Cognizant Offers ‘Voluntary Separation’ To Top Executives

Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp. has offered some of its top executives a “voluntary separation”, a month after the software services provider indicated that it may let go of some of its employees as part of its performance review.

A spokesperson of the U.S.-based information technology company confirmed the development but declined to divulge how many people have been made the offer, maintaining that it represents a very small percentage of its total workforce. Cognizant employs around 2.6 lakh employees globally, with nearly 75 percent of them based out of India.

Only directors and vice presidents in the company are being offered the separation, that too at the discretion of the leadership.

The company is offering up to nine-months' salary as part of the offer, a person privy to the development told BloombergQuint, but didn't reveal what the ‘salary' included. It wants to complete the process by June.

Nearly a month ago, Cognizant had said some of the employees could be “transitioned out of the company” as part of the performance review.

The information technology firm said on Thursday that the voluntary separation offer was in keeping with the overall strategy of accelerating its shift to digital. The company, however, added that it will continue to hire across all its practices and is expanding facilities globally.

Cognizant, which follows a January-December financial year, saw its net profit fall 4.3 percent to $1.55 billion in 2016. Its revenue grew 8.6 percent to $13.49 billion compared to a 21 percent growth the year before.

Its Chief Executive Officer Francisco D'Souza's compensation also fell 31 percent to $8.26 million last year, as per the fillings made to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Also Read: Cognizant To Return $3.4 Billion To Shareholders Over Next 2 Years