Cognizant 2020 Fit For Growth plan: 7,000 mid, senior-level employees laid off
In October 2019, the Teaneck-based IT services firm Cognizant had announced the “2020 Fit for Growth” plan. As a part of the plan, it would lay off 12,000 mid to senior level employees, of which 5,000 will be reskilled and redeployed. The rest 7,000 will leave the firm by mid-2020, it said.
The 7,000 employees were from the mid and senior level.
Now a year later, the company that has a significant presence in India has said that it had completed the plan, which evoked much controversy. Let’s look at how the whole plan completed its topsy-turvy journey.
During the earnings call in October last year, the company said, “Our 2020 Fit for Growth Plan is expected to run for two years. This program is designed to simplify the way we work, reduce our cost structure, and fund investments in the business which will enable growth.”
This was expected to result in annualized gross run rate savings of $500 million to $550 million in 2021, the company added.
This move created ripples in the IT unions in India though the industry leaders Moneycontrol then spoke to pointed out that it was inevitable.
TV Mohandas Pai, former CFO, Infosys, and Chairman – Aarin Capital, said that Indian IT industry had a thick middle and some of these senior employees had to be let go to right the pyramid.
IT unions such as Forum for IT Employees (FITE) and Union of IT/ITeS Employees (UNITE) condemned these layoffs. Alagunambi Welkin, General Secretary, UNITE, called for unionisation similar to the one initiated by workers of HCL America to fight for their rights.
Only a month before this announcement, close to 80 techies from HCL America joined a United Steelworkers (USW) union in the US in late September to demand better working conditions and other employee benefits.
This spirit was further fueled by the layoff of FITE’s union member Elavarasan Raja. In November 2019, FITE members planned to meet Tamil Nadu labour and employment department’s officials. Their claim was that Raja was sacked for being a part of the union.
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End Note-This story has not been edited by SightsIn Plus, published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text. Source-moneycontrol
