Cognizant

Cognizant enhances access to digital technologies and opportunities through various initiatives. For instance, it upcycles the electronic equipment used by its associates and donates them to schools, colleges and charities globally. It also partnered with the US non-profit Girlstart, which has exposed more than 250 girls to science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). The Cognizant Foundation’s flagship programme Tech4All trains people with disabilities and women for careers in technology and tech-enabled services. Cognizant also develops products that are catered to the needs of people with disabilities. In partnership with the non-governmental organisation EnAble India, Cognizant launched Blimey, a cloud-based learning platform to make digital learning accessible for the visually impaired.

Cognizant supports the development of basic and intermediate digital skills as well as school connectivity. Through virtual STEM fairs, digital content training, code camps, life skills workshops and career guidance, Cognizant transfers knowledge and skills of the digital economy from its skilled volunteers to nearly 4,000 teachers and 9,000 students. In partnership with the India-based software company Codeverse, it provides core digital skills to youth from underrepresented communities. Its subsidiary, Cognizant Foundation, collaborated with IT for Change in India to implement the Teachers’ Community of Learning (TCOL) project, where teachers from 47 schools were taught to use educational ICT tools in the fields of mathematics, science, social science and languages, and create local curricular resources and lesson plans. Cognizant Foundation also worked with the American India Foundation (AIF) in New Delhi to implement the Digital Equalizer (DE) programme, which provided technology-based education to underprivileged students from 48 schools across India.

Cognizant has senior-level oversight of cybersecurity matters and follows industry norms by having a security incident response team and international certification for its information security management system. It also has a high-level policy statement committing to safeguard data privacy.

The company demonstrates high-level support for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by joining the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC) in 2021. Additionally, it uses the SDG framework for setting goals and measuring progress.

Cognizant can consider conducting third-party assessments for its digital access programmes. It can also report on employment and income taxes paid in its main countries of operations, as well how it distributes the direct economic value it generates among its stakeholders in accordance with global standards.

While the company has several digital skills programmes, it has scope for greater transparency in reporting its financial and non-financial contributions to these programmes and commissioning third-party assessments. These assessments can help the company and its stakeholders better understand programme outcomes and identify areas of strengths and improvements.

Cognizant can enhance transparency by making its information security management certification publicly available, disclosing how it monitors, remedies and reports on security incidents and reporting data breaches in accordance with global standards. The company can also consider making a commitment to child online safety.

The company has an opportunity to contribute to open source initiatives. It can also support innovation in the tech start-up ecosystem by providing venture capital investments and organising accelerators and incubators. Additionally, it can consider disclosing the ethical considerations it follows in its research and development (R&D) activities.

Cognizant commits to respecting human rights and the ILO core labour rights. It also has a publicly available policy statement that expects its business relationships to commit to respecting the ILO core labour rights. The company also has a grievance mechanism accessible to both workers and external stakeholders to raise human rights concerns and complaints. Although Cognizant provides training to its employees on its code of ethics, no evidence was found that it has a global system in place to take action to prevent, mitigate or remediate its salient human rights issues in its operations and supply chain. The company also does not engage with stakeholders whose human rights could be impacted by its operations.

Cognizant publicly commits to respecting worker health and safety. It also places the same expectation on its business relationships and monitors their health and safety performance. The company discloses the proportion of its global workforce covered by collective bargaining agreements. However, it does not disclose quantitative information on workers’ health and safety (e.g., number of fatalities and injuries). The company does not disclose whether it has achieved paying all its workers a living wage or report a time-bound target in relation to this. Additionally, Cognizant does not explicitly state if it requires workers to work more than regular and overtime hours, though it does place this expectation on its business relationships. Cognizant has more than 30% women on its board; however, there is scope for it to make a high-level commitment to gender equality and women’s empowerment, as well as set relevant time-bound targets on the topic. In relation to workforce diversity, while the company provides a breakdown of employees by gender, it does not disclose against other indicators of diversity, such as age group.

Cognizant has anti-bribery and anti-corruption policies, and it includes anti-bribery and anti-corruption clauses in its business relationship contracts. However, it does not provide a global tax strategy and does not disclose its income tax payments in individual tax jurisdictions. Although the company discloses its approach to lobbying and political engagement, it does not disclose if it makes political contributions or its lobbying expenditures.