Employee experience

We encourage people to explore job roles and functions outside of their daily work, creating limitless opportunities for employees to align skills with strengths and reinvent their careers within Cisco. In fiscal 2024, the average hours spent on training and development by our full-time employees (FTEs) was 25.6, representing an average investment of more than US$1700 spent per FTE. And we know that it’s never too soon—or too late—to learn something new, as we engage with everyone from interns to our executive leadership team on emerging ways to work and lead.

We empower individuals as well as teams to harness their strengths and improve the way we work. Through virtual and in-person tools for strengthening manager-employee and interpersonal relationships, we help teams work in harmony and increase their impact. A two-way exchange—sharing resources with their employees and listening closely to their feedback—gives everyone a voice and a stake in our success.

Performance

We have shifted performance management from a traditional, historic view that elevates a small percentage of employees to an engaged, collaborative approach, supporting Cisco’s Purpose to Power an Inclusive Future for All. Recognizing the rapid pace of change and the dynamic nature of our business needs, Cisco has implemented a process centered on continuous conversations and transparency for employees. These interactions feed into bi-annual Talent Assessments and organizational Talent Reviews, enabling Cisco to realize its Purpose.

The performance process at Cisco starts from a foundation of expectation, a setting where a leader will align with their employee on the specific metrics by which they will be evaluated. Our framework for discussing performance encompasses three core dimensions: Results, Principles & Behaviors, and Team Impact. Leaders are advised to leverage tangible, objective metrics relevant to their respective business units, such as sales commission targets, key performance indicators, or objectives and key results. Additionally, the incorporation of team-based goals and objectives is encouraged to align individual achievements with the broader team's performance.

Cisco leverages both Workday and Team Space to support the rituals for its performance process. Weekly Check-Ins on the Team Space platform allow employees to reflect on last week’s work, identify immediate priorities for the coming week, and request support as needed. These digital Check-In submissions are complemented by one-on-one conversations between leader and employee where performance feedback is shared, recognition is provided, and development priorities are planned.

To ensure a holistic approach to performance, development, and career progression, leaders are encouraged to hold Performance and Development Discussions to have a more in-depth conversation around expectations, performance, and development in preparation for the bi-annual Talent Assessment that takes place in Workday.

Since taking our Performance process into Workday:

• 98% of leaders submitted Talent Assessments (2HFY24)
• 99% of leaders and employees are having conversations on expectations, performance, and development (2HFY24)

To foster a culture of high-performance at Cisco, we introduced “Performance Reflections”—a strategic enhancement to our current Talent Assessment to support employee engagement within the performance process. This initiative empowers team members to digitally record their personal achievements, thereby offering their leaders a more comprehensive perspective on their individual contributions and ensuring the employee’s voice is heard. Such detailed insights are instrumental in assisting leaders with the completion of precise performance assessments and in nurturing a culture that continually drives Cisco forward. In our first release of Team Member Performance Reflections, we had 79% adoption enterprisewide.

To ensure a robust and fair performance evaluation, leaders are expected to gather pertinent performance data for their employees. Similarly, employees are encouraged to proactively seek feedback from various sources, which serves as a valuable tool for their own personal growth and development. This collaborative and comprehensive approach is key to maintaining a vibrant and high-performing work environment at Cisco.

Programs for leaders

At Cisco, we recognize the critical role leaders play in driving team and organizational growth. That’s why we are continually developing comprehensive programs and experiences designed to actively engage leaders and enhance their skills.

Our programs cater to leaders at all levels, from new to the more experienced, offering a range of self-driven microlearnings, virtual cohort sessions, one-on-one engagements, professional coaching, and peer collaboration. These initiatives are carefully crafted to empower Cisco leaders with the tools and knowledge needed to excel in their roles.

What is it?	What are its goals?
What is it?Cisco Leader Fundamentals	What are its goals? This two-day program provides new team leaders with a strong understanding of what is expected of them as people leaders at Cisco, and clarity on the tools and resources available to them.
What is it?New Leader Journey	What are its goals? This six-month, cohort-based program helps further new people leaders into their leadership roles through Degreed learning pathways and virtual facilitator-led “Leadership Circle” sessions.
What is it?Leader Learning Labs	What are its goals? These 120-minute labs teach leaders to navigate tough conversations with empathy and tact. Leaders work through simulated real-life scenarios with professional actors and receive immediate feedback on their performance.
What is it?Leadership Coaching	What are its goals? Cisco provides leaders at all levels with customized coaching packages that leverage a high-touch, personalized, and results-driven approach to maximize their strengths. In partnership with BetterUp, we offer unlimited coaching sessions for a six-month duration.
What is it?Fostering Growth Through Leader Feedback	What are its goals? This workshop equips leaders to drive team growth and excellence through effective feedback. The two-hour training session provides essential skills on giving and receiving feedback, followed by a 30-minute Reflection & Application Session for successful implementation.
What is it?BigThink+	What are its goals? Leaders can unlock a world of leadership expertise through our subscription-based platform. BigThink+ provides valuable insights from renowned thought leaders and top executives, gaining inspiration and knowledge through impactful, short videos that will enhance leadership skills.

Programs for teams

We’ve put the power of communication and growth into the hands of our teams by offering both self-service tools and facilitated programs that help teams learn, engage, and problem solve. We also strengthen teams through tools like Team Space, a platform for both individual and team collaboration. It enables the behaviors and rituals (One-Time Standout Assessment, Weekly Check-Ins, and Quarterly Engagement Pulse) that scale team excellence and unlock the power of teams.

Team Self-Service offerings

Self-Service offerings are resources prepared by our experienced coaches and facilitators that enable a leader and team to engage and address specific goals, without the need for direct involvement from a team consultant.

• Ready-To-Use Team Rituals: When teams have consistent rituals, they can increase engagement, deepen trust, and build a more Conscious Culture. This is a set of suggested rituals with descriptions of how to enact them.
• Team Labs: These are focused Meeting-in-a-Box offerings designed to guide leaders and teams through a conversation to address specific topics. Each topic contains a deck, notes for the facilitator, slides, and sample videos.
• Healthy, High-Performing, Hybrid Teams: These three leader-led discussions are an hour each and are designed to help teams create space for meaningful conversations that will promote understanding, unity, and productivity.

Job training programs for teams

Artemis Experience

The Artemis Experience was designed to recruit, hire, and onboard high-potential talent in the Americas to achieve growth in underpenetrated accounts. The twelve-week bootcamp fast-tracked learning and sales preparedness of nearly 170 participants through a mix of experiential and virtual training, along with rigorous challenges. It provided ongoing, practical enablement to drive account activity, deepen customer relationships, and strengthen 16 core sales competencies. Over a period of six months, new hires received over 11,100 combined feedback and coaching touchpoints through reviews in our sales readiness tool, with coaching aligned to KPIs and success metrics set by the Americas sales leadership. Artemis alumni are projected to exceed Attainment compared to their peers by ~2% in FY26 with an expected return on investment of $26M in incremental bookings.

Security Sales Superstar

The Security Sales Superstar Program is a targeted sales enablement initiative across Cisco’s Global Sales organization, designed to elevate cybersecurity sales proficiency through advanced artificial intelligence and the TSPR methodology—Teach, Show, Practice, Reinforce, and Win. This program integrates real-time feedback and competitive gamification, significantly enhancing sales effectiveness and contributing to revenue growth. With high completion rates and direct business impact, it aligns closely with Cisco’s strategic objectives.

The program's objectives include boosting sales proficiency of our “Security Suites” sales messaging through sales certifications and completion rates, developing new pipeline, action ‘growth sprints’ leads, shortened sales cycles, and increased deal closure rates. It also provides an opportunity for managers to observe and calibrate their teams' skillsets, give coaching and feedback, and boost morale and team engagement.

Programs for individuals

Degreed

Degreed is Cisco’s continual learning platform and unites internal resources with external materials like TED Talks and LinkedIn Learning courses. The program uses machine learning to provide personalized content recommendations, allowing users to select from Cisco-endorsed curricula or create their own development plans. It is a place where Cisco employees can discover, consume, organize, share, and track all relevant learnings, no matter where they take place. Degreed allows us to develop the core skills needed in our business today and tomorrow, based on how we see job families, functions, and roles evolving. Leaders can view their team members’ activity, giving them insight into employees’ evolving skills and interests. Cisco also offers opportunities for further education by providing access to programs hosted by organizations such as Education Coaching and Workforce Education Network.

My Onboarding Journey

Cisco's My Onboarding Journey is a 90-day introduction to welcome new employees and help them acclimate quickly to Cisco. Through interactive, cross-functional experiences, participants learn about Cisco’s business, strategy, and culture. In fiscal 2024, My Onboarding Journey welcomed more than 4300 new hires, and 92% of participants said the program exceeded their expectations.

Illuminate

First held in spring 2022, Cisco Illuminate is an ongoing program of quarterly learning experiences connecting employees with the relevant people, information, and skills to move forward with confidence. Each quarter, the program has a different theme:

• Illuminate Your Learning
• Illuminate Your Leadership
• Illuminate Your Career
• Illuminate Your Team

Created in response to employee feedback, each event aims to help empower people to take ownership of their learning and career at Cisco. Events are hyper-focused on relevant and actionable learning and are designed to act as momentum builders for the learning and development journey.

Identifying new training opportunities

Listening to the business: We are in regular contact with PeePs (People Partners) and, in some cases, the business directly. This is done to understand the business needs (e.g., functional organization, Business Unit-specific, or Cisco Emerging Market Research team).

Listening to our people: We conduct qualitative research and convene a learning research panel (customer advisory board) to help us understand challenges, needs, and what's going well that we can do more of from both an individual contributor and leader perspective.

Listening to our learners: We conduct performative surveys with employees to help us understand emerging training interests and needs from a trending and topic standpoint.

Listening to the market and our competitors: We follow market trend insights, industry research publications, or third-party provider/vendor benchmarking and usage, competitor demand insights, and desk research, etc.