Cognizant Introduces Stricter Employee Monitoring: Laptops Marked Idle After 5 Minutes
IT services major Cognizant is reportedly tightening its internal monitoring systems, bringing in stricter measures to track employee activity on company devices. Under the new setup, employees whose laptops remain inactive for more than five minutes will be classified as “idle”, while longer breaks will trigger additional alerts. The changes are being introduced gradually across teams, signalling a significant shift toward micro-level productivity tracking.
According to a report by Mint, the company has started onboarding selected employees onto ProHance—an advanced workforce management and analytics tool widely used in the IT industry. ProHance monitors keyboard and mouse movement to assess activity and log time spent on different tasks and applications. The initiative, which began about a month ago, suggests Cognizant is tightening oversight to address potential inefficiencies in day-to-day operations.
Under the new monitoring rules, any absence of device activity for more than 300 seconds (five minutes) will mark an employee as “idle.” If the system remains untouched for around 15 minutes, the software will classify the employee as being “away from the system.” Departments will roll out the tool at different speeds depending on workload and client process requirements.
Company Says Data Won’t Be Used for Performance Reviews
The increased monitoring has raised concerns among employees regarding micromanagement and potential links to performance evaluation. Cognizant, however, has clarified that this data will not be used for appraisal purposes. Instead, the company argues the tool is designed to analyse bottlenecks in client delivery workflows.
A company spokesperson told Mint:
“We occasionally use productivity measurement tools—a common industry practice—in selected business process management or intuitive operations projects at the request of clients. The aim is to understand process steps and time metrics to assess design inefficiencies, not employee performance.”
Cognizant is not alone in using such workforce analytics tools. Other major IT firms, including Wipro, have long relied on ProHance and similar software to track employee activity for client-driven projects.
Tracking Subject to Consent, But Employees Raise Concerns
Cognizant maintains that employees are being added to ProHance only after giving explicit consent. However, some employees claim the rollout felt less optional than stated. According to internal accounts shared with Mint, staff members were required to complete a mandatory training module on ProHance, which included a user agreement at the end. One employee said, “We received a compulsory course on the tool, and to complete it, we had to click ‘I agree’. There was no option to skip.”
Training materials reportedly cover metrics such as time spent per task, hours logged as productive, and usage patterns across different applications—raising questions on how granular the tracking will become.
Push for Higher Productivity Behind the Move
Reports suggest the stricter monitoring stems from pressure to ensure employees are delivering a fixed number of productive working hours, especially during remote or hybrid work arrangements. With rising client expectations and more process-driven contracts, Cognizant is believed to be seeking maximum transparency into how work hours are being utilised.
While the company insists the move is about improving workflow visibility, employees fear it marks a shift toward more intrusive workplace surveillance—one that could reshape working norms across the IT sector if widely adopted.
