Pros

Cognizant is an excellent place to be either when you are at an early phase of your career or
after you reach a managerial position.You will be a lucky guy if you are one among the
management people.The company has got a good brand name which will be very helpful for
you if you are planning for a switch to some other company.If you are looking for an abroad
opportunity Cognizant is a nice place with plenty of on site openings.

Cons

There is no rotation policy in this company. If you are assigned to a particular project then
there is no way that you will be released from the project. The expectations from the
managers is too much. A programmer analyst is billed as an associate and the managers
expect him to work as an associate. Also there is no proper estimation effort and schedule
which causes the employees to work for long working hours. There is no personal life in this
company. The management is more biased towards management roles than the techie guys.
No proper value for work. The compensation is way behind the normal industry standards.
People are very dissatisfied by the salary review that has been implemented.

Advice to Senior Management

Try to give an ear to employees who are in between the trainees and the managers.
It is not possible to run the show with just the ELTs. This may seem good for a short span but
ultimately will lead to a huge loss to the company. By doing this way the company will lose
all the talented people and also the standards will drop very quickly.
Pay salary as per normal company standards. People are working day and night for the
benefit of the organization so give some credit to them for that.
Try to showcase your innovation in such a way to benefit both the management and the
technical people as well. Remember without the technical people the organization cannot be
run just by the management folks.
If you are planning to shift the annual cycle of the company from April to July then please go
ahead with it but at least pay the arrears for this period to the employees. It is not fair for you
guys to cheat your employees this way.

Corporate Social Responsibility

With industry leadership come important responsibilities. As we have grown, we
understand the importance of giving back to society, which is a core element of our
corporate values. Our Corporate Social Responsibility philosophy starts with The
Cognizant Foundation.

The Cognizant Foundation: Passion for Making a Difference

Registered in March 2005 as a “Charitable Company” under the Indian Companies

Act, the Cognizant Foundation helps underprivileged members of Indian society gain
access to quality education & healthcare by:

 Providing financial and technical support

 Designing and implementing educational and healthcare improvement programs
  Partnering with Non-Government Organizations (NGOs), educational institutions,
healthcare institutions, government agencies and corporations to raise the quality of
life for people across India.

Culture & History

Our business culture reflects the fact that we were “born global” as a unit of U.S.-based
Dun & Bradstreet with operations based in India.

As a result, we’ve always been multicultural, which has eased our expansion in more and
more markets around the world.

Many of our senior managers have extensive international business experience and
educational backgrounds. In fact, our CEO was born in Kenya, educated in Asia and the U.S.,
and has lived throughout the world.

U.S. corporate citizen —a “local” around the world

Although headquartered in the U.S., we continue to enjoy high standing as “local” player and
an employer of choice with a strong reputation for excellence in India. As a testament, we
consistently garner top recruitment honors at the leading institutes of Technology and
Business management there.

Business Culture
Our “customer first” mantra is driven by business practices that are flexible and
focused on always doing what’s right for our clients.

Competitors may say it, but clients tell us that we truly excel at partnering closely. Speak
with some of them. Our clients will tell you about the extraordinary lengths our people go to
solve problems, or just help out. Our employees take a “can-do” attitude, finding flexibility
beyond the contractual terms of our partnership. Whether the need is for additional or more
skilled resources, midcourse strategic corrections, service-level refinements or no-nonsense
feedback—we will be there to ensure that what we deliver meets or exceeds your
expectations.

The proof is clear. In our recent annual customer satisfaction survey, over 90% of clients
expressed a high degree of satisfaction with us. That’s the third year in a row we’ve received
this high praise. This level of client satisfaction is extraordinary in our industry.

Responsiveness, accountability and quality assurance are core to our delivery model. If
problems arise, we work overtime to get the job done. Our people are proud of our track
record, and stay constantly focused on clients’ success.
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Transparency is best HR policy during tough times

By Shyamala Seetharamanan Jul 28 2009 , Chennai

Tags: Employee, Employer, HR, Slowdown, Opportunities

IT industry leaders recommend effective internal and external communication to paddle through the
economic crisis. The best HR policy in tough situations is transparency, they asserted, at the sixth
Nasscom HR summit in Chennai.

“The leadership at Cognizant communicated so much to the employees in the last six months than
what we have done in six years,” said Lakshmi Nara-yanan, vice-chairman, Cognizant Technology
Solutions. “Even minor issues and concerns were directly conveyed to all the employees concerned,
which also led to a lot of leaks to the media. However, this communication is required to reassure
our workforce,” he added.

Tamil Nadu IT secretary PWC Davidar also insisted on the need for companies to communicate their
requirements to aspiring candidates.

Said Kris Gopalakrishnan, CEO of Infosys: “When your customer is losing revenue by 20-30 per cent,
you are forced to cut costs by about 30 per cent. It is important to explain the need to take such a
decisions to all the stakeholders.