How Cisco Changed a Dog’s Life
Cisco is a great place to work. This is not me looking for Brownie points, or spouting a company line. A working environment that actively promotes respect (believe me when you have worked in a company where the direct opposite is the case, you really value this). Supportive management who work with you to help you achieve your goals. And – most pertinent for this blog – a policy of flexible working practices. Being able- and trusted – to work where I want, when I need. This not only makes me happier, healthier and more productive, but has meant the world to a small, terrier/hound cross who found himself one day in the care of Dog’s Trust.
Baskerville came into our lives just over two years ago. A small, skinny and rather smelly (sorry Baz) dog who was too scared to bark. We do not know his history – just that he jumped whenever you went to stroke him, was scared of all loud noises and had the saddest eyes. Two years on he has us wrapped round his front paw. He now barks – a lot (actually every time a 4X4, horse or dog go past – which as we live in a village in Kent is quite often). My favourite memory is my partner standing in the garden with Baz, cheering and applauding every time Baz barked. We have both lived to rue that day!
My point is that without flexible working, and the best-in-class Collaboration and Networking solutions provided by Cisco, me adopting Baz would have been out of the question. And I am obviously not alone. How many lives – human or animal – have been improved because we are empowered to manage our working lives to optimise our work / life balance? To be there when a loved one needs us, to make it to the school play, or to sit and comfort a scared dog.
Surely of all the benefits technology brings – and I firmly believe technological advancement is one of the greatest forces for good in modern times – the power to manage our own lives is one of the most powerful.
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