“This is like a nightmare for me,” writes an anonymous former Cognizant employee on Quora regarding the recent mass layoffs at the information technology major. As reported in March, Cognizant is said to be reducing its employee count by as much as 5%, which translates to close to 10,000 workers. Wipro, Infosys and Tech Mahindra have also either started handing out pink slips or are in the process of doing so.
After faring poorly in the current appraisal cycle, the Cognizant employee was asked to resign. The former employee writes, “... I am jobless after 3.4 years of experience... I have never expected this. I didnt get the opportunity to work at all. During my last project I worked very hard but the time was not with me for the whole year (sic).”
“I hate trump...,” writes another former employee of Cognizant who faced the axe after the appraisal cycle. The post adds, “i remember the day he was elected... never thought had so much direct impact on my life/career. the orange-face has taken 6000+ people’s jobs from just 1 company. More to follow (sic).” The post was on the Infosys Confessions page on Facebook, where all content is published anonymously by default.
Clearly, the carnage in the IT sector is weighing heavily on the minds of techies and programmers. Another post on the Infosys Facebook page said, “With the present layoffs, cost cutting, AC/Fan controlling etc..Now mosquitoes playing around in cubicles (sic).”
Even people who have not got caught in the pink slip-rain are wary of joining IT majors which have seen mass layoffs. A former employee of Infosys posts on the page that despite being offered a lucrative position, on contractual basis and with a 200% hike, the prospect of going back to Infosys is “completely risky” given the recent spate of layoffs. “May be moving out of Infy was the best decision I made in the last few years (sic),” the post says.
The IT sector has been feeling the pinch in recent months. Late in April, Wipro sacked around 500 of its employees as part of its appraisal process.
As reported earlier, Infosys could hand out pink slips to hundreds of mid- and senior-level employees as it carries out bi-annual performance review amid a challenging business environment.
On Wednesday, software services firm Tech Mahindra joined the bandwagon and reportedly sacked around thousand employees this month.
The churn in the IT sector – which is moving towards increasing automation, use of artificial intelligence and is beset by tightening visa regulations – is likely to affect mid-level employees with 10-15 years of experience the most, as many are averse to learning new skills, industry experts have said.
Further, Indian IT firms are witnessing their slowest growth in a decade, while global firms are shifting their budgets from traditional IT services to newer areas such as digital and cloud, which require engineers to engage with clients instead of working remotely. Even as this shift takes hold of the sector, automation is increasingly taking over low-end maintenance work, forcing companies to shift workers to other projects and reduce hiring from campuses.
Further, Indian firms are witnessing their slowest growth in a decade, while global firms are shifting their budgets from traditional services to newer areas such as digital and cloud, which require engineers to engage with clients instead of working remotely. Even as this shift takes hold of the sector, automation is increasingly taking over low-end maintenance work, forcing to shift workers to other projects and reduce hiring from campuses.
This article first appeared on the Business Standard website.
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