- My extremely cynical, but not yet proven wrong view:
Tech, more or less, has a group of investors centered around Silicon Valley. Not the only ones, but especially now, the most active. Generally, these folk have a lot of exposure to AI, and probably mostly believe the hype around it.
Which means they believe companies using AI should produce better results, which in the current market means short-term cash. So if a company doesn't do layoffs, no matter how well it is doing, it is seen as irresponsible and investment is withheld from it.
GitLab's announcement felt illustrative of this dynamic:
- The actual reductions were focused on simplifying org structure, nothing to do with AI
- They identified MORE work that was on their roadmap because of the way AI is changing software engineering
- They made sure to include a special section for investors
Seems to me they should have made the org changes in an unrelated announcement, and celebrated the opportunity for new work and the possible hiring that might be required to accomplish it all.
Like, GitLab is in an incredible position to moonshot the next generation of software. AI needs new substrate to work most effectively, and GitLab is the most popular "alternative" substrate to the fragile dinosaur that Github has become.
But AI needs to be seen as cutting costs above all else, so they can sell more of it everywhere, and this is what we get.
- All these AI-first geniuses will eventually bring about is people intentionally slowing down their "productivity" while maxxing the shit out of the company token budget. The message here is - generate more with less, so we can layoff even more of you. At some point even the dumbest, most loyal corporate shills will start to get it.
- > Workforce Reduction
A synonymous but more gentle term to layoff.
- "I could not be prouder of the growth you delivered"
Note the "you delivered"...
---
A few lines later
"With this, we are making changes today that will result in the reduction of our overall workforce in Q4 by fewer than 4,000 jobs"
Rough, bit on the nose no?
by protocolture
1 subcomments
- > Today we announced our Q3 FY26 earnings with record revenue of $15.8 billion, up 12 percent year over year, and double-digit top and bottom-line growth. The ELT and I could not be prouder of the growth you have all delivered for Cisco.
Interesting decision considering they aren't at any sort of risk.
- Cisco do not have real ai strategy . Routers are routers. Even their ai factory is yet another box just with label nvidia on it . No major investment needed.
All that observability tooling around is only benefiting ai wave . They can vibe re-write everything .
by penguin_booze
2 subcomments
- In the past week, we've had:
* Build for the future (Cloudflare)
* Our path forward (Cisco)
What else did we miss?
- > We will provide support in finding new opportunities, whether internal or external, through Cisco’s placement services – a program that has seen 75 percent of participants discover their next role.
25% unemployment doesn't seem like something to brag about.
- Cisco's fiscal year closes at the end of July, which makes this time of year the season for reorgs, LRs (as they're colloquially known) and the usual maneuvering that leads up to establishing budgets, sales quotas and the like. It sucks that this kind of thing has become so normalized now.
by 0xbadcafebee
1 subcomments
- The casualness of mentioning record revenues in the same PR statement as laying off 4,000 people is fucked up on a new level. It used to be you were supposed to at least pretend you were forced into a layoff. But now it's like "Hey guys! It's time for our regularly scheduled layoff to juice profits! I got an extra $5M bonus for this!"
by jjtheblunt
3 subcomments
- "Executive Leadership Team" is such an interesting phrase. Never in several years inside Apple spanning Steve Jobs and Tim Cook heard any such condescending nonsense.
I believe it's because they truly didn't think that way.
by ciscociscocisco
3 subcomments
- > We have important, impactful, and consequential work ahead
writing so bad claude could do better
- Cisco is well known to do annual layoffs, this shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone.
- > reduction of our overall workforce in Q4 by fewer than 4,000 jobs
Interesting use of fewer.
- This is why corporations need to be owned and operated by the employees.
by absolutewinner
2 subcomments
- The other thing is that the laid off employees will lose all their unvested RSUs. These shares were granted as compensation for past performance but they can now be conveniently clawed back by the company just because they decide to lay you off. Stock can be a large part of someone's compensation in a tech company. Companies shouldn't be allowed to benefit this way if they decide to lay off employees.
- I have a question.
If so many companies out there are doing layoffs, ignoring whether they are right/wrong or the motives being real or investor signaling, who's gonna benefit from it?
I would tend to think that talent being freed would imply that newcomers have a wider pool to find great contributors, but is it really happening?
by holysoles
3 subcomments
- Almost bought cisco shares today, glad I didn't.
A workplace that values job security is such a motivating factor for employees that I don't think is recognized enough. At a company that conducts layoffs, it feels like you're just waiting for the next one.
- I really wonder if all of this really is to do with AI. The Iran war and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz has resulted in massive damage to the world's energy supply, choking off ~20% of oil. There was already talk of recession, and if it weren't for all the hype around AI and healthcare growth (caring for aging boomers), we _would_ be in a recession. Maybe all these companies are seeing the writing on the wall, but announcing you're worried about the economy and are tightening your belt would crash your stock. Maybe the smart move is to blame it on AI, which leaves investors thinking that things are actually looking up and preserving the stock price.
I don't know if this is the case, or maybe it's just part of it.
If AI is really eating these jobs, and AI is getting better by leaps and bounds, what what point can I (or Anthropic, Google, OpenAI, etc.) just task Claude with "Build a company just like Cisco" and it does it, only it doesn't have ~$30.1 billion in total debt like the real Cisco.
by declan_roberts
6 subcomments
- This type of thing should come along with a reduction of allowed H-1bs.
by gothicbluebird
0 subcomment
- one would think that those jobs identified as superfluous or dispensable are in administration more than in engineering. The lay-off procedure itself looks very bureaucratic and makes HR, lawyers, and managers indispensable. Cunning plan.
- 5% reduction returns them to the headcount on what date? Something like mid 2022 if the info I'm finding is correct.
by markus_zhang
0 subcomment
- OK looks like the horn has been blown. Now they are all doing layoffs. Wall Street waving its visible hand again?
by semiquaver
1 subcomments
- OMG, press the “read aloud” button. Brings me right back to to computer class in 1995!
- Coinbase, CloudFlare, Cisco.
Another round of layoffs at CrowdStrike would fit the pattern nicely.
- Here we have a PR statement of a company announcing at the same time record revenues AND cutting 4000 jobs and the longest thread is complaining about Indian workers instead of bitching about the dystopian reality we live in where Cisco's behavior is accepted and acceptable.
Also, H1B are issued and requested by the company. Blame the system, not the immigrants .
- It's important to keep in mind Cisco made a billion AI and cybersec acquisitions in the past few years and they've downsized to 2022 levels.
This is not an AI job elimination story. I think the next recession will trigger that. The AI hype train ironically needs engineers of all stripes to run.
- This is why you owe nothing to your employer, record revenue with management bonus, and layoffs for those that helped get there.
Those extra hours? Only if the team really needs them.
Naturally this tends to be something only seniors see, thus ageism.
- >To those leaving Cisco, thank you for your contribution, your dedication, and the mark you have made on this company. We are deeply grateful and are committed to handling this transition with the care, clarity, and respect that defines our culture.
Who the hell needs gratitude if you can't earn an income..
seeing all of these layoffs I cant help but think something along the lines of .. Those of use who greatest asset is our labor need to recognize the great risk it is at of going to 0 value in the near future, and renegotiate everything to get as much value out of that asset before it does. Like enough to retire on. And as with established theories of intelectual property rights protect creators moral rights to the profits of their work, there needs to be mandated moral rights that stop peoples labor being used as training data for AI without the consent, and without a path or compensation for the loss of income that will cause them.. Otherwise this is just one big transfer of power from most people, to people with capital, who can then wield that power in more capricious and selfish ways.
by bitmasher9
1 subcomments
- “We are running out of good ideas to execute on, so we are reducing our workforce to a quantity we can utilize.”
- > I could not be prouder of the growth you have all delivered for Cisco.
I think you could be. Just saying.
by 33MHz-i486
2 subcomments
- its sickening that these companies making 10s of Billions in profit annually at 60% gross margins are going to throw their employees that got them there under the bus.
layoffs are for at risk companies undergoing restructuring not semi-annual financial engineering of your earnings release
I’m not a big collective action proponent historically but in the face of this bs, it might be time.
- Whenever a company does layoffs willy nilly frequently I stop trusting them with my career.
The AI excuses are lazy.
I was laid off last year by one of the big tech companies, and they called me again for a rehire but I just dont trust them anymore even if they pay more. The layoff completely disrupted my life and I developed health issues because of the stress. Not worth the mental hassle.
I have seen a few workplaces which are more deliberate in their hiring and are not on 24x7x365 hire and fire mode unlike many of the big names.
I would rather work in such a place rather than have 10 varieties of coffee and condiments in the pantry.
Frankly i'm pissed off.
Sorry for the people who pinned their hopes on cisco and were laid off yesterday. It's not easy.
by sciencesama
2 subcomments
- how big is the WFR ?
by stack_framer
2 subcomments
- "...fewer than 4,000 jobs, representing less than 5 percent of our total employee base."
I cringe at this attempt to soften the numbers by saying "fewer than" and "less than" here. Conversely, and ironically, it also puts inflated numbers in your head.
"How many people will be axed at Cisco?"
"3,998 ... but at least it's fewer than 4,000!"
- [flagged]
by 0x0000000
3 subcomments
- This kind of behavior is never tolerated in the market. Your revenue is flat; they lay you off. Right away. No trial, no nothing. Your revenue is down, right to layoffs, right away. Revenue grows but less than guidance? Layoffs. Record revenue exceeding guidance? Believe it or not, layoffs.
- [flagged]
- Revenue, not profit. A lot of that is likely inflation. I suspect we'll see this pattern repeat quite a bit with the oncoming oil shock
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