Cisco Systems Reviews

Pros

- Good benefits - work from home policy widely available.
- Looks good on CV
- Excellent collaborative tools - webex, ip phones, etc.
- co-workers generally nice people - although thats changing.

Cons

- negotiate well when you join as salary increases are rare as hen's teeth. You will often see new joiners in the same role as you start on significantly higher salary and even a higher grade!
- promotions (as above).
- co-workers are generally nice people, however, I have seen a growing passive aggressive culture taking hold, I believe this is driven by the scarcity of raises, promotions and development opportuntities....
- poor line managers, more concerned with their own advancement.
- recent re-org poorly handled, many good people either walked or were made redundant.
- over dependance on video conferencing, no travel for face to face meetings, makes teamwork challenging to say the least.
- very little social interaction. Dont even have a team get together at Christmas. There is a Cisco christmas party - but it'll cost you approx $300 per couple, merry christmas!
- lost a lot of benefits over the last few years - cell phone, internet, soft drinks, prices up & quality down in restaurants - supposedly to save jobs.....clearly this failed/was not true.
- high attrition

Advice to Senior Management

Concentrate on developing and rewarding staff fairly. Promote from within rather than looking outside. Bring back benefits. Continue focus on core business.

Pros

Work from home options are prevalent in many teams, and are a great benefit. There is a culture of "work-life" balance, and most (but not all) managers recognize that. It's a fast-paced and sometimes fun place to work, again, in the right team and under the right manager.

Cons

Is hard to know "how" to get to the next level for promotion or pay raise. The goal you are given is to "perform at the next level so that you can be promoted there", but then, there is no definition of what that next level is.

Advice to Senior Management

Define job responsibilities and give a clear path for advancement to employees.

Pros

Excellent benefits, and base pay is above average for area.

Cons

Very difficult to obtain a raise.

Advice to Senior Management

Too much favorite playing makes it difficult for the other employee's who are working just as hard to excel in the company. More attention to hard work and rewarding hard work needs to be looked at.

Pros

Cisco is very people friendly .

Cons

Too many employees right now, career progression is very slow

Pros

Large, technology, innovative, new ideas

Cons

Political, errorgant, hard to get around, little leadership development

Pros

Work from home, can leave on time, lots of social activities, a work and personal life balance, very structured company.

Cons

Projects involve way too many people which resulted inefficiency. Take too long to agree on solution and sign off documents.

Pros

Excellent benefits.
Employees benefit from the success of the organization.
Excellent compensation.

Cons

An excess of senior management positions.

Pros

Good products which are well known by IT professionals.

Cons

I worked for a contract employer, and my program was cut by 80% staffing (including me) when the company laid off 10K staff. My immediate supervisor was excellent. Technically, we both had bosseses working in different divisions. Somewhat confusing re: varying compensation incentives and conflicting goals. It would be better if the lines of reporting were linear.

Advice to Senior Management

Don't hire contract staff. Hire more Cisco employees to improve communication and streamline management changes in divisions.

Pros

Great place to work, very flexible, good salary and good

Cons

sometimes is a bit difficult to stay focus at one technology as the company is growing and expanding the product portfolio

Pros

- Knowledge based organiztion
- Global reach and clientelle
- Deep financial strength
- High brand recognition
- Loyal customer base

Cons

- Slow to innovate - lotsa me too
- Too many chiefs. Everyone is strategist - not enough operational experts

Advice to Senior Management

- Remove the multiple layers of management.
- Make it easy for customers to do business with Cisco
- Improve employee engagement