After ‘2002 pay package’ for freshers, here’s another ‘salary low’ from Cognizant: 1% salary hikes

IT giant Cognizant is under fire for implementing minimal salary hikes and offering historically low starting salaries to freshers. Despite posting a quarterly profit increase, the company has drawn widespread criticism for its compensation policies.
According to a report in Economic Times, Cognizant Technology Solutions is said to have handed out annual salary hikes as low as 1% to some of its employees.This comes as the US-based global technology services giant rolled out increments after deferring them by four months. The hikes are as low as 1% and the highest is said to be 5%, at least two people aware of the development told ET on the condition of anonymity.
Employees who received performance ratings of 3 were granted salary hikes ranging from 1% to 3%, while those with ratings of 4 and 5 received hikes of 4% and 4.5-5% respectively. These figures represent a significant decline compared to the previous year’s hikes of 7-11%.

Cognizant has 70% headcount in India

The US-based company has around 254,000 employees, or about 70% of its total employee headcount, in India. Cognizant reported a reduction in its total headcount by 8,100 to 336,300 during the quarter ended June. The employee count was lower by 9,300 from a year ago. In its second quarter ended June, Cognizant posted a 22.2% year-on-year (YoY) and 3.6% sequential growth in net profit at $566 million. Its revenue came in at $4.85 billion, marginally lower by 0.7% on year.
The company has guided for Q3 revenue to be in the range of $4.89-4.96 billion, a minus 0.2% to +1.3% YoY or 0.0% and 1.5% YoY in constant currency terms.

Cognizant trolled for offering decade-low salary package

The controversy deepened as Cognizant announced starting salaries of Rs 2.52 lakh per annum for freshers, a level that some said is two-decades law and goes back to starting salary of 2002. This decision has sparked outrage on social media and raised concerns about the company’s future talent acquisition strategy. Cognizant, in its job posting, said that the Rs 2.5-lakh package is for candidates graduating in the 2024 batch with any 3-year full-time degree programme who are eligible to apply.