Cognizant, a leading IT firm listed on Nasdaq, has cautioned its staff about potential termination for non-compliance with the return-to-office directive, as reported by a trusted source. The company emphasised previous communications from business leaders regarding office attendance expectations in an April 15 letter to employees. Failure to adhere to these instructions, the letter warned, could result in disciplinary action, including termination.
While the report is yet to be verified independently, Reuters had earlier noted Cognizant's directive for its Indian employees to work from the office for three days a week in February. Cognizant CEO Ravi Kumar S outlined this expectation in a memo, although the effective date of the policy change was not specified. India hosts the majority of Cognizant's workforce, with around 254,000 of its 347,700 employees based there, according to the company's annual report.
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Unlike some of its Indian counterparts, such as Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Infosys, and Wipro, which mandated a return to the office in 2023 with a five-day-a-week schedule, Cognizant opted for a hybrid model. Its recent performance metrics underscored a notable decline in its attrition rate by 10 percentage points to 13.1 per cent over the trailing 12 months. Additionally, its utilization rate saw a marginal uptick of 1 percentage point to 82 per cent for the quarter ending March 31. Despite these internal improvements, Cognizant Technology Solutions (CTS) reported a 1.1 per cent year-on-year decline in revenue to $4.8 billion, attributed to reduced discretionary spending by clients.
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