Cognizant trimming headcount by 13,000; future of 500 staff in Hyderabad uncertain

Hyderabad: The US-based IT giant Cognizant Technology Solutions Corporation is in the process of cutting down its workforce by about 13,000 owing to a considerable drop in the order book of projects. The IT major will also invest in other growth areas such as cloud and IoT (internet of things), etc.

The US-based company has over 500 people on content-related business working in Hyderabad. Some of them are engaged in working content-related space for Facebook. However, a spokesperson at Cognizant said that the IT company was not wholly exiting content moderation business.

Cognizant is also taking alternative measures to ease out any possible impact due to the latest decision to cut down the workforce, said Arun Chandra, VP (scaled operations at Facebook) of Cognizant.

Cognizant is not the only company that works on content business for Facebook. The social media platform has engaged five outsourcing vendors in eight countries on content review. Facebook may transfer some of the content work to Genpact Ltd, one of the operators of content review. Top officials at Cognizant indicated that 6,000 job cuts would be in content moderation business and 7,000 job cuts in other units taking the total slashing to 13,000 this year.

Cognizant's CEO Brian Humphries answering a call with analysts said the company was taking alternative measures to enhance the top line. The IT major is facing pressure from investors, who have been demanding for shareholder value.

By cutting down the workforce, Cognizant may save $500 million by 2021. The company expects further savings of $200 million by restructuring charges by December 2019.

Meanwhile, Cognizant posted better than expected results for the third quarter. The revenues rose 5.1 per cent, higher than the guidance of 4.8 per cent, to $4.25 billion for the quarter, while the net profit rose up 4.19 per cent to $497 million.