The Hindu Business Line : Cognizant to raise global headcount by 19,600 in 2008

Kolkata, Feb. 22 Cognizant Technologies hopes to augment its global manpower strength by between 16,600 and 19,600 in the 2008 calendar year. In the process, the company’s global headcount will go up to between 72,000 and 75,000 by the end of 2008, according to Mr Bhaskar Das, Vice-President (Human Resources), Cognizant Technologies.

Mr Das told Business Line that more than 75 per cent of the net addition to the company’s global manpower this year would be made in Cognizant’s nine development centres in India that are located at Chennai, Kolkata, Pune, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Coimbatore, Mumbai, Kochi and Gurgaon.

In end-December 2007, Cognizant’s global headcount stood at 55,400. In 2007, around 63 per cent of Cognizant’s global recruitment comprised fresh graduates who passed out of engineering colleges primarily in India.

Bantala facility

According to him, Cognizant currently employs 4,800 professionals at its Kolkata center. The company’s upcoming centre at Bantala will create an additional five lakh sq ft of additional space. The first phase of the project, that is expected to become operational by October 2008, will engage 4,000 professionals. When complete, Cognizant’s Bantala facility will have a capacity to engage a total of 16,000 professionals.

Mr Das said attrition was a major issue in the IT industry and Cognizant had deployed multiple mechanisms to not just attract but also retain talent. These include scope for accelerated career progression, performance-based compensation and introduction of employee-engagement and fun-element initiatives.

Attrition down

Cognizant’s employee attrition, including its BPO practice, went down to 12.4 per cent on an annualised basis during the fourth quarter of calendar year 2007 from 16.9 per cent in the fourth quarter of calendar year 2006. On a full-year basis, attrition dropped from 15.7 per cent in 2006 to 15 per cent in 2007, Mr Das said.

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