Taking a different approach to salaries on account of Covid-19, Cognizant plans to pay about two-thirds of its employees an additional 25% of their base salary in their April salary, as a ‘sign of gratitude’ for their efforts in continuing to work during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The policy, which the company will review on a monthly basis, will benefit over two-thirds of its Indian workforce. The company had 203,700 employees across 13 locations in India as on December 31, 2019. The additional payout for employees in India and the Philippines will be up to the Associate designation. 

In a letter to employees, Brian Humphries, Chief Executive Officer of Cognizant said, “Prime Minister Narendra Modi has imposed a nationwide 21-day lockdown in an attempt to contain the spread of the coronavirus. The Philippines is under a state of national emergency. We support these and other efforts by governments across the world to ‘flatten the curve’ and contain the spread of COVID-19. Despite this turbulence, which affects both you and your families, you have risen to the challenge of serving our clients with empathy, initiative, integrity, and courage—all while supporting and uplifting one another. I am deeply grateful to all of you for your daily acts of heroic leadership.”

Humphries added that while the pandemic would likely dampen industry demand, the requirements for fulfillment remained critical. The company has allowed work-from-home (WFH) for a majority of its offshore teams by provisioning new laptops and encrypting desktops and moving them to the employees’ homes, as well as by enabling the use of BYOD (Bring Your Own Device), providing additional bandwidth connectivity and air cards—all with the appropriate client permissions and security protocols, he revealed.

This gesture by Cognizant will surely be a morale booster for its employees amidst these confusing times. Humphries acknowledged that while working from home may amount to a significant shift in behavior for many of the employees, yet he implored them to keep up the essential work they do for their clients. In a time, when job losses and pay cuts are becoming the norm, this move by Cognizant will go a long way in assuring its employees.