When choosing a place to work, it’s not only about the job itself and the compensation package. It is equally important to find an environment where you feel seen, supported, and connected to a shared purpose. Recently, I had a pleasure of diving deep into the story of Connected Poland — a community that perfectly embodies this philosophy — through an inspiring conversation with its leaders, Izabela Kosztyła and Marius Bourosu.
What started 14 years ago as a small, organic gathering of colleagues sharing common passions has blossomed into an impressive, volunteer-driven network. Its core mission? To ensure that no one at Cisco Poland ever feels alone.
Building Bridges Across Silos
In a large organization, it is easy to stay within the bubble of your own team. Connected Poland breaks down those walls. By organizing around shared interests — whether that is sports, green initiatives, or giving back — they bring together people from entirely different backgrounds who might never have crossed paths otherwise. It transforms our daily experience from a transactional workday into a thriving social network.
To give you a bit of background, here is a quick look at some of the pillars that make all of this possible:
Giving Back: Partners with NGOs to organize volunteer activities, lead donation efforts, and fundraise for meaningful causes.
Diversity & Inclusion: Drives initiatives that support our colleagues and society, fostering both personal and professional growth.
Social Events: Brings the Cisco Family together through fun, informal gatherings—like the Family Picnic and holiday parties—to connect, share experiences, and celebrate our diversity.
Career Development: Empowers employees to confidently steer their own career paths, making the journey of self-driven growth as rewarding as the destination.
What truly moves me is how this community looks beyond our own office walls to impact the broader society. Among this wide spectrum of employee communities, two initiatives really stood out to me.
The Family Picnic: This annual event, in 2026 brought roughly 3,000 employees and their families together, allowing our loved ones to experience the warmth of the Cisco culture firsthand.
Campus-Wide Blood Drives: Instead of keeping their quarterly blood donation drives exclusive to Cisco, the team opened the doors to the entire enterprise campus. By inviting neighboring companies to participate, they exponentially increased their impact for those in need.
A Vision for the Future
The dedication of the Connected Poland volunteers is entirely passion-driven. There are no forced KPIs here; people contribute because they genuinely care. Looking ahead, Izabela and Marius have beautiful dreams for this community. Izabela hopes to see the Connected Poland model spread to Cisco offices globally, ensuring every new joiner instantly finds a friend. Marius is even working on a long-term goal to help change local laws so that non-Polish speaking expats can legally donate blood in Poland!
This holistic, deeply human approach to work is exactly why I value being part of this company. It is a powerful reminder that when we bring our whole selves to work, we can build something truly extraordinary.
Authors
