Cisco cuts 1300 jobs in 'limited restructuring'

By Jim Duffy | Tuesday, July 24 2012

Equivalent to 2 percent of the global workforce.

Cisco is cutting 2 percent of its global workforce, or about 1,300 employees, in a "limited restructuring," the company said today.

Cisco says it is not issuing a statement on the effect of the cuts in New Zealand.

"We routinely review our business to determine where we need to align investment based on growth opportunities," wrote Cisco spokesperson Karen Tillman in an emailed statement. "Additionally, we continue to evaluate our organisational structure as part of our plan to drive simplicity, speed of decisions and agility across Cisco.

"As we focus on both of these efforts, we are performing a focused set of limited restructurings that will collectively impact approximately 2 percent of our global employee population. These actions, subject to local legal requirements, including consultation where required, are part of a continuous process of simplifying the company, as well as assessing the economic environment in certain parts of the world."

Tillman did not detail the business units or product lines impacted by the reduction. Rumors on the blogosphere indicate that Cisco's Wide Area Application Services (WAAS) sales and engineering force is one, as well as public sector operations and Advanced Services.

Cisco's headcount at the end of Q3 totaled 65,223 employees.

Cisco refers to reductions totaling less than 10 percent of its global workforce as "limited restructurings." This is a way for the company to cut costs by reducing workforce in small, incremental moves without having to publicly announce or disclose the actions, sources say.

Cisco last July said it was cutting 6,500 jobs, or 9 percent of its workforce, in an effort to better focus its business and reduce operating expenses by $1 billion a year.