Cisco, when laying off employees recently, offered them a choice:
employees could take a total of six months of severance pay. Or they could apply to spend the next year working for one of several nonprofit organizations while Cisco paid them one-third of their old salaries, plus benefits, in addition to two months of severance. At the end of that year, they might be able to find another job with the company. Or they might be on their own.
Good on Cisco – self-promotion with positive results.
(discovered in the course of reading the Morning Fix)
Um… What kind of a choice is this? Either way, laid off employees get exactly the same amount of money.
The only choice employees get is whether they want to get the money now, or have it spread out over the next year.
Personally, I’d take the severance pay lump sum, skip Ciscos application process, and choose my own charity.
Well, I guess keeping benefits might be important, but most likely the interest earned on a six month salary lump sum would cover the fees of buying a personal plan.
Um… What kind of a choice is this? Either way, laid off employees get exactly the same amount of money.
The only choice employees get is whether they want to get the money now, or have it spread out over the next year.
Personally, I’d take the severance pay lump sum, skip Ciscos application process, and choose my own charity.
Well, I guess keeping benefits might be important, but most likely the interest earned on a six month salary lump sum would cover the fees of buying a personal plan.
Well, it’s not so much a choice for employees, but rather an opportunity for those dot-commers to live life in the slow lane for a while and do something good in their community. The tech. industry, one of the wealthiest on average, has a very poor history of philanthropy and non-profit support (I can’t remember my source exactly, but I think if you check out Tides Foundation or eGrants.org, they’ll have actual percentages).
Read Salon or Wired articles about laid-off dot-commers for the past couple of years, and you’ll see there’s a fairly sizeable percentage that, once laid off, don’t do anything for six months, a year, etc.
I think the thing to remember is while it still sucks to be laid off, Cisco is offering a chance to ‘give back’ to their employees, and giving these various organizations free access to resources that they otherwise would not have.
Well, it’s not so much a choice for employees, but rather an opportunity for those dot-commers to live life in the slow lane for a while and do something good in their community. The tech. industry, one of the wealthiest on average, has a very poor history of philanthropy and non-profit support (I can’t remember my source exactly, but I think if you check out Tides Foundation or eGrants.org, they’ll have actual percentages).
Read Salon or Wired articles about laid-off dot-commers for the past couple of years, and you’ll see there’s a fairly sizeable percentage that, once laid off, don’t do anything for six months, a year, etc.
I think the thing to remember is while it still sucks to be laid off, Cisco is offering a chance to ‘give back’ to their employees, and giving these various organizations free access to resources that they otherwise would not have.
Additionally, following my personal theory that all humans are essentially lazy, left to their own devices, I would expect far fewer ex-employees to follow through on any plan to choose a charity of their own than if they take part in this organized system.
Could a potential side benefit for Cisco be that the tax credits they’d receive could keep other employees’ jobs?
Additionally, following my personal theory that all humans are essentially lazy, left to their own devices, I would expect far fewer ex-employees to follow through on any plan to choose a charity of their own than if they take part in this organized system.
Could a potential side benefit for Cisco be that the tax credits they’d receive could keep other employees’ jobs?