Cisco Poland Blog > Our People

Our People

Who is behind Cisco Poland’s Great Place to Work success?

Greg Iwan
27 January 2022

The answer to this question is simple and obvious. It’s Cisco Poland employees and leadership who enable, foster, participate in and maintain the culture of this great company in all aspects measured by the Great Place to Work (GPTW) organization. This answer is certainly correct but it’s not complete.  Because like any activity also Cisco’s participation in the GPTW certification process requires someone who will organize it, drive the engagement, gather feedback and ensure it is heard. We’ve had a pleasure to interview two ladies who make it all happen – Anna Toporkiewicz, co-leader of Cisco Poland Sites Operations and Karolina Cisło, co-lead of Connected Poland, the core employee resource organization at Cisco Poland.

Let’s start with the basic question. Why have you engaged in GPTW at Cisco?

Anna: I agreed because I wanted a positive challenge. Something that would allow to make things better. And I like making things better very much. We improve our workplace, make people happy, or at least we try to do that. I think this was really behind my decision.

Karolina: I worked for our senior leadership and was naturally pulled into this project. But for me really the great value is to hear how people truly feel in our company. I like to do it, I like to talk about it, present it – because you see from the inside how this company works. And as Ania says, we can improve things and every year we have something to improve. So for someone like me who loves to work with people this is a perfect place to be!

Anna: It’s really good to be in it for a few years because one can see how this evolves, what people say, what changes they expect and how this translates to initiatives that we have. This is fascinating.

Anna Toporkiewicz

So, how do the particular organizations work on those inputs from employees expressed in the GPTW survey?

Anna: In general we follow the Design Thinking methodology. Tasks groups are created in different organizations which select the areas of improvement as well as those top performing to maintain. We use different tools, such as Empathy Map, which allows the task group to step into the shoes of the employee who responded to the survey, define the challenges and solution that would enable the employee to respond with higher rank in the following year.

Karolina: All those solutions, as well as unsolicited comments for employees go to the Site Governance Board for review and decision – should the focus be on enabling more physical activity in the office, provide a dedicated meal card or make the office more ecological. Those may seem small initiatives but it translates big to the employee satisfaction. People want to be heard!

Karolina Cislo

Can you recall one of such small requests which was implemented as a result of an employee comment in the GPTW survey?

Karolina: Yes, for example hygiene products for women and men in lavatories. Simple thing and much needed. This was very well received.

Anna: More food trucks! This was something we heard and signed more contracts for them to come to the Enterprise Park where our Krakow office is located.

In the pandemic times there was a need to provide some support regarding mental health. That also resulted in action. A number of workshops have been held.

Karolina: Also how Cisco supported people in organizing the home office was appreciated. People felt supported.

People of course know the survey they respond to. But are there any tasks you need to follow before or after the survey?

Karolina: Yes, a lot! Before the survey we do a full cultural audit of Cisco Poland. This is a document of around 100 pages where Cisco culture is described, what we do, what initiatives we have, how we work, including statistical HR and payroll information.

Anna: A lot of hard data that we need to gather in-line with data privacy rules. This results in what I call “a book about Cisco”. It helps to be connected with teams, be a part of employee resource organizations like Connected Poland, the Krakow Site Operations – this helps to gather the data.

And what happens after the survey?

Anna: We govern the process of analyzing the feedback, putting it into action, presenting the plans and outcomes to the Cisco Poland Governance Board and the whole population. This is not just done for the sake of doing it, but to truly follow up and implement meaningful change.

I believe that the key to our success is the culture, the independence and freedom of employees. Cisco is very flexible and very un-hierarchical, managers are very accessible. I think this is our key to success. Even if people leave then very often they come back later because they miss this culture.

Let’s focus a bit more on that culture. Let’s sum up in a few high level words, why people believe Cisco Poland is a great place to work?

Karolina: Freedom of choice, no micromanagement.

Anna: Family-like relations even though the company is so big. People not only work together but spend time together. People want to do good things together, spread the good.

Karolina: Empowerment, people don’t feel entangled nor limited, but enabled. So both our hierarchy and attitudes are different than in other such large companies

Anna: People are listened to and not judged. If you have an idea you can go to your manager, Connected Poland or even Senior leaders and you will be heard.

Karolina: And Diversity! People from all parts of the world coming to Krakow or Warsaw sites have often different approach to things. This is an eyeopener and very appreciated by all Cisconians. The international, inter-cultural and inter-gender collaboration gives us a lot! This is our trump card!