Cisco is the latest tech giant to engage in layoffs, cutting more than 4,000 staff and taking a $600 million restructuring charge.
The tech industry has been hit with some of the worst layoffs in recent history, impacting tens of thousands of workers. Cisco is now joining the ranks of companies joining the layoff bandwagon, with SFGATE reporting that the company plans to lay off more than 4,000 employees.
Interestingly, company spokesperson Robyn Blum said the layoffs were not about reducing headcount.
“This is not about reducing our workforce,” Blum said. “In fact we’ll have roughly the same number of employees at the end of this fiscal year as we had when we started.”
The company intends to try to “place affected employees in … open roles,” Blum added.
Similarly, Network World reports Cisco has filed an 8-K filing indicating its intention to take a $600 million restructuring charge “in order to rebalance the organization and enable further investment in key priority areas. This rebalancing will include talent movement options and restructuring.”
CFO Scott Herren also emphasized the restructuring program is not for the purpose of reducing the company’s headcount.
“And to be clear [about] this: Don’t think of this as a headcount action that is motivated by cost savings. This really is a rebalancing. As we look across the board, there are areas that we would like to invest in more. Security, our move to platforms, and more cloud-delivered products. But we’re also going to maintain our financial discipline as we do that,” Herren said.
“This is about rebalancing across the board. In a perfect world, you’d have 100% skill match, and you can take the people in the areas, or the skills in certain areas, and just move them to where we need to invest, and unfortunately, that’s not – it’s not a perfect world,” Herren added.