Beyond Layoff

Information technology firm Cognizant said around 400 of its senior executives have accepted its voluntary separation package which will help the multi-national corporation save around $60 million dollars annually, PTI reported on Sunday. The company had offered some of its senior staff up to nine months of salary. Wikimedia Commons The international company had pitched the package, which offers up to nine months of salary, to some of its senior executives based in the United States and India in May. The firm has not specified how many of the employees were based in India, which accounts for a sizable number of its 2.56 lakh workforce. “Of the $39 million (approximately Rs 248 crore) of realignment charges, $35 million was for the roughly 400 associates who accepted our voluntary separation package,” Cognizant Chief Financial Officer Karen McLoughlin said at a recent investor call. The CFO said the step will help increase profits. The firm’s staff strength was reduced by aro...

Hiring and firing are a common business practice in the west. The typical American spends about 4.2 years in a job ( link ) and sometimes leaves for better opportunity and at other times may be fired or laid off. The phenomena was glorified by reality TV shows like The Apprentice with Donald Trump’s punchline “You’re Fired”   ! Googled image Even considering the fact that layoffs are a common business practice in the west, the impact of a job loss is hard on individuals. Many psychologists and researchers classify “Job Loss” among the top 5 stressors for people, ranked with the “Death of a loved one,” Divorce, and Major Illness! Let us switch to layoffs in India, more specifically layoffs in Indian IT which is in the news a lot. The news of layoffs come at a time of additional scrutiny on employment-visas in the US, UK, Australia and elsewhere, and a general slowdown in the Indian IT (my earlier response to a question). For those laid off involuntarily,...

Every year, about 400,000 graduates with Engineering and Technology degrees from varying branches/disciplines graduate from universities in India. In addition, hundreds of thousands graduate with other degrees, including computer applications, commerce, science and arts.  In the past years, companies like Infosys, Wipro, TCS and others would go to campuses and hire tens of thousands of Tech graduates and send them through boot-camp like training that focused on programming and software engineering. Googled image Years ago, when I first started my career in IT, my manager – a seasoned veteran – gave me a simple piece of advice that holds true to date. When I went to him for advice for career planning he ended with the old Chinese quote “Give a man a fish and you feed him for the day. Teach him to fish and you feed him for life” Source (beliefnet) In 2017, this hiring has slowed considerably and 2018 may be no different.  If you are a fresh graduate, y...

I happen to be a product of Indian IT. Having lived and worked in a dozen countries across across three continents, I have seen layoffs and its impact up-close. The question is very apt and timely given the news accounts of ‘thousands’ of layoffs by Indian IT Firms. (My2cents on that topic “ What is the reason behind the layoffs in IT firms in India? Is it related to the H-1B visa, or some other reason?”)  Although the Indian media is fixated on the term ‘layoff,’ some of it is voluntary headcount reduction etc. In the short-term, layoff is hard. Loosing a job is hard for obvious reasons. However, I have also seen many successful guys and ladies use the opportunity for self-reflection. If you are (relatively) young and happen to be laid off, you should begin by reflecting on your career thus far - you may realize that jumping back to yet another coding, software engineering or project management role is not really your cup of tea. Listen to your inner self Reboot and re...