Cisco Systems – “Used to be a good place to work for.”

Upper management usually seem to get the strategic vision right but there is a huge schism between upper management and the regular employees. The VP level and above is kept carefully apart from anyone who is Senior Manager level and below. There seems to be a contemptuous attitude towards the people who do the actual work from upper management that is unusual in other high tech companies for whom I have worked.

Cisco is also a company that shows a lack of heart and concern for the employees - treating them as commodities to be worked hard and discarded. This comes right from the top and permeates all the way down to first and second line management. There is a coldness and unfriendliness at Cisco that is unusual for a tech company.

Cisco also skates very close to illegality in the way it does layoffs. Many people who get sick, even for short term, non-chronic illnesses or have pregnancies, happen to find themselves on the "job elimination" or "limited restructuring" list (the latest euphemism for layoffs) shortly after. CAP awards for excellent performance and top ranked in other years don't matter. Someone always has to be bottom 10 and 5 each year. Not surprisingly, the percentage of women at Cisco is quite low despite the fact that the company consistently makes the "best place for women to work" list. This is most likely due to the prevalence of telecommute and the lack of gender and racial discrimination.

People are constantly on edge at Cisco unless they have "protection" which means knowing the right people or having been there a long time. Having an MBA also seems to be a protection, which is amusing because some of the very worst managers/directors have MBA degrees from top schools. It is common for people with newly-minted MBA degrees to be given L1 management positions as a reward.

This does not make for a nice work environment although the buildings and cafes themselves are clean, bright and pleasant.

A big problem is that if you get a bad manager or Director, of which there are many, it almost impossible to move within Cisco. It is a case of "damned if you do and damned if you don't". If you stay in a bad group, you will get eliminated sooner or later because the group will be killed off but if you try to leave before, the internal job system is open and transparent, so your manager is informed that you are interviewing internally. This means that you don't just have to contend with being in a bad group but your ranking will drop to bottom 5 or 10 because you dared to try to move. This is then a sure way to lose your next bonus and to be managed out. So savvy employees only move straight after ePM/bonus time and don't announce they are leaving until they have secured the new position. However this is against company policy and many interviewing managers will not allow it.

Competence, experience, innovation, hard work and technical expertise are not valued at Cisco. Only political skills are.

working at a Big Soul Sucking Corporation. This is the place to be.

Wake up and smell the roses...all the good employees are dissatisfied and leave, and only the dumb dead weight people stick around...so now, the whole place is full of dull people who dont care about work, and morale is superlow. Improve your rewards strategy, not just in terms of money, but also in terms of recognition.

I saw a second line manager with hemorrhoids in his mouth. I wonder how he got that ?

Not necessarily dead weight people are left 'I see dead people'. Just folks with broken self esteem from years of breaking their ass and being used. It is hard to look back on all the personal sacrifice and realize no one gives a good spit! Awake now.

I hope you realize it's not you, it's the scumbag management that make you feel like sh*t.

I thought slavery was abolished in the US, Guess not. Can't wait for the next early retirement package, I don't care if I have to work at walmart and tell everyone coming in "have a great Day" wearing my Cisco shirt. Great comments all, and agree 100%