Cognizant Calls Staff Back to India Offices Thrice a Week
IT services major Cognizant has instructed all employees based out of India, its largest talent hub with over 254,000 personnel on rolls, to spend a minimum of 3 days every week in company offices, as flexible remote work arrangements standard during the pandemic look set for significant pruning.
While the timeline remains unspecified, a hybrid work scheduling app is being launched for reserving on-premise seats. Experts argue the shift will lift productivity and margins over coming quarters.
Aligns With Peers in Boosting Office-First Model
Top Indian IT competitors of Cognizant like Tata Consultancy Services, Infosys, Wipro and others have also been urging employees to ramp up office presence across locations in 2023. TCS specifically laid out a mandatory 5 days a week in-office expectation.
But the renewed emphasis on physical workspaces and in-person project coordination from Cognizant and major firms have sparked some resentment on social media over loss of flexibility that remote access once enabled even with robust digital infrastructure in place.
Pandemic remote work leeway shrinking
CEO Ravi Kumar urged utilizing collaborative opportunities from on-site engagement for business gains. However, experts argue industry margin pressures outweigh employee aspirations currently.
