Cognizant latest firm in India to ask employees to return back to the office

The Indian branch of US-based IT firm Cognizant is the latest firm in India to mandate a return-to-office policy for its employees.

As seen from a memo from Ravi Kumar S, CEO of Cognizant, the IT firm has informed all employees in India that they should, “aim to be present in the office for an average of three days per week, or as determined by their team leader.”

This memo would mark the end of remote work enforced by the Covid-19 pandemic. The report did not indicate when specifically this directive would take effect.

Cognizant has shared that working from the office enables better collaboration and awareness of company culture. Kumar urged staff to use the in-person time to prioritise activities “that benefit greatly from being together” such as collaborative projects, training and team building.

The firm in turn will also launch a new hybrid-work scheduling app for managers in India to help managers coordinate schedules and reserve space in the office for their teams, the memo showed.

This move has seen criticism from several employees in Cognizant, who lamented on social media about the resultant loss of flexibility and work-life balance.

READ MORE: Tata doubles down on return-to-office policy

A spokesperson from Cognizant told Reuters that this new hybrid model “will define the future of work”. They are also committed to further expansion into Tier-2 cities across India, where many of its associates live.

Cognizant has an employee strength of 347,700 employees out of which around 254,000 are based in India, making it the firm’s largest employee base.