Over 6,000 employees or 2-3 per cent of the total workforce at Cognizant Technology Solutions are facing lay-off threat for being ‘relatively under performers and for skill mismatch’, said sources.
At the end of December 2016 quarter, the US-based software company had a total of 2.60 lakh employees globally with over 75 per cent of them employed in India.
Two years ago, Cognizant laid off 1 per cent of its total employees and in 2016, it sacked 2 per cent of the employees. The exact number will be known when the appraisal is completed by March 31, said sources.
Such lay-off is happening across all companies in the industry, they added.
A spokesperson for Cognizant said as part of the 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 business goals. This process results in changes, including some employees transitioning out of the company.
“Any actions as the result of this process are performance-based and generally consistent with those we have made in the previous years. In any given year, the numbers may bounce a percentage here or there, but this is part of our standard practice. At the same time, we continue to enhance our capabilities and hire for roles across all our practice areas in the company,” he said in a statement.