Redefining Parental Leave at Cisco

When I was expecting my first child last spring, I was determined to make a parental leave plan that was best for my family and demonstrated leadership on a matter I am passionate about.

My situation was a bit unique: while I identify as a woman and a mother, my wife was carrying our child. I sort of fell into both the traditional category of maternity leave as well as paternity leave. This led me to understand Cisco's parental leave policy, which I was happily surprised to learn isn't about gender. Generally speaking, in the U.S., Cisco offered 13 weeks of paid leave to primary caregivers and four weeks to secondary caregivers. It is up to the employee to identify themselves as primary or secondary caregivers.

In my household, my wife and I both work full-time and we both identify as mothers. Ultimately, I determined that I was a primary caregiver and took advantage of the full 13 weeks of paid leave at Cisco, even though I wasn't carrying or birthing our baby. This was a difficult decision for me to make, as I had many non-birthing co-workers on my team and across my operation who identified as secondary caregivers and only took four weeks of leave. Part of me felt obliged to do the same since I wasn't carrying or breastfeeding our baby. While the obvious driver of my decision was to maximize my time at home with my newborn and post-partum partner, I was also conscious of breaking the stigma that non-birthing parents should only take four weeks of leave as secondary caregivers.

There were many people at Cisco before me who worked hard to advocate for the benefits available to employees today. I wouldn't honor their work if I didn't take full advantage of my available benefits. And I knew others wouldn't feel comfortable doing the same unless we started leading by example.

If we want social norms to shift, we must start by acting differently. I am hopeful that my decision to identify as a primary caregiver and take the full 13 weeks of paid leave will inspire other non-birthing mothers, fathers, and parents to make the same decision, if available to them and best for their families.

It's important to acknowledge that I felt safe and supported in my decision because of the incredible culture across Cisco, and within my immediate team. Stepping away from my role for a quarter of a year and forcing my team to make do without my daily impact was scary. There were moments where I feared that my value and contribution to the business would be minimized once the team figured out how to cover my responsibilities. I felt guilty about my teammates and leader taking on my work. I was concerned that I might miss growth opportunities or not be considered for stretch projects. Of course, I feared that others would judge me for taking the full primary caregiver benefits while my partner was pregnant and delivering our child.

Building a culture of open dialogue around work-life balance was the first step in shifting this mindset. After being at Cisco for five years and participating in countless Women of Cisco roundtables where we discussed a handful of topics, including how to balance career and family, I had already done the personal work of shifting my mindset on this matter. Instead of asking, "What will people think if I take 13 weeks off as a non-birthing mother?" I asked myself, "What example will I be setting to future expecting parents if I don't take full advantage of Cisco's parental leave benefits?" This made my decision a no-brainer.

The best part of my story is what happened after my maternity leave.

Although sleep-deprived, I somehow came back to Cisco more energized than ever. Closing my laptop for over a quarter of a year completely reduced any sense of burnout. My morale at work was high - I had a positive attitude. As a new mother, I was eager and able to connect with my colleagues and clients in new ways. My productivity increased as I was motivated to make every minute at work count to preserve precious time in the early mornings and late afternoons with my family. I didn't carry resentment at work because I had just spent months of quality time with my baby and partner. I can say with full confidence that my work and impact are better because I decided to maximize time with my family when my son was born.

I would be minimizing the incredible amount of work all parents do each day for their children and partners if I didn't acknowledge that maintaining a positive work-life balance requires discipline and planning each day. Being a parent and bringing your best self to work will never be easy, but taking the full amount of paid leave available to me at Cisco gave me the time and focus I needed to reflect on this, adjust to our new life changes, and build a plan.

My advice to expecting parents who work full-time and have parental leave benefits available is to consider what message your parental leave decision sends to those in your community. If you aren't taking full advantage of your benefits, reflect on why.

It has been a privilege to work at Cisco, where we have such a strong people-first culture. Because of that, I am committed to expressing my values and inspiring others through the decisions I make each day, and I am so grateful to the many individuals at Cisco who have and continue to inspire me.

We all come from different backgrounds and perspectives, and Cisco offers inclusive, adaptable benefits that evolve to support us like the enhancements to paid Child Bonding Leave effective in the U.S. in 2025. For health and wellbeing innovations, check out our recently released Purpose Report.

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