Our Social Justice Beliefs

Support community partnerships, legislation, and advocacy

Cisco is driving equal rights and access to opportunity for African American/Black people by supporting the partnerships, nonprofits, and advocates shaping and impacting social justice policy, legislation, and philanthropy.

As examples of some of our FY20–FY22 progress to date, we have:

• Awarded US$3.5 million to nonprofits that work in marginalized communities that fight for social and racial justice.
• Partnered with over 200 companies on the Business for Voting Rights letter.
• Urged Congress to pass the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act.
• Established the observance of Juneteenth as a paid holiday.
• Nominated 100 social justice/racial equity nonprofits for Cisco's matching gifts program through the employee Power to Empower Campaign in FY22.

Increase representation

Cisco is increasing the representation of African American/Black employees by addressing gaps in the number of applicants, expanding Social Talent Certified Interview training, and working with key organizations to source talented candidates.

As examples of some of our FY20–FY22 progress to date, we have:

• Increased our hiring rate for African American/Black employees from 5.9% in FY20 to 10% in FY22.
• Achieved a 60% increase in African American/Black employees in entry level through manager roles, a 94% increase in African American/Black directors, and a 160% increase in African American/Black vice presidents and above in FY22.
• Hired 75 African American/Black individuals as project managers, engineers, technicians, and more through the One Ten initiative. Our hiring rate is almost double the percentage of available talent within the marketplace.

Expand fair pay

Cisco is expanding our approach to fair pay and continuing to focus on promotion fairness to help ensure equity in our leadership pipeline.

As examples of some of our FY20–FY22 progress to date, we have expanded our pay fairness program to include analysis on merit, promotion, and stock participation, in addition to the analysis we run annually on base pay, bonus, and stock grant value.

Increase board diversity

Cisco is increasing the diversity of our Board of Directors, focusing on African American/Black representation within our overarching strategies for full-spectrum diversity.

As examples of some of our FY20–FY22 progress to date, we have:

• Increased the number of African American/Black candidates on our Board and in our Executive Leadership pipelines.
• Welcomed Marianna Tessel and John D. Harris II—Cisco's first African American board member—to our Board of Directors.

Deliver inclusive culture and anti-discrimination training

Cisco delivers anti-discrimination and inclusive company culture training to our employees, partners, and select suppliers. This helps us recognize bias and discrimination, intervene, and expand our culture of trust, inclusion, and allyship.

As examples of some of our FY20–FY22 progress to date, we have:

• Launched Building Skills for Conscious Culture training to Cisco employees in FY22.
• Achieved a 91% completion rate, exceeding our 80% company-wide goal.
• Made Building Skills for a Conscious Culture training available to Cisco partners and are currently piloting the training with select suppliers.

Connect leaders and employees

Cisco is connecting leaders across our company, our partners, and suppliers to our African American/Black employees and Networking Academy students. Through our sponsorship initiative The Multiplier Effect (TME), leaders take action to accelerate the growth and careers of talented and diverse employees.

As examples of some of our FY20–FY22 progress to date, we have:

• Invited all Cisco vice presidents to take The Multiplier Effect Pledge.
• Facilitated more than 700 proximity meetings with 95% of the participants reporting they have adopted more inclusive behaviors.
• Provided Cisco suppliers and partners full access to the TME program to progress inclusion in their own organizations.

Transform our supplier ecosystem

Cisco is accelerating diversity across our suppliers, committing to double the amount we spend with diverse suppliers by 2025, and supporting their success by sharing our solutions and innovations to drive equity and inclusion.

As examples of some of our FY20–FY22 progress to date, we have:

• Increased our spend with diverse suppliers by 28% in FY22.
• Received diversity metrics from 90% of our preferred suppliers in FY22.
• Made our highly effective Building Skills for a Conscious Culture training available to select suppliers.

Commit to Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs)

Cisco has committed US$150 million over five years to the strategic recovery and sustainability of America's Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). Of this total, $US50 million supports HBCU students pursuing a science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education, and US$100 million funds technology modernization.

As examples of some of our FY20–FY22 progress to date, we have:

• Committed US$100 million to drive technology modernization at four-year HBCUs.
• Committed US$50 million to Student Freedom Initiative's Access to Education endowment, of which US$12.5 million was spent in FY21, and US$12.5 million was spent in FY22.
• Completed 40 National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) assessments and 16 technology installations at HBCUs in FY22.
• Launched the Cisco Cyber Academy in partnership with Capital Business Development Associates (a nonprofit) and Cyber Fusion at Denmark Technical Institute, where we are training 50 aspiring cybersecurity professionals.
• Launched the first-ever HBCU Global Problem Solver Challenge and selected the winner: Mini City, a smart tech resource hub that obtains identification for organizations, cities, and enterprise corporations that serve the homeless.

Support Black-owned companies

Cisco is driving equitable opportunities for African American/Black -owned companies by providing access to capital, education, and customers. Our initiatives include special finance offers for technology modernization, educational programs, and training to increase revenue and profitability.

As examples of some of our FY20–FY22 progress to date, we have:

• Created a 0% and 6-month deferral offer for Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs)—an offer that has been presented to 24 educational institutions.
• Established a fund for select partners and HBCU students to participate in Equipment Leasing and Finance Association (ELFA)/Certified Lease & Finance Professionals (CLFP) training.
• Provided scholarships for ELFA and CLFP training to 35 employees of AA/Black-owned partner companies.
• Onboarded 7 African American Cisco Partner Community (AACPC) channel finance partners with 9 more pending approval.

Diversify our partner ecosystem

Cisco has committed US$50 million over five years to increase the number of African American/Black-owned technology companies in our partner ecosystem and accelerate their growth and financial success.

As examples of some of our FY20–FY22 progress to date, we have:

• Established the African American Cisco Partner Community (AACPC), a community of Black-owned Cisco partners focused on growth.
• Initiated an accelerate program with a special focus on 14 AACPC partners.
• Provided AACPC partners with sales opportunities, training, and support to increase their technical standings, investments to increase capacity, and drive demand for their businesses.
• Launched a distribution acceleration plan to support, educate, and grow the overall base of AACPC partners.
• Connected over 20,000 diverse candidates with job opportunities in technology and management in Cisco and across Cisco's partner ecosystem.

Invest in next-generation tech innovation

Cisco Investments' Aspire Fund is investing US$50M in exceptional Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC), female founders and venture fund managers who deliver next-generation enterprise technology. Together, we're accelerating their business growth through access to the vast Cisco ecosystem.

As examples of some of our FY20–FY22 progress to date, we have invested into BIPOC and female-led startups and venture funds including investments in Corellium, Work-Bench, L'ATTITUDE Ventures, and Acrew Capital.

Integrate human rights and inclusion across our business

Cisco is working across our enterprise to integrate a human rights perspective into our technology solutions and day-to-day operations through a focus on business and human rights, accessibility, and inclusive language.

As examples of some of our FY20–FY22 progress to date, we have:

• Established our Human Rights Advisory Committee to promote and champion human rights across Cisco and provide expertise to inform and refine Cisco's business and human-rights strategy.
• Published Cisco's Principles for Responsible Artificial Intelligence and Responsible AI Framework, which integrate a human rights lens into the development of Cisco technology that uses artificial intelligence or machine learning.
• Joined The Valuable 500, a global business collective made up of 500 CEOs and their companies innovating together for disability inclusion.
• Implemented an inclusive language policy to promote and facilitate replacing terms such as master/slave and whitelist/blacklist.
• Created an Inclusive Language Playbook for engineering teams to define criteria for inclusive language and remove harmful language from products.