In the past During the year, Cisco was seen publicly as one of the few tech companies that avoided internal backlash over its response to the war in Gaza. Chuck Robbins, CEO of the Silicon Valley giant known for its routers, cybersecurity services, and WebEx video calling, issued a statement last November acknowledging the suffering of both Israelis and Palestinians.
And as recently as two months ago, Francine Katsoudas, Cisco’s head of people, policy, and mission, smiled as she posed for pictures with many organizations of the company’s employees, including the Palestinians. However, this image later became a source of significant controversy within the company.
Off the record, eight current employees and one former employee who spoke to WIRED say Cisco has looked down on its internal Palestinian groups and hundreds of their members. Throughout the unrest that began this past July, people alleged that the company failed to act quickly and adequately against the police harassment of Palestinian workers and their partners in its internal company forums despite detailed complaints. They also said that Cisco stopped an internal request to cut sales to Israel over human rights concerns.
“We were targeted and harassed, destroyed and defamed,” said João Silva Jordão, a software licensing manager in Lisbon who left Cisco last month in disgust after four years at the company. “I was led to believe that my humanitarian side was welcome at Cisco, but I was completely deceived. It is double standards and hypocrisy.”
Meanwhile, one recent ex-employee, who was fired, says some Jewish employees at Cisco believe the company has not sufficiently stopped their harassment by Palestinian groups. The person criticized the administration for not doing more to shut down labor talks on both sides. “Things could be done by the leadership to reduce pollution throughout the country,” he said. “It’s sad that so much hasn’t been done yet.”
Brian Tippens, Cisco’s chief social impact and inclusion officer, denies allegations of marginalization and unequal treatment. He says Cisco is focused on the well-being of all of its 90,000 employees, and apologizes to anyone who feels the company has fallen short of its philanthropic goals.
Tippens tells WIRED that Cisco doesn’t want to ban what it views as political speech entirely, but it has issued what it calls Speech Guidelines during the internal upheavals to encourage respect and civility.
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