Cisco layoffs revealed in two months

Geoff Lawrie says he expects details to come through soon

By Vera Alves, Auckland | Friday, 22 July 2011
Cisco New Zealand staff will have to wait until August or September to find out whether the global layoffs will affect them.

Cisco has confirmed that it will cut about 6,500 jobs worldwide (nine percent of its full-time workforce), but individual country numbers are not available.

Local country manager, Geoff Lawrie, is confident the team’s good performance will be taken into consideration. “We have been performing well and growing above market so we are well positioned. We are anticipating to be relatively lightly touched, compared to the rest of the world.”

The company currently has around 40 staff here. “Obviously, everyone is waiting to find out what will happen, but the company is being very transparent.”

He adds that he expects more details to come through soon. “They indicated they would like to have it all done by August or September.”

News of global layoffs by Cisco had already come to surface in May and recent industry speculation was of up to 10,000 positions being eliminated. The company has recently confirmed that the number of layoffs will sit at around 6,500 worldwide. Cisco has also said that, in the ranks of vice president and above, it will cut 15 percent of its employees.

In May the company ceased international production of its Flip video camera unit, cutting 550 jobs.

In New Zealand, the company posted nearly 10 percent growth at the end of its financial year last July. In May of this year, Lawrie told Reseller News he is expecting the same sort of result at the end of the current fiscal year.