I-T services provider Cognizant is planning to cut about 7000 mid to senior-level jobs in the upcoming quarters as part of a cost reduction programme. The US-based company is also set to exit its content moderation business which will, in turn, affect another 6,000 employees.
On Thursday, the company announced its results which recorded a 4.1 per cent increase in net profit to USD 497 million for September 2019 quarter. The company, which has a significant part of its workforce based in India, had posted a net profit of USD 477 million in the year-ago period.
It has also raised its annual revenue growth outlook to 4.6-4.9 per cent for 2019. However, the company has decided to remove a batch of its employees so it can 'fund investments in growth.'
Cognizant is said to be planning the removal of about 10,000-12,000 mid-to-senior level associates worldwide from their current roles in the coming quarters.
The gross reduction is expected to lead to a net reduction of approximately 5,000 to 7,000 roles (about 2 per cent of its total headcount) and re-skilling and redeployment of about 5,000 of the total associates impacted.
In the post-earnings call with the analysts, the Cognizant CFO Karen McLoughlin said, "We expect the remaining 5,000-7,000 associates to exit the company by mid-2020 either through attrition or role elimination."
As of now, the company has not detailed much about the countries/cities which will be impacted by the job cuts.
However, considering the fact that India accounts for the biggest share of the company's headcount, the impact of these layoffs is expected to be significant.
Cognizant's total headcount stood at 2,89,900 people at the end of the September 2019 quarter, reported PTI. The company had recently stated that its headcount in India has crossed the two-lakh mark.