Does Cisco pay their employees well?

According to anonymously submitted Glassdoor reviews, Cisco employees rate their compensation and benefits as 4.0 out of 5. Find out more about salaries and benefits at Cisco. This rating has decreased by 1% over the last 12 months.

How satisfied are employees working at Cisco?

81% of Cisco employees would recommend working there to a friend based on Glassdoor reviews . Employees also rated Cisco 4.3 out of 5 for work life balance, 4.2 for culture and values and 3.9 for career opportunities.

What are the top reviewed jobs at Cisco?

Software Engineer (3676) , Senior Software Engineer (1004) , Program Manager (621) , Project Manager (606) , Account Manager (594) , Network Consulting Engineer (495) , Systems Engineer (464) , Network Engineer (449) , Technical Consulting Engineer (420) , Business Analyst (412) , Technical Leader (353) , Product Manager (328) , Senior Manager (328) , Technical Lead (326) , Director (325)

What are the pros of working at Cisco according to real employee reviews?

"There are alot of great people and the culture is great!" ((in 2883 reviews)); "Worked for Cisco for over 10 years the best I can say Benefits are good." ((in 2671 reviews)); "Great people and teams who have a strong tradition of doing right by the customer and a passion for winning." ((in 2154 reviews)); "work culture is good and balanced" ((in 1229 reviews)); "Bonus pay is good and most often it is more than the 100% of the target bonus" ((in 1125 reviews))

What are the cons of working at Cisco according to real employee reviews?

"Frequent restructuring and layoffs specifically targeting ageism" ((in 1946 reviews)); "Poor management (both middle and top)" ((in 891 reviews)); "Bad Managers were promoted." ((in 643 reviews)); "Too much politics; people don't work for the common goal but to justify their existence" ((in 195 reviews)); "Middle and upper management seems very oblivious." ((in 183 reviews))

What are employees saying about Cisco layoffs in 2026?

Explore Glassdoor’s employee reviews to understand what current and former employees are saying about Cisco layoffs and their outlook for job security at Cisco in 2026.

Skip to content Skip to footer

Notifications

Cisco

Cisco reviews

4.1

81% would recommend to a friend

(33,664 total reviews)

Chuck Robbins

78% approve of CEO

68% positive business outlook

Ratings by category

4.3

Diversity & inclusion

4.3

Work/Life balance

4.2

Culture & values

4.0

Compensation and benefits

3.9

Career opportunities

3.6

Senior management

Cisco has an employee rating of 4.1 out of 5 stars, based on 33,664 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have an excellent working experience there. The Cisco employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the Tecnologías de la información industry (3.9 stars).

Ratings by demographic groups

Race / Ethnicity

Gender

Sexual orientation

Disability

Parent or family caregiver

Veteran status

Reviews by job title

34K reviews

1.0

Feb 3, 2014

The other reviewers are right. Cisco used to be a great company, but internal politics is bringing it down fast.

Anonymous employee

Recommend

CEO approval

Business Outlook

Pros

Great long-term strategy. First year compensation is relatively competitive. Having Cisco on your resume looks good.

Cons

Work-life balance is nonexistent. The worst part is all that time is spent in unproductive meetings. Employees (not the execs) take the hits when the company is down. Terrible execution of the strategy. Internal politics make doing real work nearly impossible. Outright lied during the hiring process, and I've witnessed many unethical actions from management.

1.0

Oct 26, 2013

Good company but terrible management

Programs manager

Recommend

CEO approval

Business Outlook

Pros

Fair salary and compensation. Nice to have option to work from home.

Cons

Some of the most arrogant and ill trained managers in the industry. The idea of managers at Cisco is if you are a skilled NCE, you are a good manager. Managers are empowered to do everything right or wrong and they have the practice of hiring very young managers who may have excelled in the field. The management style is like in the army, generals talk to generals and no one cares or listens otherwise. Emails never get responded and no one listens to voicemail. One of the most arrogant companies to work for and it takes months or years to implement a program

2.0

Oct 11, 2013

CEO gets huge salary increase while laying off 4,000+ employees

Human resources manager

Recommend

CEO approval

Business Outlook

Pros

Large enough that there are many opportunities to move jobs within the company. Flexible work practices using Cisco technology

Cons

company leaders still struggle to adjust to a no-growth economic environment. After much angst about the layoffs in 2008, senior management now seems happy to incorporate this as part of their "run the business" strategy, hiring thousands of employees one quarter only to realize 2-3 months later that there are too many employees. HR does not advocate for the Human resources at this organization, they don't even appear to have a seat at the table when decisions are being made.

Viewing 394 - 396 of 33,664 Reviews

Jobs at Cisco

ASIC Engineer

Barcelona

View job

Cisco reviews FAQs

Reviews Cisco reviews

Cisco

Cisco reviews

Ratings by category

Ratings by demographic groups

Reviews by job title

The other reviewers are right. Cisco used to be a great company, but internal politics is bringing it down fast.

Good company but terrible management

CEO gets huge salary increase while laying off 4,000+ employees

Jobs at Cisco

Cisco reviews FAQs

Want the inside scoop on your own company?

Bowls

Followed companies

Job searches

Jobs at Cisco

Cisco reviews FAQs