Amid layoff reports, Cognizant President Rajeev Mehta writes to employees

To address concerns of regarding reports of massive layoffs, Cognizant President Rajeev Mehta has written to employees of the company.

According to ET Now, Mehta in an email told the employees that Cognizant has not done any layoffs. "Each year, in line with industry best practices, we conduct performance reviews to reflect on the work of last year and ensure goals for the subsequent year are clear. We are being committed to being a meritocracy. We believe that's good for all associates around the world."

The IT company also denied speculations that such measures are being undertaken to allow more hiring in the US. "We continue to hire in local markets around the world. We have been ramping up our recruiting efforts in US for a number of years and will continue to do so while hiring in most other parts of the world including India," the letter said.

The US-headquartered IT firm had earlier offered its top executives - directors, associate VPs and senior VPs - a voluntary separation package, a part of its plan to shift operations to automation and digital technology.

The IT major did not disclose the number of people that have been offered this option but indicated that it represents a very small percentage of its workforce.

Cognizant President Rajeev Mehta had said the company expects to significantly ramp up its US-based workforce by hiring experienced professionals in the open market as well as make more use of university, veteran, and related programmes.

While the company is hiring more locals, it is also consciously reducing its dependence on H-1B visas. Cognizant expects its visa requirements to go down further going forward.

Trump administration had accused Cognizant, along with its Indian counterparts Infosys and TCS, of unfairly cornering the lion's share of America's H-1B work visas.

Cognizant employs over 2,62,000 people globally of which over 1,50,000 are in India.