I work for Cisco (for a little while, at least), and my observation is that Cisco primarily obtains staff by acquiring other companies, not through direct hires

I work for Cisco (for a little while, at least), and my observation is that Cisco primarily obtains staff by acquiring other companies, not through direct hires. It then spends some time digesting each new acquisition, and finally is left with some quantity of people who, even if they were performing a useful function in the original company, now have no real job to do. I don't know which BUs are affected by this but I'd be unsurprised to find it's all from acquisitions that are between 2 and 5 years old.