Cognizant may lay off more than 6,000 employees this year
Cognizant looking at sacking more than 6,000
employees this year. Company says standard practice but is this is an
impact of automation
As the appraisal season begins, ominous signs for employees at Cognizant
have begun to emerge. The company may fire more than 6,000 employees
this year,
According to a Cognizant spokesperson, the move is part of company’s
regular appraisal cycle and underperformers are likely to be under the
radar. Media reports also say that as many as 10,000 employees can lose
their jobs.
It is a standard practice for information technology (IT) companies to
cut their workforce during a rigorous appraisal process and underperformers or employees who have not taken efforts to reskill will
have a tough road ahead. In this sector, it is the bottom one per cent
of the workforce that has to take the bitter pill.
Is this a standard practice or is this an automation wave
IT industry is entering the new phase of automation. This may be good
for the company to cut costs but employees may be out of jobs as
companies will eliminate redundant roles.
About 75 percent of Cognizant's 2.6 lakh-strong workforce is based out
of India.
The company is focusing on automation and building new digital
capabilities.
It is also planning to invest in training and re-skilling its team, and
in substantially expanding its local workforces in the US and other
local markets around the world where it operates.
During an earnings call, company’s chief, Francisco D’Souza said, “As
agile development and the pervasive influence of technology increases,
the value of co-location and a consultative approach also goes up.”
He had also said that Cognizant will leverage its scale to prove costs
in 2017 and 2018 through cost-optimisation of traditional offerings such
as applications, infrastructure and process services.
A research by human resources (HR) solutions firm, People Strong, has
found that automation will eat up quarter of people’s jobs by 2021
in India.
As per a 2017 World Employment and Social Outlook report, unemployment in India might go up from 17.7 million in 2016 to 17.8 million (in 2017)
and 18 million a year later.
For India, the challenge is job creation than job cuts.
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