Cisco

Cisco pays well. It's not in the top 10%, but it pays those employees well that it wants to keep.

It does give out RSUs, and the ESPP has paid well over the past few years.

There are four levels of health care benefits that make it easy to tailor your benefits.

Work/life balance is dependent on your individual manager; most are very good.

Lots of opportunities to move around.

Patent and yearly bonuses are good.

Depending on the business unit/work group, middle management can place unrealistic demands upon individual contributors. Working outside of San Jose can be a challenge if you want to rise through the ranks; visibility is key.

Sick and vacation time is combined into one pool of Paid Time Off (PTO), and the company has a policy of forcing employees to use 3 or 4 days during the year-end "holiday shutdown". Amount of earned PTO does not increase with seniority, but the amount one can accumulate and save does.

Bring the remote sites into the fold better.