The tech giant, Cognizant has stirred up a storm as reports emerged of its stringent stance on employees returning to the office. According to LiveMint, the company issued a stark warning, suggesting that employees could face termination if they continued to defy the directive to return to office premises despite repeated reminders.
In a letter dated 15 April, addressed to the workforce, Cognizant reiterated its expectations regarding in-office presence. It urged those who hadn’t complied to the return-to-office mandate, despite earlier warnings to revisit previous communications from top brass regarding office attendance.
As per the letter, failure to adhere to these directives could be construed as serious misconduct under company policies. The repercussions, the report suggested, could range from disciplinary action to outright termination.
This development follows a previous directive in February, wherein the IT giant mandated its Indian employees to work from the office at least three days a week. In a memo, Ravi Kumar, CEO, Cognizant, said that the over 2.5 lakh employees in India are expected to work from office for three days in a week, or as their team leaders seem fit.
The company was also expected to introduce a new hybrid-work scheduling app for the India workforce, helping managers and team leaders create schedules conveniently and reserve rooms/space at the workplace for their teams as required.
India hosts a significant portion of Cognizant’s workforce, with about 2.5 lakh out of about 3.4 lakh employees based there, as per the company’s annual report.
