Cognizant to fire 6,000 employees as growth dips

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Cognizant will fire 6,000 employees, which represents 2.3% of its total workforce, as growth has taken a hit.

The variable payout to employees for 2016, too, is expected to be adversely affected, according to sources familiar with the matter, reported The Times of India. Cognizant has struggled with growth in an IT environment that is fast shifting towards new digital services.

The company had a tough time in 2016, with full-year growth down to single digits 8.6%, after many years of strong double-digit growth.

The layoffs are likely to be more this year than the routine annual exercise that weeds out the bottom 1% of the workforce for non-performance as determined by the annual appraisal process that ends in March.

Cognizant is said to be looking to cut roles that have become redundant due to the impact of automation on lower-end IT jobs, the Times reported.

Last year, the layoffs were about 1-2% while two years ago, it was about 1%. Cognizant had 2,60,200 employees globally as on December 31, with 1,88,000, or 72%, based in India.