February 4th, 2009
Cisco May Cut 2,000 Jobs. But That's Not A Layoff.
Cisco CEO John Chambers, in pursuing another billion dollars of expense reduction, just said on the networking gear company’s earnings call that the company could reduce its work force by 1,500 to 2,000 people.
But he’s not considering a layoff, he said. A companywide layoff, by his definition, would constitute 10% of the work force, or 6,700 of the company’s worldwide workforce of 67,000 employees.
He says he hopes to avoid “large downsizing events.”
But over the next couple of months, the company hopes to wring out another $500 million of annual, ongoing expense.
Already, he said, the company has pushed its annual ongoing expenses down $1.5 billion, from what had been a $15 billion run rate.
A good example from the progenitor of video conferencing systems and services it calls Telepresence: Employee travel. Travel expenses have been driven down from $7,900 per employee per year to $3,400.
And that’s a permanent reduction, he said.
Tom Steinert-Threlkeld is editor-in-chief of Securities Industry News, as well as a long-time media, technology and business journalist. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
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