Cognizant attrition soars to 31%, to hire 30,000 freshers in India

BENGALURU: Cognizant said its quarterly annualized attrition surged to a record 31% in the second quarter, from 21% sequentially, as the company continues to struggle with the departure of thousands of employees at the junior and mid-senior level in India.

Attrition has spiked among all IT services companies for the quarter ended June as demand for engineering talent – and especially those armed with digital skills – soars creating a demand and supply imbalance. That war for talent is expected to continue for the rest of the year. But Cognizant’s numbers have surpassed all its peers by a wide range.

“This macro demand backdrop has also created a demand-supply imbalance in key skills and has meaningfully increased industry attrition.