ant, supply chain manager, or financial analyst. Visit Vault at www.vault.com for insider company profiles, expert advice, VAULT CAREER career message boards, expert resume reviews, the Vault Job Board and more. LIBRARY Vault Guide to the Top Telecom Employers Cisco Systems, Inc. Benefits Cisco provides a benefit package that includes a 401(k) and medical, dental, vision, and life insurance. Though perhaps not as popular as it was in the high-flying 1990s, Cisco's employee stock purchase plan is undoubtedly still an attraction for potential workers. The company provides family services such as adoption assistance and reimbursement, breastfeeding support programs, and an on-site child care center at the San Jose headquarters. Additional perks include a baby gift program, employee emergency assistance, ergonomics, financial planning assistance, and legal services. OUR SURVEY SAYS High energy Cisco employees work in a "high energy" environment that stresses "productivity above all else." Recent hires praise the "incredible" training that they receive and relish the chance to work for a company where "intelligence, learning aptitude, and resourcefulness are more highly prized than the ability to kiss butt." Wired said of Cisco employees: "Nobody has this much fun going to work. All [Cisco employees] do is smile, smile, smile." An insider adds: "If you are remotely entrepreneurial, you will work crazy hours because you want to, not because you have to." Happily, though, "there is 'extra-duty' pay for salaried employees working weekends and holidays." Any complaints? The pay is "not up to snuff," complain some employees. One insider says: "Considering the cost of living in [San Jose], it isn't great-maybe better than many, but worse than many. The pay scales definitely need adjustment to reflect the extremely high cost of living, as well as the fact that most people in my department are recent college grads with big loans." However, as a bonus, "other companies will pay lots more - up to 60 percent more - to hire us aw