Cognizant Rolls Out Voluntary Retirement Offer For These Employees; Indian Employees On The Radar?

Due to the coronavirus impact, different companies are opting for different measures. While some are reducing the salaries, others are firing them.

Now, IT behemoth Cognizant has initiated VRS or Voluntary Retirement Scheme for their selected employees.

Are Indian employees on the radar?

Cognizant Starts VRS Offer For These Employees

Only for benched employees, Cognizant has started to roll our voluntary retirement scheme. Hence, the VRS won’t be applicable to all employees.

In the IT world, benched employees are those employees, who have got no projects, and are waiting for their next work. 

This VRS offer is completely voluntary, and employees can opt for this offer, only if they agree. Employees who are not opting for VRS can continue to be in the bench.

Only American Employees Being Offered VRS

As per reports coming in, Cognizant has rolled out the VRS offer only for their benched employees in the US.

Hence, Indian employees of Cognizant wont be affected as of now.

After TCS, Cognizant is the biggest employer of IT employees in India with more than 2.5 lakh employees on their payroll. TCS has 4.5 lakh employees.

Benched employees in Cognizant are moved into the Associate Deployable Pool (ADP), and this VRS offer will be offered only to those employees who are enrolled into  their Associate Deployable Pool (ADP) between May 1st and August 31st.

In a statement, Cognizant said, “The Covid-19 pandemic has caused a decrease in demand across a number of functions which has reduced the number of open positions available for associates in the Associate Deployable Pool (ADP).”

To manage costs and provide associates with an alternative to ADP, we are introducing a voluntary separation package option for all US associates who move into the ADP between May 1 and August 31, 2020,” 

Employee Benefits Under VRS

Employees who opt for VRS will be offered 8-weeks of their salary, and three months of extended benefits such as medical insurance and more.

Now, employees on the bench or Associate Deployable Pool can opt for this VRS offer. However, if they dont opt, and are still on the bench till August 31st, then they will be asked to leave the company without any VRS benefits.

All benched employees in Cognizant will get 2 weeks to decide if they wish to opt for VRS offer or not.

An unnamed management official from Cognizant said, “We are enhancing our bench policy by offering additional cash and extended health benefits to those who are or will become unutilised and for whom we unfortunately do not foresee future opportunities. As always, we will treat any employees exiting the business with fairness and dignity.”

We will keep you updated, as more details come in.