AgenciesCognizant Technology Solutions Corp. clocked the highest attrition rate among IT peers in the quarter ended September, even as CEO Brian Humphries said that the company is putting tremendous effort to address both the hearts and minds of employees through compensation as well as sense of belonging, training and development and a career path to retain them amid the war for talent across the tech industry.
In comparison, the attrition rate stood close to 20% for Infosys, Wipro and Tech Mahindra while Tata Consultancy Services and HCL Technologies reported 11.9% and 15.7% attrition in July-September.
Cognizant reported double-digit revenue growth of nearly 12% year-on-year and delivered $4.7 billion in the third quarter with all segments growing to plan and executing against Cognizant’s transformation strategy, he said. Cognizant said FY21 guidance is for 11% revenue growth to $18.5 billion, which would be Cognizant’s highest annual revenue to date.
The company's global headcount stands at 318,400 in the third quarter, which it says is among the highest levels ever. Further, the hiring engine brought on over 17,000 net new hires in the quarter and the company has grown its headcount by over 35,000 people since this time last year. “We expect going into the fourth quarter it will also remain elevated. However, we do expect some modest declines in attrition rate and that is healthy, we look naturally at resignations on a daily basis,” said Humphries.
The company's third quarter bookings grew 24% year-on-year, bringing year-to-date bookings growth to 13%. Cognizant CFO Jan Siegmund said that the company managed to drive strong bookings growth and maintained revenue momentum in a robust demand environment.
“During the third quarter, we drove strong bookings growth and maintained our revenue momentum in a robust demand environment. We are pleased with our ongoing investments in recruiting, which enabled us to support accelerating demand by meaningfully scaling our headcount,” Siegmund said. “We now expect full-year revenue growth of approximately 10% in constant currency, towards the high-end of our prior range.”
The story has been updated throughout to include comments from Cognizant's top management.
In comparison, the attrition rate stood close to 20% for Infosys, Wipro and Tech Mahindra while Tata Consultancy Services and HCL Technologies reported 11.9% and 15.7% attrition in July-September.
“Despite elevated attrition, we increased our net headcount in Q3 by over 17,000 sequentially, which speaks to the tremendous work and effectiveness of our recruitment team. Given our focus in recent years on accelerating pressure hiring in India, we have made meaningful progress on addressing our pyramid,” Humphries told analysts. “In the fourth quarter, we expect to make offers to 45,000 new graduates in India for onboarding and 2022. Retention and recruitment have our leadership’s full attention.”
Cognizant reported double-digit revenue growth of nearly 12% year-on-year and delivered $4.7 billion in the third quarter with all segments growing to plan and executing against Cognizant’s transformation strategy, he said. Cognizant said FY21 guidance is for 11% revenue growth to $18.5 billion, which would be Cognizant’s highest annual revenue to date.
The company's global headcount stands at 318,400 in the third quarter, which it says is among the highest levels ever. Further, the hiring engine brought on over 17,000 net new hires in the quarter and the company has grown its headcount by over 35,000 people since this time last year. “We expect going into the fourth quarter it will also remain elevated. However, we do expect some modest declines in attrition rate and that is healthy, we look naturally at resignations on a daily basis,” said Humphries.
The company's third quarter bookings grew 24% year-on-year, bringing year-to-date bookings growth to 13%. Cognizant CFO Jan Siegmund said that the company managed to drive strong bookings growth and maintained revenue momentum in a robust demand environment.
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“During the third quarter, we drove strong bookings growth and maintained our revenue momentum in a robust demand environment. We are pleased with our ongoing investments in recruiting, which enabled us to support accelerating demand by meaningfully scaling our headcount,” Siegmund said. “We now expect full-year revenue growth of approximately 10% in constant currency, towards the high-end of our prior range.”
The story has been updated throughout to include comments from Cognizant's top management.
( Originally published on Oct 28, 2021 )
