Cisco's staff layoffs could hit Australia

"No one has been laid off in Australia," Cisco Australia's spokesperson, Scott Thomson, told ZDNet. "But that's not to say we're not looking at that."

"[We] try to get rid of the bottom five percent if they're not performing," Thomson added.

Cisco Systems Australia said it will step up its policy of turning over the bottom five percent of its 500-plus workforce and will become more diligent in looking at discretionary spending - such as travel and hospitality expenses.

"We don't quite know the extent to which we'll be affected," Thomson said, but with the impact of the downturn in the US economy being felt around the world, "we're going to be required to respond to that".

Cisco's US headquarters announced measures on Friday "to reduce expenses to address the changing economic environment".

The staff cull will be carried out over the remainder of the financial year and will include up to 3000 temporary and contract workers.

"We're taking these steps because of the continuing slowdown in the US economy and initial signs of a slowdown expanding to other parts of the world," Cisco Systems CEO John Chambers, said in a statement.