August 2018 Benching the straw that broke... - Associate Vice President Cognizant Employee Review

1.0
Aug 15, 2018
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

None anymore. What used to be a nice company to work for has been decimated by Cognizant buying us out.

Cons

Discrimination Long hours No promotions If you're not Indian, you do not count Another round of benchings in the Englewood office this month has left most teams with little to no onshore presence. The current round was mostly American workers if not all. Mostly men in their 40s and 50s, black women, and no Indian workers. Teams are being dismantled and those that are Indian were transferred to another team, those that are not Indian were benched with no severance. This is just a few weeks after promotions were announced. These promotions were 97% in India. Senior Management (Director level and above) have also been affected, surprisingly all American workers. These people have been replaced by Offshore or Visa workers from India. Moral has hit rock bottom. Those that are left have been told you must now work harder and longer to make up for the onshore losses. Pay Raises for most have been delayed and may not happen this year. Some people have not received a raise in 2 years and in some cases, pay was cut. Most people I have spoken to are now looking for new opportunities outside of the company as the writing is on the wall. If they survive until year-end, it will be surprising. The discrimination Sr Management employs is blatant and out in the open. They have little to no respect for anyone, not from India. The class system is alive and well at Cognizant. It is starting to borderline on illegal in some cases. Complain to HR and you will be benched as two people I personally know have been after going to HR. This last round of benching was delayed by the legal department due to the concerns of ageism as well as minorities on the the list. Sr. Management won out and proceeded anyway.

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5.0
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Pros

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Cons

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1.0
Jun 5, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

A potential inroad into large client companies (Leave Cognizant ASAP) You aren't unemployed.

Cons

It's a body shop. Clients will view you accordingly. Contractors cannot be trusted with most tasks. You must be siloed (No room for growth) so you don't break anything. Your actual job is to fulfill gaps in the client's grunt work even if out of scope. If you don't, the hammer falls from client and Cognizant. Wages well below industry standards. 1% annual raises only exist because legally they must exist. Takes full advantage of H-1B slave system, where employees' families and homes will be thrown into a furnace if you aren't keeping Cognizant happy no matter what. Employees are complacent in their slavery. Management is just happy to get their extra crumbs and will reinforce the bad culture. C-suite is opaque. If you are familiar with India's caste system you will understand how "lessers" are treated. This also happens in a literal sense, you aren't totally safe just because you are the favored skin tone. Takes full advantage of modern white collar culture. "Your racist actions aren't actually racist if you aren't Caucasian." Expect the uphill battle to be even more steep if you're not Southeast Asian. You will hunt for your own work most of the time. Cognizant is not helpful in any regard. They exist to skim off the top and nothing else.

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