Cognizant’s restructuring plan aims to cut costs, and includes the redistribution of office space throughout India. Technology services and consulting company Cognizant is set to lay off around 3,500 employees, approximately 1% of its global workforce, and reduce office space in an effort to cut costs. Despite the company reporting a 3% increase in net profit year-on-year, Cognizant was “carefully monitoring what remains an uncertain macroeconomic environment and with its potential for shifts in client priorities,” said CEO Ravi Kumar on a call with analysts after Cognizant released its first quarter 2023 financial results. The workforce reduction forms part of the company’s newly launched NextGen program, designed to simplify Cognizant’s operating model and realign office space. The US-based company has employees across the globe and would not confirmed where the affected workers are based, but did say the cuts will mostly affect non-billable roles — generally, jobs that do not require direct work with clients. In a statement, Cognizant said the changes “reflect the post-pandemic hybrid work environment,” while the company’s drive for simplification includes “operating with fewer layers in an effort to enhance agility and enable faster decision making.” Cognizant estimates the total costs of NexGen to be around $400 million, $200 million for employee severance and associated costs, with a further $200 million for costs related to the consolidation of office space. Cognizant plans to eliminate 80,000 seats and 11 million square feet of office space in large cities in India in order to expand its real estate footprint in smaller cities throughout the country. “We expect to realize savings from our NexGen initiative in the back half of this year,” said the company’s CFO Jan Siegmund. Cognizant is not the only company to have announced layoffs as part of a wider restructuring plan. Other tech companies such as Twitter, Salesforce, Amazon, and Google have all let go of thousands of employees after a combination of over hiring during the pandemic and a prolonged economic downturn forced many to readdress their budgets. Related content feature Windows 11 Insider Previews: What’s in the latest build? Get the latest info on new preview builds of Windows 11 as they roll out to Windows Insiders. Now updated for Build 22635.3566 for the Beta Channel, released on April 26, 2024. By Preston Gralla Apr 26, 2024 251 mins Small and Medium Business Microsoft Windows 11 news Dropbox adds end-to-end encryption for team folders Dropbox this week unveiled a range of features, including security updates and key management, and the ability to co-edit Microsoft 365 documents from within the file-sharing app. By Matthew Finnegan Apr 26, 2024 3 mins Cloud Storage Collaboration Software Productivity Software feature Android versions: A living history from 1.0 to 15 Explore Android's ongoing evolution with this visual timeline of versions, starting B.C. (Before Cupcake) and going all the way to 2024's Android 15 (beta) release. By JR Raphael Apr 26, 2024 23 mins Small and Medium Business Smartphones Android news analysis The unspoken obnoxiousness of Google's Gemini improvements Google's Gemini chatbot is seeing all sorts of upgrades on Android this week, but those advancements reveal a darker underlying reality. By JR Raphael Apr 26, 2024 12 mins Google Assistant Google Android Podcasts Videos Resources Events SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER From our editors straight to your inbox Get started by entering your email address below. Please enter a valid email address Subscribe