Cognizant Layoffs: May cut more jobs; delay campus hires

Cognizant, US-listed IT company is likely to lay off a few hundred more employees to reduce costs. This is another round of layoffs after the company fired mid-level executives in May to cut costs and restore growth.

The company is also looking for more ways to reduce its expenses. Cognizant, under the leadership of its new CEO, Brian Humphries, is carrying out an extensive restructuring process, which aims to boost growth and reduce costs, Economic Times reported. A few hundred employees will be laid off and those with more than eight years of experience.

"It is part of the appraisal process; it is getting stricter. If you were a marginal performer or have not been allocated (a project), then they would look at beginning a separation process," a person with knowledge of the matter told ET.

A Cognizant employee also said the company was evaluating the number of job cuts, and that would depend on its growth as the quarter progresses. The company has already discontinued non-essential trips and has also taken other measures to limit its expenses. Also, the IT Company has extended the time between sending offer letters to new employees and assigning their incorporation dates, as per the report.

A Facebook group called 'Cognizant Freshers' has a group of people saying they were given offer letters in March but had yet to get a joining date.

"We have already on-boarded several thousand students who are currently undergoing training in Cognizant Academy, and the rest will be on board in a staggered fashion, as is the process every year. Cognizant has a long history of honouring all campus offers, and there is no reason to believe that this year will be any different," the spokesperson said.

Earlier this year, Cognizant had cut its revenue growth projection and said its staff had exceeded its revenue growth in the last two quarters.

As per the annual report of Cognizant's for 2018, the company had 288,200 staff as of June 30, a 7% increase from 268,900 a year earlier. It had about 281,600 employees at the end of 2018, with 194,700, or 69%, in India.

CEO Humphries, who took over Francisco D'Sousza on April 1, had previously said that Cognizant would strive to reduce the cost of delivery through "pyramid actions."

In addition to reducing costs, Humphries also said he would focus on investing so that Cognizant could re-register stronger growth rates. "Investments, of course, can take many forms, including marketing, demand generation, partnerships, reskilling, increased sales coverage or increased spend on platforms tools and automation," he had told analysts in a post-earnings conference call in May.