Even while employees in some companies are fearful of their career prospect as the entire nation goes into lockdown over the coronavirus outbreak, some other employees are doing quite well for themselves.
Cognizant has said it would pay about two-thirds of its employees an additional 25% of their base salary in their April salary, as a ‘sign of gratitude’ for their efforts in continuing to work during the Covid-19 pandemic. The additional payout is for employees in India and the Philippines up to the Associate designation. The company said the payout would be made in the April salary, and would be reviewed each month as the situation required.
“Despite this turbulence, which affects both you and your families, you have risen to the challenge of serving our clients with empathy, initiative, integrity, and courage—all while supporting and uplifting one another. I am deeply grateful to all of you for your daily acts of heroic leadership,” Cognizant CEO Brian Humphries said in an email to employees. Humphries said that while the pandemic would likely dampen industry demand, the requirements for fulfillment remained critical. “In the past few weeks, we have enabled the majority of our offshore delivery teams to work from home by provisioning new laptops and encrypting desktops and moving them to your homes, as well as by enabling the use of BYOD (Bring Your Own Device), providing additional bandwidth connectivity and air cards—all with the appropriate client permissions and security protocols,” Humphries said. “While working from home may amount to a significant shift in behavior for many of you, please continue to keep up the essential work you do for our clients,” he added.
Cognizant might be one of the the first companies in India to announce bonuses for their white collar employees. In the US, Facebook had said that it would give employees a $1000 bonus to help tide over the coronavirus crisis. Google had additionally said that it was suspending employee reviews, and giving all employees an “Exceed Expectations” rating, which would likely lead to higher-than-average bonuses for most employees. In India, several companies have sought to help their blue-collar workers amidst the coronavirus crisis — Zomato has said that it’s helping out with the insurance of its delivery partners, and Ola has created a Rs. 20 crore fund to help its drivers who are out of work during the lockdown.