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Cisco Systems – “What happens when a great company grows very large

Jun 17, 2009

3.0

Cisco Systems Anonymous in San Jose, CA:   (Current Employee)

Pros

Strong senior management team with strategy and vision for market transformation
Strong leadership team with high ethics
Cultural diversity
Good place to start career and get experience
Good benefits and 401k

Cons

Employees using empowerment and freedom from management to abuse system
Lack of management visibility to activities of employees - employees abuse this
Good amount of tenured employees with connections that manipulate system
LIttle accountability on behalf of employees
Image going to work and listen to coworkers brag about taking +3 hour lunches

Advice to Senior Management

Continue to focus on executing strategic vision
Encourage first line managers to empower their employees, but caution and instruct them to watch for employees that work the system
Reinforce "doing the right thing"
Employees abusing system should be held accountable for their actions
Imagine the effects of employees that work short days and brag about 3 hour lunches and what that does to the moral of employees that work an honest days work

Comments (2)

Jun 21, 2009

by experiences working here vary so much:

I've been at Cisco for 10 years and have never known anyone to take 3 hour lunches, I'm lucky to take 30 minutes and that's always eating at my desk. Given that it's a very large company, people's expereince with managers, other workers, projects, ethics, politics, etc. vary so much that anyone reading these comments from individuals should read these with the knowlege that the good (or bad) experiences can not be said for the company as a whole. I've had lazy self-serving managers who wouldn't do anything for you unless it benefited them, and I've also had managers who fought for many months to get me a raise. Engineering is quite messed up and I'm so glad I escaped.
Inappropriate?
Jul 4, 2009

by In RTP NC:

I've spent 9 years of my life with Cisco. Never had a 3 hour lunch, usually it's in front of the monitor or in meetings and BYOL. Lost PTO hours due to program commitments and critical work requirements. San Jose must be different then RTP. There is no work life balance, and 75% of the managers I've known are really worthless, most came from Nortel, which may be the reason this company is failing so bad.
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Cisco Systems Overview (CSCO )
Web
www.cisco.com
Industries
Size
5000+ Employees, $39B+ Revenue
HQ
San Jose, CA
Competitors


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