Pros
Cisco is a great place for work/life balance - I would high recommend Cisco for working moms. There is the flexibility of working from home if need be - best thing is people do not abuse that system. You have access to a wealth of informations - technical talks, seminars, classes to enhance technical knowledge. There are also leadership classes to hone leadership skills. Extensive use of IT tools and Web made all the processes online and very seamless. I personally believe the salary, compensation and benefits are at par with the valley companies. Overall, its a great place to have fun and work at the same time.
Cons
One of the biggest complaint I have against Cisco is it's career development plan & implementation for the employees. The ePM every year talks about the growth and career plan - but in reality the managment is always driven by very near term goals and not long term vision. As a result all the career development plans of individual contributors do not go anywhere - again next year the ePM comes and the story repeats. There is not much functional rotation as well - its very hard to convince Level1/2 manager why I would want to move from his/her group and go to another group to do something else - instead of encouraging the individual's passion to do something of his/her interest in another group, the manager is worried about shrinking empire if an employee is lost to another group.