How Cisco Korea Became the Best Place to Work

한국어 English

Cisco Korea has been listed in ‘2018 17th 100 Best Companies to Work for Awards’ by GPTW (Great Place to Work) Korea.

GPTW has done an in-depth analysis of various elements such as Trust Index, Culture Audit and Employee Comments, and Cisco Korea ranked high in Trust Index. Also, positive comments from employees and corporate policies such as telecommuting, flexible working hours and communities in the company have contributed to Cisco Korea being awarded.

South Korea society has gone through many changes, and now the country legislates parental leave along with many companies have their employee benefits. Some companies policies are so well established that everyone outside envies.

The main reason Cisco Korea could win the award is due to the power of our culture embedded in the company.

Even with well-polished laws and company policies, employees cannot pursue happiness at a workplace without a solid company culture. You couldn’t easily go on parental leave if your boss subtly indicates otherwise or there’s a negative effect on employee evaluations

We have been constantly working towards making our employees truly happy, not just policies. What makes our company culture? People, policy and even our products.

First, paid parental leave was extended up to 105 days and employees can work from home for a month when their child enters elementary school so that they can spend more time together. As mentioned in the Working Moms interview, female employees in Cisco are good at balancing work and life with children. Mothers are not the only ones benefiting from the childcare policy. Fathers, as well, can go on parental leave when their spouse give birth.

Furthermore, Cisco is running programs such as ‘Kids at Work,’ employees can invite their children to the office to have a fun time together and ‘Parents at Work’ inviting employees’ parents to watch a film together in the office.

After building a good company policy, employees should fully benefit from it. For policy to become the company culture, managers need to set an example by showing others fully benefiting themselves from the policy. Only then, employees will start to benefit from it.

What needs to be done? I, as the CEO of Cisco Korea, should set an example to fellow employees by fully benefiting from our policy. For example, I work outside my office several times a month to encourage employees to telecommute. I also recommend other managers to at least work from home at least twice a month.

Cisco’s philosophy is embedded not only in the policy and people but also in Cisco’s products. One example is the Cisco WebEx, the teleconference system. When parents have to attend to their children, they can telecommute and work as if they are in the office having a face-to-face meeting. Our employees actively use Webex and are so satisfied with the system.

Korean society has archived so much and so do many companies. I will not stop trying to make Cisco Korea a good place to work for, and furthermore contribute to society by creating a model company culture in the country.

BC Cho, Country Manager, Cisco Korea

Originally Posted at: https://apjc.thecisconetwork.com/site/content/lang/ko/id/9830