Covid-19: Cognizant to give 25% extra pay to two-thirds of India workforce

In a bid to help its employees during Covid-19 lockout, Cognizant has announced an additional payment of 25 per cent of the base pay for April for employees up to associate level in India and the Philippines. The company said it will be reviewing this approach monthly.

This applies to more than two-thirds of the India workforce.

The company has allowed work from home for the majority of its offshore teams to ensure employee health and safety, and to maintain continuity of service for clients, while safeguarding their data and protecting access to their systems. The WFH measures include provisioning new laptops and encrypting desktops and moving them to associates' homes, enabling the use of BYOD (Bring Your Own Device), providing additional bandwidth connectivity and air cards — all with the appropriate client permissions and security protocols, said the company.

Cognizant, like all global companies, is also experiencing the effects of this public health emergency on both the demand and fulfillment sides of the business, from London to Mumbai to Manila and New York, said the IT major.

"We are all dealing with a crisis that brings new challenges every day. Even with all of the preparation and foresight of our Crisis Management and Business Continuity teams around the globe, it’s hard to imagine that we—or anyone—could have developed a playbook to anticipate the full impact of Covid-19. Yet despite this turbulence, which affects both you and your families, you have risen to the challenge of serving our clients with empathy, initiative, integrity, and courage—all while supporting and uplifting one another. I am deeply grateful to all of you for your daily acts of heroic leadership," said Brian Humphries, Chief Executive Officer, Cognizant in his letter to employees.

He further said, "While the pandemic will likely dampen industry demand, we know the requirement for fulfillment remains critical. So we quickly sought to enable work from home to ensure employee health and safety, and to maintain continuity of service for our clients, while absolutely safeguarding their data and protecting access to their systems".

"While nobody envisioned COVID-19, we will never forget all of your work, and we will be taking specific actions to reward teams and key individuals in the future," he added.