Cisco CEO Chuck Robbins plans to commit an additional $1 billion over the next year in an effort to increase salaries and retain workers, The Information reported on Friday.
Robbins made the pledge during a meeting with managers earlier this month, the publication reported. It came as San Jose-based Cisco Systems Inc. reported earnings this week that beat Wall Street expectations despite showing a year-to-year decline in revenue.
Here's more from The Information:
Cisco is under pressure to bump pay to reduce employee turnover and respond to staff disappointment over the company’s results. After Cisco reported dour quarterly earnings this week, Robbins told his 80,000-person staff that the company had missed internal goals and that employees wouldn’t be earning their full bonus targets, which are pegged to company performance. Employees will receive 84% of their target bonuses tied to company performance in the just-ended fiscal year, compared to an average of 98% for the 10 prior fiscal years, according to internal data viewed by The Information.
Bonuses make up anywhere from 5% to 20% of Cisco employees’ total compensation, similar to the percentage at other major tech companies, according to data compiled by Levels.fyi. The average entry-level software engineer at Cisco makes $104,000 per year, including a $7,000 bonus and $1,000 in stock awards, while the average pay for principal engineers that are at least two levels higher is $469,000, including an $87,000 bonus and $174,000 in stock awards, according to the data. That puts Cisco’s starting salaries slightly lower than those at the likes of Google, Microsoft and Amazon, where entry-level software engineer base pay ranges from $112,000 to $130,000 with $30,000 to $38,000 in stock awards, according to Levels.fyi data. However, more-senior salaries at the companies are comparable.