Computer giant Cisco Systems, Inc. has reportedly laid off 600 to 700 employees in an effort to reduce costs.

 

The cuts, which were made Thursday at the company’s San Jose, Calif.-based headquarters, are the company’s latest move to trim costs, the Wall Street Journal reported. Cisco (News - Alert) also slashed jobs in branch offices in the United States, people familiar with the matter told the Journal. Details regarding what types of jobs were cut were unavailable.

 

“We are doing everything possible to minimize the impact on employees affected by the limited restructuring,” a Cisco spokesman told the Journal.

 

The workforce reduction makes up about 1 percent of Cisco’s global workforce. At the end of 2008, Cisco had about 66,000 employees, TMCnet reported.

 

Cisco cited declining sales amid a global recession as one reason for the workforce reduction. For the third quarter, which ended April 25, the company reported a profit of $1.3 billion on sales of $8.2 billion. Meanwhile profit dropped 24 percent from a year ago and revenue declined 17 percent, the company said.

 

Ironically, the company’s job cuts were made the same day that Cisco launched a new “Workforce Retraining Initiative” and pilot training program to create new job opportunities for U.S. workers and contribute for a better economic growth of the country.

 

As TMCnet reported, Cisco is partnering with community colleges, universities, health care leaders, workforce development leaders, the medical community, and certification associations. The initiative will tap into the Cisco Networking Academy, an educational program that offers online courses, interactive tools, and lab activities to prepare individuals for ICT and networking careers in nearly every type of industry.

 

Rumors had been circulating since April that Cisco was going to lay off more workers than it initially planned. Yet during the company’s fiscal second quarter 2009 earnings call in February, Cisco CEO John Chambers (News - Alert) (News - Alert) discussed a “limited restructuring” totaling between 1,500 and 2,000 layoffs company wide.

 

Cisco in February reportedly cut several hundred positions, the Journal said. In a previous statement made to TMCnet, a company spokesperson said the limited restructuring is part of the company’s “ongoing, targeted realignment of resources.”

 

The closest concession Cisco made during the recession so far was in December when the company shut down operations for five days to cut costs – the first shut-down in the firm’s 24-year history.

 

Earlier in April, Cisco made headlines when talk spread that the company was in trials with Verizon to make equipment that supports higher traffic volumes and sell more Web-based services.

 

Cisco is slated to report its fourth-quarter financial results on Aug. 5.