shifts priorities every couple quarters, leadership expects too much to get done with too little staffing.”

Methodology

Blind conducted an online survey of 432 verified Cisco professionals in the U.S. on its platform from Aug. 22 to 27, 2024, to understand employee sentiment about the company’s second round of layoffs in 2024.

Survey respondents answered “strongly agree,” “agree,” “disagree” or “strongly disagree” to the following statements:

• I believe Cisco could have taken steps in the last year to avoid the recently announced layoffs.
• I believe Cisco is treating employees with dignity and empathy during the layoff.
• After the layoff announcement, I would recommend Cisco as an employer.