Cognizant to cut 7000 mid-senior level jobs, exit content moderation

BENGALURU: Cognizant will cut as many as 7000 jobs in the next few quarters and exit its content moderation business, impacting another 6000 employees, as it begins a strategic restructuring to cut jobs.
In a post-earnings conference call with analysts, the Teaneck, New Jersey-headquartered company said it would remove 10,000-12,000 mid-to-senior employees from their current roles, and reskill and redeploy about 5000 of those impacted.

“The gross reduction is expected to lead to a net reduction of approximately 5,000 to 7,000 roles (about 2% of the company’s total population),” company executives said.

Cognizant is also exiting its content moderation business for clients such as social media giant Facebook. The company has come in a significant scrutiny for the working environment of the moderators and the impact of the work on their mental health.

“Exiting this area will impact an additional approximately 6,000 roles worldwide, though the company intends to work with its partners to explore ways to transition the roles to alternative vendors, thereby reducing the impact to associates,” company executives said.

The exit will also impact revenue in the company’s Communications, Media and Technology segment, with the ramp-down in work expected to be over the next one to two years.