13,000 jobs to go as cognizant cuts costs and pulls out of content moderation
Cognizant has announced plans to embark on a cost-cutting program that could impact on some 7,000 employees, while its partial withdrawal from its content moderation business could see a further 6,000 staff members leaving the company. Of the 13,000 roles likely to go, the New Jersey-headquartered technology consultancy is expected to make the greatest proportion of the planned reductions in India, where the majority of its workforce is based.
In total, about 10,000-12,000 mid- to senior-level associates across the company’s global operations are expected to be axed over the coming months. This will include the elimination of 5,000-7,000 existing roles and the retraining and redeployment of up to 5,000 of the workers affected. Outlining the consequences for the remainder, CFO Karen McLoughlin said between 5,000 and 7,000 associates will be leaving the company by mid-2020 either through attrition or through redundancy. Meanwhile, explaining its decision to exit the content moderation sector, CEO Brian Humphries said such business had proved to be not in accordance with the company’s overall strategic vision.
