RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK – Cisco’s recent purge wasn’t limited to its operations in Silicon Valley.
“The layoffs are definitely happening locally, too,” an employee at its Research Park Campus told WRAL TechWire, a week after it was reported that Cisco cut some 500 jobs in California.
“I don’t know the scale, but at the very least a couple of whole teams on my floor were let go.”
The employee, a software engineer in his mid-30s who prefers to remain anonymous because he’s looking for work, said he was among a large group of employees who got their pink slips back in July.
He had worked for the company for 12 years.
The reason given: “My director said they were restructuring in anticipation of a downturn coming because of all the trade wars.”
“I was pretty devastated having been there so long,” he added. “I had no idea before until the day. One of my friends had gotten tipped off by her manager that she was about to be laid off. She told me that, so when I saw the meeting invitation from my manager, I thought, uh oh, I know what this is.”
In hindsight, he said he should have seen it coming. “They’ve been doing layoffs every year since 2008. You see it enough times, and you think it will never happen to me. But at some point, it happens to you.”
He said Cisco is a good place to work. “People, in general, are happy there. But the layoffs kind of hang over everybody’s head, especially afterwards.”
A Cisco spokesperson did not return requests to confirm the recent round of layoffs in RTP.
Earlier this month, the multinational technology conglomerate confirmed it had cut some 500 jobs in California.
“Over the last few years, we have been transforming Cisco and driving innovation to deliver even greater value to our customers and partners,” a spokesperson said at the time.
“It’s important that we make decisions to continually ensure that our investments and resources are aligned with strategic growth areas of the business and customer demands.”
