Cognizant, the information technology multinational is making headlines for all the wrong reasons. The company offered jobs to freshers at Rs 2.52 lakhs per year. Why has the offer created such a buzz or stir on social media? Well, the amount translates to a salary of only about Rs 20,000 per month! Is that what entry-level candidates can hope for in the IT sector today? Naturally, people are concerned about the future of the industry itself.
Fresh engineering graduates usually earn at least Rs 3.5 lakhs per year in the IT sector. Therefore, Cognizant’s offer is definitely way below expectations, giving rise to amusing reactions and memes on social media.
Someone commented that their driver, who works only four days a week, earns way more than Rs 20,000 a month. Some even mocked the offer wondering what the recipients will do with such a “generous” offer and “so much money”.
What is worrisome is that IT firms are looking to cut costs, focusing more on margin growth, at the cost of employees’ compensations.
Such low salaries are inadequate to eke out an existence in the metros of India. As one user rightly pointed out, such a low salary can barely allow the fresher to pay rent and survive on Maggi for food.
Someone even joked that Cognizant was probably conducting an experiment to find out whether it is possible to live on just “tea and hope”.
