Cisco Systems



Their mission: The mission of Cisco's Investor Relations team is to always communicate with transparency and integrity. We
strive to be a best in class resource for Cisco's investors and analysts and to be strategic partners for management.
(Cisco, 2013)


Their vision: Changing the Way We Work, Live, Play, and Learn. (Cisco, 2013)


Founded in 1984 Cisco System designs, manufactures, and sells Internet protocol (IP)-based networking and other products related to the communications and information technology (IT) industry and provide services associated with these products and their use. (Forbes, 2013)


The Company offers products for conveying data, voice, and video within clients’ buildings. According to the Cisco System’s website “Its products are designed to transform how people connect, communicate, and collaborate.” (Cisco, 2013)
Cisco’s employees are offered a diverse workplace, growth, support and encouragement with their ideas to help the company’s development. This makes the employees a valuable stakeholder to the Cisco System’s company.


Cisco offers a support system within the company to stand-in awareness, respect, and inclusion within the workplace. Cisco’s employees are constantly finding ways to advance their customer relations by improving customer support, diversity and product development. Although there are more these are some of the Cisco’s Employee Resource Groups (ERG) supports the following:


1. Early in Career Network (ECN): This ERG helps early-career new hires succeed at Cisco by facilitating
leadership, professional relationships, and shared experiences.


2. Veterans Enablement & Troop Support: This group helps integrate the experience, values, and knowledge of
active-duty servicemen and servicewomen, as well as veterans.


3. Indians Connecting People: The Cisco Indian employee community is linked to facilitate professional
development and networking, promote business growth, and give back to communities in need.


4. Connected Women Technology Network: This technology community is dedicated to providing career development,
leadership opportunities, and personal development for women in technical roles within Cisco.


5. Cisco Disabilities Awareness Network: Employees who have or have had a disability, or who know someone
within the disabled community, are welcome here. (Cisco, 2013)


Cisco offers its employees, technical skills training, management skills training and generic soft skills training. The organization’s training function is managed centrally, yet the training content is developed in partnership with various subject-matter experts.


According to American Management ASSOCIATION (AMACOM) Cisco’s employment turnover rate is a low 8%. (AMACOM, 2001) One would think that this company invests much time and money in training their employees. In doing so the company offers their employees a numerous incentive programs such as 401K, medical benefits which includes transgender/ gender transitioning employees, disability accessibility training, Health and well-being program which includes employee health, family resources, financial well-being, education and advancement opportunities, and work/life balance programs, child care programs, employee safety and crisis management program to name a few.
One would use several assessment techniques for this process to find out exactly why the retention is high and the company continues to grow.



1. Observation- This takes no employee time away from the company. Through observation one can quietly
see what the employees are or should be doing within the company. This is a good technique if done to gather
to aid in training.


2. Questionnaires- This allows the employee to voice their opinions or concerns without worrying about
consequences to their answers to the questions while remaining anonymous. This, one finds is a great
technique in order to get a true understanding of employee’s perspective of the company and its policies and
procedures.


3. Online Technology- Since technology is the bases for the company’s growing income, this should be one area
that gets the attention of how its use is available and proficient for gathering information for training.



Raymond Noe states that “because no one method of conducting needs assessment is superior to the others, multiple methods are usually used.” In order to get an accurate gathering of information and data to put together an effective training program a combination of methods must be used. Employees must feel that they would not be singled out for participating in this data. One thinks that through observation and questionnaires are the most discreet of all techniques.


Cisco Systems 2013 http://investor.cisco.com/


Forbes April 2012 http://www.forbes.com/companies/cisco-systems/


Arthur, D., 2001 The Employee Recruitment and Retention Handbook
www.amacombook.org


Noe, R., (2010). Employee training and development. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Irwin.