Cisco vs IBM: which job is safer?
Layoff risk for Engineering roles in India, scored this morning from confirmed layoffs, WARN filings, earnings, hiring and news signals.
Cisco
CSCO • Networking
- 7-day move
- no change
- Employee reports
- None
- Safer than
- 19% of 78
- Layoffs (1 yr)
- 1 · 4,000 roles
Most recent confirmed cut: May 13, 2026, 4,000 roles.
Full Cisco reportIBM
IBM • Enterprise IT
- 7-day move
- +1
- Employee reports
- 1 in 30d
- Safer than
- 33% of 78
- Layoffs (1 yr)
- None on record
Most recent confirmed cut: Aug 26, 2024, 1,000 roles.
Full IBM reportCisco vs IBM, signal by signal
| Signal | Cisco | IBM |
|---|---|---|
| Layoff risk score | 40 / 100 | 32 / 100 |
| Risk band | MODERATE | MODERATE |
| 7-day move | 0 | +1 |
| 30-day move | +2 | +1 |
| Confirmed layoffs (1 yr) | 1 | 0 |
| Disclosed roles cut (1 yr) | 4,000 | 0 |
| WARN notices (7 d) | 0 | 0 |
| Layoff headlines (7 d) | 0 | 0 |
| Employee sentiment | nervous | stable |
| Employee-reported layoffs (30 d) | 0 | 1 |
| Employee mood votes (30 d) | 3 · 50% worried | 1 · 0% worried |
Green marks the safer side of each row. Lower is better on every risk signal except open roles and revenue growth, where more is the healthier reading.
90-day risk trend, side by side
Should you switch from Cisco to IBM?
IBM scores 32/100 (moderate risk) against Cisco's 40/100 (moderate) for Engineering roles in India — a 8-point gap. What sits behind the gap: Cisco has confirmed 4,000 roles across 1 announcement in the past year against none at IBM.
Direction matters as much as level. Over the last 30 days Cisco's risk score rose 2 points and IBM's rose 1 point. That is widening the gap in IBM's favour, so today's verdict is being reinforced rather than eroded.
On confirmed events, Cisco has 1 confirmed layoff totalling 4,000 disclosed roles on May 13. IBM has no confirmed layoff in the past year. Confirmed cuts are the heaviest input to the score and they decay on a half-life rather than expiring, so a large recent round keeps weighing on a company for months while an old one fades gradually.
In the last seven days: IBM added 1 point: last quarter missed estimates by 0.1%.
Employee sentiment, blended from anonymous reports and the data signals, reads nervous at Cisco and stable at IBM, though on only 1 employee report between them in the last 30 days. Sentiment moves earlier than confirmed events but is far noisier, so treat it as a leading indicator rather than a score.
One caveat worth stating plainly: this compares employer-level risk, not your risk. Any engineering role on a revenue-critical team at the riskier company can be safer than a cost-centre role at the safer one. Read the score as the weather, not the forecast for your specific seat.