Cognizant May Lay Off 6000 Employees This Year, Say Reports

US-based software development company Cognizant is planning to lay off at least 6000 employees this year.

This year the number of employees who will lose their jobs are likely to be more compared to previous years. It will not be a part of the routine exercise where bottom 1% of the workforce are weeded out for non-performance, reported The Times of India.

In 2016, the lay offs in Cognizant were about 1-2%, while in 2015, it was about 1%. There are about 1,88,000 (approx 72%) employees in India out of the total 2,60,200 employees globally as on December 31. The number of jobs to be made redundant was not immediately clear, the report adds.

Greater use of automation on lower-end IT jobs is being seen as the primary reason behind the lay-offs.

According to a Mint report, that quoted a research by human resources (HR) solutions firm PeopleStrong, the impact of automation will be so high in India that a quarter of people losing their jobs worldwide because of automation by the year 2021 will be from India.

The company’s research report claims India will make up around 23% of jobs to be lost to automation globally by 2021.

Quoting a Cognizant spokesperon, a Business Standard report said that as part of its workforce management strategy, the company conducts regular performance reviews to ensure it has the right employee skill sets necessary to meet client needs and achieve its business goals.

The spokesperson added that the process results in changes, including some employees transitioning out of the company. Any actions, as a result of this process, are performance-based and generally consistent with those made in previous years. Resizing the employee base is a part of standard practice.