A Day in the Life of an HR Connection Specialist (Voice)
8:30 a.m. “I have just arrived at the office, and will sit down to review my agenda and make a plan for the day.
At 9 a.m., we will have our weekly team meeting. After that, I will log into the HR Connection (HRC) phone line, so
that I am available to speak to any employees who might have an HR question or issue this morning.
As employees call in, I will open a new case for them in our case management system and discuss their questions
with them. I will use the HR knowledge management and information tool (HRiQ) to look for the most updated
information related to the inquiry. Although the phone lines are usually quite busy, there are likely to be some gaps
between calls, and I can use this time to continue working on some of my in-progress cases.
9 a.m. In this week’s team meeting, we will receive a presentation on the annual employee satisfaction survey
which is due to be launched shortly. We will discuss our role, in HRC, in supporting this program. This is one of the
many HR programs that will run throughout the year, and we will receive comprehensive training prior to the launch
of each one, to help ensure that the support we provide is efficient, robust, and exceeds our customer
expectations. I really enjoy these trainings, and, due to the variety of HR programs, it is a great opportunity for
exposure to a wide range of HR work.
We will also use this meeting to share and discuss some of the cases which we have been working on as a team.
It is really interesting to get insight into the complex cases my colleagues are dealing with and hear how they were
resolved. I find this process really useful, as often, I encounter similar queries and find I can use the advice and
experiences of my colleagues to resolve them.
10 a.m. On returning to my desk, I log into the HRC phone line. The phone soon rings, and I begin to help a
manager work through the process of transferring one of their direct reports to another team. I set up a screensharing session with the manager, so I can talk her through each step in the HR system in detail through to
completion. She is pleased that she can cross another task off her to-do list. Before closing the call, I show the
manager some online self-service resources available to her, which are designed to help managers through HR
transactions. She bookmarks these for future reference. One of the really rewarding things about this role is that
we not only resolve the immediate issue, but are improving operations within Cisco every day, through employee
and management enablement.
1 p.m. This afternoon, I begin work on some brand-new cases which have just been assigned to me. I call each
employee to discuss their question thoroughly and gather some useful details which were not included in the
original query description. This is a great way for me to gain a deeper understanding of the question and the
context. It also helps me reassure the employee that their query is important and being dealt with.
Throughout the afternoon, I work on a wide range of cases. I discuss the maternity notification process with an
employee in the United Kingdom. I advise a manager in Switzerland on the process for awarding his direct report a
bonus. I work with another manager in the Netherlands to complete all the necessary steps for one of his direct
reports to move to part-time working hours.
© 2012 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. This document is Cisco Public Information.
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3 p.m. My phone rings, and an HR manager informs me that she has an issue that is very time sensitive, and
should be treated as a “Red Carpet” priority case. As such, I will need to deal with it before I begin work on my
other outstanding cases. Although it is an urgent issue, I remain calm and listen carefully to find out more about the
situation. Having researched HR tools, I quickly identify a course of action and explain the process requirements
we will need to fulfill. I stay in touch with the HR manager throughout the afternoon, to keep her updated on the
progress. The issue will require some urgent updates to be made in HR tools. Having received the necessary
approvals, I liaise with one of my colleague in the data team, and we review the case, prior to escalating my
request to them. Voice and data specialist work is very closely linked, so we interact a lot.
4 p.m. I will finish my day today with a meeting with my mentor, the Compensation and Stock Specialist within our
Tier II team. We have developed a good relationship since I joined Cisco last year, and I always find these
sessions extremely valuable. We use the sessions to discuss the previous weeks and, in particular, any situations
which I have found challenging. We talk through possible ways to approach each situation, and I really appreciate
her opinion and experience. Since taking on this role, I have been particularly interested in compensation, and my
mentor shares some insights around the upcoming Rewards Program and her role in it. There is always a new and
exciting program or event coming up, and understanding more about the operations behind e is fascinating.
Before I leave today, I review my agenda for tomorrow. It will be another interesting day, full of variety and
challenge. If it is anything like today, I will leave the office knowing I have made a valuable contribution, changing
the HR experience, one interaction at a time.”
Printed in USA
© 2012 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. This document is Cisco Public Information.
C96-704039-00
04/12
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