Moments that Matter

Right now – someone at Cisco is having a moment that matters. Taking a birthday off. Celebrating a promotion. Investing the day in developing new skills. Tending to a family crisis. Caring for a sick loved one. Welcoming a new child into the family.

“Life isn’t a matter of milestones, but of moments” Rose Kennedy often said. I couldn’t agree more. Back in 2015, when we first introduced Our People Deal, delivering on Moments that Matter – those defining career and personal moments that are important to each of us – was a top priority. It still is. And I’m proud to say that we continue to expand the ways we’re transforming our employees’ experiences and unleashing the potential of our people.

This month, we’re introducing new Becoming a Parent and Emergency Time Off programs. Like our People Deal, they’re created with a focus on benefitting everyone. Every family is different – and our new programs include them all. We’re making sure that every employee can benefit from the most precious resource that Cisco can provide – time off to take care of the people who matter most.

Becoming a Parent

For our employees who are welcoming a new child into their family – whether it’s having a baby, adopting, going though fertility treatments, or surrogacy – we’re expanding support and increasing time off to bond.

To reflect the needs of the full spectrum of families, we’ve eliminated the constraints of traditional maternity and paternity roles. We’ve created new roles to include the child’s main caregiver – the person who spends the majority of time caring for your new child, and supporting caregiver, who assists the main caregiver. Both roles can apply to any gender.

In the U.S., the increased time off became effective November 1. The rest of the world will also see changes over time.

Emergency Time Off

To support our people in the face of an emergency – such as a death in the family, a loved one’s illness, or a natural disaster – we’re expanding available time off in addition to existing PTO.

We’ve also expanded the definition of “family” to include anyone whom you rely on and anyone who relies on you for daily support. This can mean a partner, siblings, or even your roommate. The changes were effective globally November 1.

As always, our people leaders at Cisco are empowered to support people from a deeper understanding of each person’s individual needs.

That’s true inclusion, from my perspective. Policies that benefit all of us and leaders that know, respect, and support each of us. I’m honored to lead Inclusion and Collaboration within a global company of over 70,000 people that has both.

Together, we can make every moment matter.