After US President Donald Trump tightened visa norms, all information technology (IT) majors have been under pressure.
Infosys recently announced that it would hire 10,000 locals in the US.
Now, Cognizant Technology Solutions has offered its top executives a voluntary separation package and a minimum of nine-month salary to the considered employees based on their post.
“We expect to significantly ramp up our US based workforce by hiring experienced professionals in the open market and by making more use of university programmes. We are shifting our workforce largely in response to clients' increasing need for co-innovation. But we still seek visas for highly-specialized and skilled talent…We expect to further reduce our need for these visas going forward. As part of our shift, we continue to expand our US delivery centres," said Rajeev Mehta, President, Cognizant.
The company is the second software provider after Infosys to announce increase in local hiring in the US. However, the IT firm said that this move was a part of its overall strategy to move to the digital landscape and deliver sustainable growth.
"We are focused on making sure that we have the team, capabilities and IP to serve our clients in the digital era. Doing so will make Cognizant even stronger and we are confident we are well-positioned to drive long-term shareholder value as we continue investing in our employees and in exciting new areas of growth,," the spokesperson said.
It did not disclose the number of people that have been offered this option but employees who had annual salaries in over Rs 40 lakh might also be eligible for the option.
"This voluntary initiative is being communicated to management-level associates-from director-level to senior vice president-and eligibility is at the discretion of Cognizant leadership," said a spokesperson of the company.
"There could be at least 1,000 colleagues who may be eligible for this," sources said.
The company registered revenues of $13.5 billion in 2016 which is 8.6% more when compared to revenue in 2015. For 2017, the company is estimating revenue to be from $14.5-14.84 billion.
Cognizant’s operating margins had dropped to 19 percent last year and the company hopes to take it to 22 percent this year.
Paying nine months salary is good deal since the employees are top level executives and they can get into other organization very easily. What do you think? Share us in the comments.