NEW DELHI: Cognizant said it will give employees who are at associate level and below in India and the Philippines, an additional payment of 25 per cent of base pay for April, in recognition of their extraordinary continuity-of-service efforts amid the COVID-19 outbreak.
The move is expected to benefit over 1,30,000 Cognizant employees in India. Cognizant CEO, Brian Humphries said the additional payment will be processed with their April pay checks, and that the company will be reviewing this approach monthly.
Humphries said that Cognizant, like all global companies, is experiencing the effects of this public health emergency on both the demand and fulfilment sides of its business, from London to Mumbai to Manilla and New York.
"Even with all 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.
"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," he said thanking employees for their "daily acts of heroic leadership".
Cognizant CEO said, "We support these and other efforts by governments across the world to flatten the curve and contain the spread of COVID-19". "While the pandemic will likely dampen industry demand, we know the requirement for fulfilment 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," he said.
