Employee Poaching at Cognizant: Talent Management in the Highly Competitive Market

On December 27, 2023, major daily newspapers in India reported that two information technology (IT) giants, Infosys Limited (Infosys) and Wipro Limited (Wipro), had accused their competitor Cognizant Technology Solutions Corporation (Cognizant) of “unethical” employee poaching. Although it was not unusual for employees to transition between companies in the IT sector, in 2023 Cognizant had hired more than 20 senior employees from its competitors. This poaching controversy was fuelled by IT firms’ need to hire and retain top talent, and it raised several critical questions: What should Cognizant do to create a more robust talent pipeline that would not require employee poaching? What should Infosys and Wipro do to address the concerns raised by Cognizant’s employee poaching? And how can employee poaching affect individuals and companies?