TORONTO, Ont., Oct. 29, 2010 - Cisco Canada has ranked first out of 121 companies surveyed, in Aon Hewitt's annual ranking of the Best Employers in Canada. The Aon Hewitt study, conducted in conjunction with Queen's University School of Business, recognizes the top employers in Canada based on employee responses. Cisco achieved the top ranking in only its second year of participating in the survey. Last year Cisco ranked third on the list, the highest ranking ever by a first-time participant.

Cisco's ranking is due to its exceptionally high scores for employee engagement. Cisco's success in engaging employees is driven by a corporate culture that empowers employees to work for positive change. By offering employees challenging and engaging opportunities Cisco enables employees to make a significant contribution to the technology industry and encourages employees to take a leadership role in every aspect of business. Employees are encouraged to take leadership roles through a broad range of programs from business strategy councils and boards, to work-life initiatives with a strong focus on diversity and inclusion. Employees are also empowered with Cisco technology to adopt flexible work schedules, supported by collaboration technologies that connect employees across Canada, and around the world.

Highlights / Key Facts:

• Aon Hewitt, the global leader in human capital consulting and outsourcing, conducts the only annual national workplace study in Canada that measures engagement by information from employees and leaders.
• The Best Employers study recognizes organizations with high employee engagement – a measure of how positively employees feel about their employer, how likely they are to stay, and how committed they are to doing their utmost to achieve business objectives.
• Organizations with high employee engagement enjoy tangible benefits, including a greater ability to attract and retain key talent.
• This year, an average of 78 percent of employees at the 50 Best Employers were classified as engaged versus 56 percent of employees at other participating organizations. Cisco's engagement score was 90 percent.  
• 121 Canadian organizations participated in the study. The results from this year's study are based on survey responses from more than 134,000 Canadian employees and 1,534 leaders.
• The 2011 study marks the 12th time the study has been conducted.

Supporting Quotes:

• Neil Crawford, Aon Hewitt's leader of the Best Employers in Canada study

"We are very pleased to congratulate Cisco Canada on attaining top spot on the 2011 list of the Best Employers in Canada. This singular accomplishment clearly indicates that Cisco Canada has developed a committed team of employees and is focused on continuing to provide the tools, inspiration and motivation to drive success."

• Nitin Kawale, president, Cisco Canada

"We are thrilled at achieving the top ranking on the Best Employers list. Employee engagement is central to our corporate culture at Cisco, which challenges both employees and management to stretch traditional boundaries and bring innovative thinking to how we work with each other, our partners and our customers. Our success is due to the energy, drive and commitment our employees bring to their jobs every day. "