Jocelyn Roberts wants to know what I look like. “It’s a bit alien for me to be talking to you and not see you,” she says. This may sound a little overfriendly, but she doesn’t mean it that way.

At Cisco it’s normal for employees to speak over a video link. “You get face-to-face action sat at your desk,” Roberts, the finance controller, says. It’s one way in which the company uses its own products to create new opportunities for working, communicating and gathering information.

Then there’s Telepresence, which consists of life-size tele-vision screens placed in board-rooms so that employees in different countries can conduct a face-to-face meeting. “It blows your mind,” she says.

The opportunities for collaboration are endless. WebEx allows employees to speak to each other and edit the same document on their screens simultaneously. Meanwhile, a communal blog is a place for employees to scribble down ideas using wiki software. These contributions are taken seriously – every month, the research and development team chooses the top two and begin working on how to develop them into products.

If workers ever feel lost in this tide of technology, they turn to CVision, Cisco’s version of YouTube. This is a data-base of videos explaining particular issues or products. “It is easier to watch someone showing me something than to read a document,” says Sabrina Dar, the strategy and planning manager for the UK and Ire-land.

Having information so readily available is empowering, Roberts says. “It enables you to make real-time decisions.” Her team rolled out a change to the expense management process which in most organisations would take months. “We did it in a week,” she says.

Cisco doesn’t approve of the typical 9-5, Dar says. Unless that’s what you choose, of course. “I work whatever hours I want,” she says. So she doesn’t have to be at her desk at a certain time? “No – I don’t even have a desk.”

A laptop and a phone are all she needs to communicate with her manager, wherever she is. They usually use instant messaging. “I can go to the gym for an hour and come back to a message from my boss,” she says.

The choice is more than just home or office, says Nikki Walker, director of strategy, planning and execution for emerging markets – you can work anywhere in the world. “The company is very open to people gaining different kinds of experience.” She has stayed for nine years “because I’ve always been challenged and given different opportunities”.

Walker used to enjoy regular travel. After the birth of her two children, she decided to scale it down. “It was easy to find a role that allowed that.”

Innovation has brought financial success, to the benefit of everyone – all employees are shareholders. “It means we take ownership,” Roberts says. “We’re not siloed – it’s in everyone’s interest for the company to do well.”

It seems that everyone at Cisco likes to see the overall picture. Every month, John Chambers, the CEO, hosts a “birthday breakfast meeting” from the Cisco headquarters in San Jose, California. All employees born that month attend a virtual meeting and ask questions directly. Chambers publishes the transcript of answers on the website. “We can take problems straight to the top,” Dar says. “And he answers every question.”

At 28, Dar has had a meteoric career path since starting on the graduate scheme seven years ago. It’s a meritocracy, she says. “If you can do the job, it doesn’t matter how old you are.”

Or your gender. Walker runs the Women’s Networking Group and contributes to two other programmes that “encourage women to build their talent and become leaders.” No wonder so many want to work there.

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