Cognizant to Pay Extra 25% Over Base Salary to its Indian Employees for Working During COVID-19

Due to lockdown and fear of COVID-19 spread, companies have implemented work from home policy. Employees are working from home, trying to serve their client’s commitment, ensuring delivery, business operation etc. Cognizant CEO Brian Humphries appreciates his employee’s heroic effort and dedication to continue their work from home amid COVID-19. He announced 25 percent additional payment over employee’s base salary. Company is offering this additional payment benefit to associate and below level employees in India and the Philippines amid coronavirus outbreak.

As per December 2019 record, Cognizant had a total of 203,700 employees in India and approx 130,000 employees about to get additional 25 percent payment benefit over their base pay for April month for their dedication and continuous effort to perform their job amid COVID-19.

IT firm Cognizant CEO, Brian Humphries in a note to his employees, said the extra pay would be processed with their April month paychecks and that the organization will be reviewing this procedure monthly.

Defining the COVID-19 as one of the most significant shocks to the world in decades, Company CEO, Brian Humphries said that Cognizant, like all global businesses, is experiencing the impacts of public health emergency situation on both the demand and fulfillment sides of its business, from London to Mumbai to Manilla and New York.

Brian Humphries appreciated Cognizant employees for their effort to serve clients with commitment and courage in the pandemic COVID-19 situation. He said thanking employees for their “daily acts of heroic leadership”.

To fight the coronavirus and to minimize its spread, India is on a 21-day strict lockdown. He supports the Indian government’s lockdown move and state of national emergency in the Philippines. Brian Humphries said, “We support these and other efforts by governments across the world to flatten the curve and contain the spread of COVID-19”.

“While the pandemic will likely dampen industry demand, we know the requirement for fulfillment remains critical. So we quickly sought to enable work from home to ensure employee health and safety, and to maintain continuity of service for our clients, while safeguarding their data and protecting access to their systems,” said Brian Humphries.

Cognizant said it is formalizing corporate social responsibility (CSR) duties to proceed to support programs that can help the nation navigate this COVID-19 challenging period.