Have you heard the news? Cisco was just named #1 on the World’s Best Workplaces list by Great Places to Work and Fortune Magazine for the second year in a row!
Yes, we’re all about our world-changing tech, our culture, and creating an inclusive future for all – but as our CEO Chuck Robbins recently said, “#WeAreCisco is more than a hashtag — it means something.”
And, as the team behind #WeAreCisco – well, we couldn’t agree more.
We’ve seen the #WeAreCisco hashtag used for celebrating all we’ve accomplished together, and we’ve also seen it used to show support – that we have each other’s backs, in good times and in bad. Yes, it’s a moment to celebrate, but it’s also motivation to keep getting better, together.
Here are a few of our employees who wanted to share what being named the #1 World’s Best Workplace for the second year in a row means to them:
Christopher Watkins – Project Manager | Raleigh, North Carolina, United States
The unique culture here at Cisco is indescribable — as it’s like no other work environment. It’s a place of pure creativity where employees are valued and appreciated for bringing their true self to work. The level of real authentic support from leadership along with the plethora of developmental programs and culture organizations; empowers Cisco employees to be disruptors in changing the world. Cisco is a special place because it’s a natural instinct for a Ciscoian to go above and beyond in extending assistance to someone in need. This is the Cisco norm, leading with integrity to inspire and be a force for change.
Hideaki Nagamine – HR Assistant | Tokyo, Japan
Having Cisco named as the #1 World’s Best Workplace for a second year in a row is no surprise to me! It means that it truly is a great place to work, and we live up to our global value’s where we focus on building on the strengths of each individual employee and we have a culture of helping each other when others are in need. At Cisco, we believe that the company is made up everyone, and that it takes all of us collaborating and learning from each other to innovate together. I know that I am making an impact on Cisco’s culture, our inclusive future for all, and have the respect of my peers – in both my local Japanese community and around the globe.
Diparati Sen – Software Engineer | Chennai, India
Cisco has always been a place which upholds the principle of #LoveWhereYouWork because this company cares deeply for its employees and the world at large. The shift for all employees to work from home this year was a breeze because, as we’re the tech behind remote work and Webex, Cisco encourages people to work from anywhere. Something else I love that I don’t often see, is that Cisco upholds sustainability efforts by providing employees with tools like reusable coffee mugs which in turn reduce plastic waste. There are so many reasons I love working at Cisco! To me, it was my dream and having Cisco named the #1 World’s Best Workplace two years in a row makes me so happy. I have always known this, now the world does too. Today I’m a grateful, proud and happy Cisconian!
Melissa Holder – Customer Success Executive | Atlanta, Georgia, United States
The pride in knowing that you work for the #1 World’s Best Workplace makes it that much easier to give more of yourself to a company that offers its best to you. Whether it’s taking advantage of the medical facility, gym, or simply having a leader call (just because) and ask, “How are you?”…there’s no other place I’d rather be.
When you have the opportunity to cross paths with a fellow Cisconian who has been with the company for over 20 years, and they still have a pep in their step, are excited about the direction of Cisco and throw you a few nuggets of wisdom, you know you’ve arrived at a “Great Place to Work.”
Waking up every morning and joining a team that embraces all of my strengths and weaknesses gives me more energy than my first sip of coffee. Sipping my coffee while on video with some of the brightest people on earth is the icing on my gourmet donut. That is what being #1 World’s Best Workplace means to me. Great job, team!
Javier Garza – Consultant Engineer – Mexico City, Mexico
To me, Cisco is the #1 World’s Best Workplace because it allows us to share everything with our loved ones. I can involve my family in all I do, including my work and the accomplishments we achieve together at Cisco. I even involved my family in this photo as we prepared the cupcakes to enjoy together while celebrating at home. Not only is Cisco the #1 World’s Best Workplace, but they have made my home office one of the best places to work too!
Employees, if you would like to celebrate with #1 World’s Best Workplaces stickers, Webex backgrounds and more of your very own, visit the portal. We also have some fun GIFs for you to share out on social media!
Join our teams, apply now.
Awesome..feeling proud that I’m the part of Cisco…wearecisco#..
Given the recent announcements and the open statements by employees and customers, there is something seriously out of balance if Cisco truly deserve this award
One of the things that makes us a great place to work is how we come together in good times and not-so-good times. We take our moment to celebrate today and use it as motivation to always get better.
The timing of the announcement may not be ideal, but not celebrating would be not acknowledging the work and feedback of all employees around the world over the past two years. We pause for this moment and use it as motivation to keep moving forward.
This response is so insensitive.
How much money did Cisco spend on “consulting services” and advertisements with the Best Places to Work organization?
Do you mean this time or in total over the years? We at Cisco all know this is BS.
This award is awesome for Cisco and it’s employees, my managers even arranged a personal 1:1 to talk me through it.
Hehe. Many managers at Cisco love the personal face to face interaction time they have during these 1:1s. It really is a family,
Given the mass layoffs happening just now it’s like holding a wedding the day after funeral, leaves bad taste…
+1. Leadership was totally tone deaf and this makes me question staying at this company.
@Go Cisco – the 1:1 is scheduled right in the morning and will last 15 minutes, right ?
That is about right.
When I looked earlier there were 6 comments of which one was mildly offensive. Two were expressing views which I felt were balanced but not offensive, but expressing the sense of feeling around Cisco at the moment. What is the point of providing a platform for views if they are censored. Isn’t a good employer one that listens and empathises. Reinstate the comments Cisco, I understand why offensive comments would be removed but not balanced comments that express genuine concern should also have a platform. The only comments remaining just make everything look staged and a little to contrived.,
Hi there. The system flagged a few comments until we could answer, and we answered above. Thank you.
Cisco is laying off thousands in America, while also outsourcing thousands of jobs to India. The state of California is currently suing Cisco for caste-based discrimination.
Any company that has layoffs totaling more than 40,000 employees must buy fake “best workplace” awards. How much did this award cost?
Clearly paid for…
How many families lost their livelihood last week at Cisco? How many Cisco employees no longer have health insurance during a pandemic? Absolutely no compassion from Cisco executives as they are compensated $15-$25 million/year.
not just last week. how many over the last (52 weeks/year x `12 years) ~624 weeks. oh snap! i forgot Cisco is reinventing itself. here is a thought. how about they invent products customers want or actually listened to the actual leaders that are now gone and now industry leading CEOs. Arista, Zoom. The ELT has no vision.
Casie, it’s good you re instated the comments.
“this company cares deeply for its employees” – eh ? You not got your ‘1-to-1’ request yet to discuss your layoff details ?
Was this award given before or after the recent redundancies ?
this isn’t the first time Cisco has bought this award.
Cisco has conducted layoffs for nearly 10 consecutive years, and missed out on nearly every technology trend in the last decade… Cloud, enterprise software, collaboration.
Public relations tactics like this are also used by North Korea to improve morale.
well they gotta do something to increase morale. yeah i just threw up a little.
It is absurd that Cisco purchases services from Great Place To Work Institute, Inc. and then boasts that they are the #1 place to work. What would be more impressive would be to have the #1 leadership team which in turn would create the best culture and best place to work
Cisco is not the best place to work just because an outsider who is paid decides that it is. This is the work of Cisco’s PR team spinning up positive press during a time when Cisco has notified 7,000+ employees that their jobs are at risk. Purchasing this type of PR right before a major layoff is corporate narcissism and this inauthentic behavior is obvious to anyone with a clue.
Nice try, Cisco.
Our destiny is pre-ordained. Cisco has grown me, saved me and has allowed me to see the world. I am so glad the universe chose me to become part of one the World’s Best Places to Work.
excellent example of satire.
So proud to work for Cisco!
congratulations to all colleagues and leadership!!
I have always been proud to be a part of Cisco. #WeAreCisco Customer Experience
I’ll be sure to forward this to the thousands of Cisco families that lost their jobs. Either a complete lack of awareness in HR or just sheer incompetence.
If not reused, the Cisco Employee ID would roll over one million some time ago already. Now how many folks do you know who resigned voluntarily ? I get it that the employee id numbers it also include contractors and so on.. But given the global headcount of around 75k and the annual (or more frequent) layoffs and terminations going on for decades – does Cisco look like a great place to work ? Or maybe like a great meat grinder who constantly “processes” thousands of people from new hire to the LR ? Change my mind it’s not the latter ?
One out of 5 of the people quoted in this blog post probably no longer have a job….
i would say 2/5
The only thing that can take Cisco higher than #1 is offshoring ELT to save the company from their insanely overpriced compensation deals
#1 place to work is such a big joke. There’s no way on the planet this is true.
When will Chuck be LR’ed? He has been a total failure from the day he took over as CEO.
Some of the comments are disappointing, I had to add one myself. I have been blessed to work here for almost 20 years, it is to me the most amazing place to work, it is my #1 place to work. To assume that any organization runs global surveys for free would be silly, I don’t know exactly how this group works but I am sure thousands of companies pay an entry fee, but they all pay the fee. To say someone paid for a ranking is just not true. The employees voted and the results are real, but if you don’t agree with that I am not sure what value comes from discounting it or discouraging others. I choose to look for ways to celebrate others and encourage others, rather than tear them down. Choose joy, choose positive! Cisco has provided for me and my family, along with hundreds of thousands of others for over 35 years. All companies go through difficult times and are forced to make difficult decisions, however the way Cisco treats its people, in good times and bad, is the reason why it’s the #1 place to work regardless of the critics or the ranking in any survey.
No company in perfect, nor is anyone, there was only one person that accomplished perfection on earth. If we all tried to love each other the way he loved us, and still loves us in spite of all the division and bickering, the world would be better. He loves us to unite us, he gave us his greatest commandment in Matthew 22:36-40. Find someone to encourage, congratulate or show love to today. I pray for peace and unity for all. Thanks Cisco for being an amazing place for my career and providing for my family and so many others.
You don’t have to look hard to find a critic, keep being you Cisco, its working and we are proud to be here, We are Cisco, Love Where you Work.
I’m glad you enjoy Cisco. My experience was very different. 3 years service and a sales champion for the last two of those years. However I was treated so badly the impact on me and my family was devastating and I also lost a dear friendship. I would like to move on but Cisco will not acknowledge what they did. It truly was devastating.
Why does cisco layoff people every year?
Hi
Will cisco make an official statement about the 7000 people that have been laid off?
Thank you
I don‘t get it. The products we are forced to push out are incomplete and buggy as hell, there is no software engineering culture. I have more managers than peers. And the only reason to stay is the rather good pay. But this is hardly a great, or even mediocre place to work at.
Hello ELT,
Could you kindly do the needful and introduce more tea stations at the Bangalore office? I was there last year and teas were running out very fast. Now, with the influx of new hires due to outsourcing, I fear that the teas will run out even faster.
Requesting your fast response in this matter
Yours Truly,
Jaganath ‘Jaggy’ Jagger
This is clearly on Chuck Robbins head but our downward spiral really started much earlier.
The Indian managers in executive positions with their tendencies to only hire and promote Indians from their own castes ultimately led Cisco in this situation.
My Chinese manager was in the awkward position of reporting to his direct report overnight. And I’ve seen and heard of couple such cases.
Sad, but hopefully from this mess will arise a new Cisco.
Absolutely shameless people.. 3 days after laying off thousands of employees the CEO is busy celebrating cisco as no 1 work place. What a disgrace to humanity and how in human. All those shameless people voting for it havent loss their jobs yet.
Due a FAILED Leadership, every year they just keep moving offices to cheaper locations
Cutting down on employees to save money
No improvement in products, no strategy , just a bunch of people who aspire to be politicians running once a great company
Why dont these Failed Leaders step down and who lay off hardworking employees
shameless
#FailedCEOResign
#timetoresignChuck
Cisco has been the WORST place I have ever worked, and that includes the place where my immediate supervisor tried to grope me up. I didn’t choose to work here — my wonderful company was bought by Cisco and totally destroyed. My job is not at risk but I am OMW out the door anyway.
JOKE of 2020.