Beyond Layoff

Information technology firm Cognizant said around 400 of its senior executives have accepted its voluntary separation package which will help the multi-national corporation save around $60 million dollars annually, PTI reported on Sunday. The company had offered some of its senior staff up to nine months of salary. Wikimedia Commons The international company had pitched the package, which offers up to nine months of salary, to some of its senior executives based in the United States and India in May. The firm has not specified how many of the employees were based in India, which accounts for a sizable number of its 2.56 lakh workforce. “Of the $39 million (approximately Rs 248 crore) of realignment charges, $35 million was for the roughly 400 associates who accepted our voluntary separation package,” Cognizant Chief Financial Officer Karen McLoughlin said at a recent investor call. The CFO said the step will help increase profits. The firm’s staff strength was reduced by aro

Three of India's top IT companies saw significant reduction of their workforce in the quarter ending June, according to a report in HT Mint . "The $154 billion Indian information technology (IT) sector, once India’s largest creator of jobs, is now struggling to even add to its workforce. For the first time, three of the five largest IT companies saw their workforce shrink in the quarter ended June 30. The five firms, which together employed 878,913 people at the end of the June quarter, saw their workforce shrink by 1,818 people." According to Economic Times , E-commerce major Snapdeal on Monday revealed that it is facilitating a major layoff in the company, with an agenda to cut down 80 percent of its employee strength. A senior official of the company told ANI that the management has given verbal instructions to their department heads to prepare the list.  Additionally, the official also revealed that the owners of the firm have reversed the merger which was t

Forum For IT Employees ( FITE ) continues to get a lot of media attention An IT Workers’ Union: Outlandish Or A Sign Of The Times? Bloomberg wonders, adding "India’s software services industry faces a twin challenge: U.S. President Donald Trump’s protectionist policies and automation. And as companies lay off staff, a group of employees is now trying to form an IT workers’ union. There’s been a growing sense of insecurity among the IT professionals over the last few years, said Elavarasan Raja, a 27-year-old IT worker from Pune. That’s led the group to try and form a union to better protect employees’ welfare, said Raja who is part of the group. Called the Forum For IT Employees, the group now has around 3,000 members and chapters in nine cities, including its headquarters in Chennai, and in prominent IT hubs like Bengaluru and Pune, according to Raja. The group, in a recent press release, alleged that Cognizant Technology Solutions was illegally terminating thousands of emp

There are two interesting headlines on layoffs in Indian IT, both from from Bloomberg. The one from today (25th May 2017) claims "Trump Blamed for Job Losses as India Tech Workers Face Cuts."    The other headline from May 11th claims "These Job Cuts Aren't Trump's Fault" The article in Bloomberg today basically quotes some former Cognizant employees to make an argument for a headline on Trump. The Article quoted Swapana Bhosale from Cognizant “Pulling people out of projects to sack them is unheard of in our industry,” said Bhosale, who demanded to be fired rather than resign so she can take legal action. The 36-year-old sees an unusual culprit behind job losses in the country’s outsourcing industry: U.S. President Donald J. Trump.  Bhosale’s not alone in blaming Trump. In cities like Bangalore, Chennai, Pune, Hyderabad and Kolkata, thousands of engineers who have been axed or face dismissal are banding together on social networks and WhatsApp group