Apparently, after a four-month wait, Cognizant has begun offering pay increases to a portion of its workforce, ranging from 1 per cent to 5 per cent. Due to the company's decade-low starting salary offers for recent graduates, there has been a lot of controversy surrounding the hikes.
A report in the Economic Times stated that the increases, which were determined by performance ratings, have generated more discussion, especially since the maximum increase was limited to 5 per cent.
Performance based hike
Employees with a performance rating of three received a one-to three percent increase, those with a rating of four saw a four percent increase, and those with the highest rating of five received increments of up to five percent, according to sources cited in the report.
This is significantly less than the reported 7–11 per cent pay raises that Cognizant employees received in April 2023.
Off-campus hiring policy
The announcement of these small increases comes at the same time that Cognizant's off-campus hiring policy, which sets the starting salary for recent graduates at Rs 2.5 lakh annually, has come under fire.
Since it hasn't changed since 2002, this pay scale has drawn a lot of attention on social media, particularly in light of the present state of the economy.
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One of the highest paid IT CEO
In the midst of the controversy surrounding the low beginning salaries, focus has also shifted to Ravi Kumar Singisetti, the CEO of Cognizant, who is currently said to be the highest-paid IT CEO in India.
Singisetti received compensation totaling USD 22.56 million (roughly Rs 186 crore) in 2023, which is 556 times the median salary of Cognizant workers. A USD 20.25 million one-time stock award was included in his earnings, which made up a sizable portion of his overall compensation.
