Cognizant rolls out third hike in 18 months, what CEO told employees in email – Times of India

The US-based IT company Cognizant is reportedly rolling out its annual hikes for a majority of its employees. According to a report in Economic Times (ET), this is the third cycle of hike to be given in the past 18 months. It is part of the ‘two-merit cycles’ in a year – a one-time measure announced by the company in November 2022 – to arrest the rising attrition in the company.
CEO email on hikes to employees
“This week, the vast majority of you who are in levels up to Associate Director will receive your 2023 merit pay eLetters. Keep in mind that we advanced this merit increase to be six months earlier in the year, following year-end performance reviews. This means many of you are seeing your third merit increase in 18 months,” said CEO S Ravikumar in an internal mail to the company’s employees. The email further added that combined with the merit increases eligible directors and above who received hikes in January, Cognizant is awarding more than 300,000 associates a merit increase this year. The first cycle was awarded with effect from October 2022. ET has seen a copy of the email.
TCS to give 100% variable to employees
India’s largest IT services company Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), during its earnings announcement last week, said that it will award annual increments to employees with effect from April and that the top performers will be awarded 12-15%. It further announced 100% variable pay for all eligible employees for the fourth quarter of the year. TCS’ chief human resources officer Milind Lakkad said that the salary revisions will be like usual, and the top performers will get a 12-15 per cent hike. Lakkad added that the company will be paying the full variable pay to its associates for the fiscal.