IT Giant Cognizant Issues Warning For Employees: Return To Office Or Get Fired

New Delhi: Cognizant has issued a warning to its employees about complying with the return-to-office policy. The company explained that not following the return-to-office policy will be seen as serious misconduct. This could lead to disciplinary actions and could result in termination.

The company stated in the report “Please note that failure to adhere to the directions will amount to serious misconduct as per company policies and accordingly appropriate disciplinary action will be initiated against you which may lead up to termination.” ()

Employees were reminded to review previous messages from company leaders about the return-to-office policy. Cognizant didn't have a mandatory office return policy before this year and allowed teams to visit the office based on project needs.

The move comes after Cognizant’s CEO Ravi Kumar issued a memo back in February stating that all India-based employees are expected to work from the office an average of three days per week, according to Reuters.  ()

The mandate follows similar moves by Tata Consultancy Services, Infosys, and Wipro, which also instructed their employees to return to the office in 2023. Cognizant has a large workforce in India with about 2,54,000 of its 3,47,000 employees based there, as per the company’s annual report.