Cognizant to hire 23,000 from Indian institutes in 2020, says India CMD

India CMD Ramkumar Ramamoorthy clarified Cognizant would continue hiring, and that the earlier job-cut announcement was but a small one, considering the company had around 290,000 employees globally

Nasdaq-listed information technology (IT) services company Cognizant is planning to hire around 23,000 employees from technology institutions in India during calendar year 2020, in addition to its campus hiring for business-process outsourcing (BPO) operations, according to Ramkumar Ramamoorthy, chairman and managing director of Cognizant India. He clarified that the company would continue hiring, and that the earlier job-cut announcement was but a small portion of the larger plan, considering Cognizant had around 290,000 employees globally.

Ramamoorthy’s latest statement comes days after Cognizant said it was planning to remove around 7,000 mid- and senior-level jobs and shut down its content moderation business, which accounts for another 6,000 jobs, as part of its ‘2020 Fit for Growth Plan’. He was speaking at the 18th edition of CII Connect 2019, an international conference and exhibition on information and communication technology,

The theme of the event, taking place at the Chennai Trade Centre, is ‘Technology at the Heart of India’s $5-Trillion Economy. Ramamoorthy said the country had two strengths — technology and talent in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). Contrary to the view that there was lack of readily deployable talent, there was talent available in abundance, he said.

“We are probably one of the biggest beneficiaries of the technology talent. In terms of hiring statistics, in five years from 2014 to 2018, Cognizant saw a net headcount addition of 66,000 in India. If I include the first nine months of this year, we added about 75,000 people to the net headcount in India (a net addition of around 9,000 people in nine months). The quality of talent is only improving day by day,” he said….

Pink slips galore: Wipro, Infosys, Tech Mahindra, Cognizant cut India jobs

Tech Mahindra recently fired close to 1,000 employees; Wipro was the canary in the coal mine

 

Once India's global claim to fame, the country's information technology (IT) sector is seeing a spate of layoffs by IT majors like Tech Mahindra, Wipro, Infosys and Cognizant. 

The churn in the IT sector — which is moving towards increasing automation, use of artificial intelligence and is beset by tightening visa regulations — is likely to affect mid-level employees with 10-15 years of experience the most, as many are averse to learning new skills, industry experts have said.

Further, Indian IT firms are witnessing their slowest growth in a decade, while global firms are shifting their budgets from traditional IT services to newer areas such as digital and cloud, which require engineers to engage with clients instead of working remotely. Even as this shift takes hold of the sector, automation is increasingly taking over low-end maintenance work, forcing companies to shift workers to other projects and reduce hiring from campuses. 

Tech Mahindra joins the bandwagon

As reported earlier, software services firm Tech Mahindra has sacked a thousand-odd employees this month. 

However, what happened at Tech Mahindra is not an outlier, other IT majors like Wipro, Cognizant, Infosys and Capgemini are also facing their own share of challenges, and moving to either prune or re-skill their respective workforce. 

“We have a process of weeding out bottom performers every year and this year is no different,” a Tech Mahindra spokesperson said.

As on December 31, 2016, the company’s total employee headcount stood at 117,095, while the software division had 80,858 employees. 

Wipro was the canary in the coal mine

Late in April, Wipro move to sack around 500 of its employees as part of its appraisal process. (Read more) 

The company is reported to have weeded out "non-performers" after a "rigorous performance appraisal". 

While Wipro did not specify the exact number of affected employees, the company said it “undertakes a rigorous performance appraisal process on a regular basis to align its workforce with the business objectives, strategic priorities of the organisation, and requirements of our clients”.

“This systematic and comprehensive performance evaluation process triggers a series of actions, such as mentoring, retraining and up-skilling. The performance appraisal may also lead to the separation of some employees from the company and these numbers vary from year to year,” it said. (READ MORE)

IT professionals protest sacking in Cognizant

Cognizant trimmed 5% of its 260,000 workforce in March

 

#LATEST | Two groupings — the Forum of IT Employees (FITE) and NDLF IT employees wing — are petitioning the Tamil Nadu government against what they call unjustified dismissals of employees at Cognizant.

The FITE has filed a petition at the Tamil Nadu labour department to protect the interests of software engineers who have been sacked on performance grounds, even as companies struggle with changing technology and business shifts. 

Cognizant has denied that there have been any layoffs and said employees had been let off because they did not meet performance requirements.

“Cognizant has not conducted any layoffs. Each year, as is the best practice across our industry, we conduct a performance review to ensure we have the right employee skill sets necessary to meet client needs and achieve our business goals. This process results in changes, including some employees transitioning out of the company,” said a company spokesperson on email. 

“Any actions as a result of this process are performance-based and generally consistent with those we’ve made in previous years. In the March quarter, we hired thousands of professionals — top talent from campuses, as well as from the lateral market,” the company said.

In March, Cognizant trimmed five per cent of its 260,000 workforce as it looked to shift its focus on emerging areas such as digital. 

ALSO READ : Vijay Mallya held guilty of contempt; SC asks him to appear in person

ALSO READ : Demonetisation did not impede future black money flows in new notes: UN

ALSO READ : Baseless Aadhaar and its many flaws

READ MORE..

Carnage in Indian IT? As Wipro fires 500, here is what other cos are doing

Trump's tightening H-1B visa norms, AI and automation are weighing heavy on India's IT workers

 

Wipro's move to sack around 500 of its employees as part of its appraisal process is indicative of the churn in India's information technology (IT) sector — which is moving towards increasing automation, use of artificial intelligence and is beset by tightening visa regulations.

he company is reported to have weeded out "non-performers" after a "rigorous performance appraisal". However, what happened at Wipro is not an outlier, other IT majors like Cognizant, Infosys and Capgemini are also facing their own share of challenges, and moving to either prune or re-skill their respective workforce. (Read more) 

The real bloodbath could be at Cognizant

US-listed IT major Cognizant Technology Solutions, which has a significant workforce in India, is said to be reducing its employee count by as much as five per cent, which translates to close to 10,000 workers, as reported in March this year

Globally, the company employs around 260,000 employees, of this around 75 per cent of the workforce is based in India. 

Here too, according to what the company spokesperson told Business Standard, the layoffs will take place as part of the Cognizant's performance review process. Typically, the bottom one per cent of the workforce is weeded out for non-performance, a common practice across IT firms as part of the annual appraisal exercise. The appraisal process generally ends by March.| (READ MORE)