Cognizant delays hikes till October

Bengaluru: US-headquartered Cognizant has informed its employees in an email that the salary hikes and promotions will be delayed this year, according to a media report.

The company would communicate the employees about the salary hikes and promotions in the month of June every year.

However, this year, Cognizant’s chief people officer, Jim Lennox has said in an email to the employees that the revisions and promotions will take place in October.

Amid radical changes in the IT industry due to mass layoffs and work visa issues, Cognizant’s move to delay promotions and salary hikes shows that the country’s is slowly losing its IT sheen.

Mr Lennox has said in an email that 2017 has witnessed a good start and macro environment factors cannot be controlled, and what can be controlled is their executions against macro shifts, driving value to clients and differentiating themselves in the marketplace.

According to the email, the associates up to level of VP will be communicated about the promotions soon and it will be effective from 1 October.

The details about the promotions for higher management will be announced separately.

The email has come as a surprise for the employees who expected to receive the details about promotions in the month of June. In addition to three months delay in appraisal, the company had announced voluntary separation program to its top executives by offering a lump sum separation pay package.

The company’s workforce currently comprises of 2,61,200  employees worldwide. Cognizant had also announced that it would reduce its dependency on H1B visa.