Cisco Systems confirmed Monday it's eliminating nearly 1,300 jobs, or about 2 percent of its global work force, in an ongoing restructuring. The company said in a statement:
We routinely review our business to determine where we need to align investment based on growth opportunities. Additionally, we continue to evaluate our organizational structure as part of our plan to drive simplicity, speed of decisions and agility across Cisco.
The announcement did not say which business units would be affected, however, Business Insider reported that 400 people from Cisco's Collaboration business unit, particularly sales people in its WebEx unit, were let go. The report also noted that sales people in the Wide Area Application Services [WAAS] unit were also sent home with pink slips. Apparently, all 1,600 WAAS team members received layoff notices, including engineers, according to blogger Brad Reese, who cited multiple sources. A commenter on Reese's post says the cuts were not limited to just the WAAS unit. Last July, the company announced plans to eliminate 6,500 jobs, or 9 percent of its work force. That cut also included 2,100 workers accepting a voluntary retirement program. In that group, the cuts affected 15 percent of the executive ranks from vice president level and above. Cisco’s restructuring also entailed selling its set-top box manufacturing facility in Juarez, Mexico, and transferring about 5,000 employees to the payroll of Taiwanese electronics manufacturing giant Foxconn Technology. Financial gains made from those cuts lasted until the beginning of this year, but global market conditions have made the company's turnaround efforts more difficult.
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