cognizant sustainability report 2011

SUSTAINABILITY REPORT 2011

Working to RETHINK, REINVENT & REWIRE

our impact on society and the planet

Introduction 01

Letter from CEO 02

Letter from VP of Sustainability 04

Organizational Profile 06

Sustainability at Cognizant 10

Commitment to Customers 16

CONTENTS

Educating for the Future 20

Stewards of the Environment 32

Responsibility at Work 40

Governance and Ethics 50

Appendices

Appendix A: About this Report 58

Appendix B: Disclosures on

Management Approach 60

Appendix C: GRI Indicators 64

SUSTAINABILITY REPORT 2011 Cognizant Technology Solutions 1

WORKING TO RETHINK, REINVENT & REWIRE OUR IMPACT ON SOCIETY AND THE PLANET

Progressive companies continually reimagine their

business models for a changing world. As a global IT

services and consulting firm, Cognizant makes it

possible for clients to do that—by bringing our extensive

resources and our understanding of technology, business

processes and industries to help them drive innovation,

growth and effectiveness.

It’s the same with our approach to sustainability. We believe it is our responsibility

to apply our collective knowledge, talent and energy to the challenges faced

by ourselves and all of our stakeholders—in society, the environment, the

workplace and corporate governance. Today, Cognizant is working to rethink

our role in improving education in our communities, to rewire our operations

to lessen our environmental impact, and to reinvent our workplace to meet the

needs of clients and associates now and in the future.

In this, our second annual Sustainability Report, we employ the sustainability

reporting framework of the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) to describe our goals

and our performance in these and other critical areas. We hope you carefully

read our 2011 report, and let us know what you think by emailing us at

[email protected]

At Cognizant, we continually envision new solutions to sustainability challenges—

and work to make that vision a reality for our clients, associates, shareholders,

partners and the communities in which we live and work.

RETHINK

REINVENT

REWIRE

COGNIZANT SUSTAINABILITY REPORT 2011

Cognizant Technology Solutions SUSTAINABILITY REPORT 20112

At Cognizant, our commitment—indeed our passion—is to help our clients respond to

and meet the challenges and opportunities of a business environment that is

undergoing dramatic change. We innovate for many of the world’s leading companies

as they adapt to a future of work that is being transformed by globalization,

virtualization, the millennial demographic shift, and disruptive new technologies.

Yet we cannot prepare any business (our clients’ or our own) for the future of work

without considering the future of our society and our planet. This realization inspires

us to be responsible global citizens and play a positive role in our communities.

The main thrust of our sustainability efforts includes: maintaining high standards of

business conduct; improving education in our communities; reducing environmental

impact; providing a safe workplace while promoting professional development;

and delivering on commitments to clients, investors, associates and other stakeholders.

LETTER FROM CEO FRANCISCO D’SOUZA


IN THE PAST YEAR, WE MADE PROGRESS ON A NUMBER OF FRONTS:

We expanded our efforts to rethink our role in education. In the U.S., we launched

our Making the Future program to stimulate hands-on learning and interest in

mission-critical science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) disciplines.

Globally, we harnessed the power of more than 18,000 of our associates, who

volunteered over 100,000 hours through our Outreach program to teach, mentor,

improve school facilities, and provide learning materials.

We continued to reinvent our workplace to attract, retain and nurture the talented

people we need to serve our clients and society, and to grow our value. We offer not

only a safe and healthy workplace, but also extensive professional development

opportunities through Cognizant Academy and other programs. The success of these

efforts is reflected in our record high employee satisfaction scores and declining

attrition levels.

We worked to rewire our operations to become more environmentally sensitive,

advancing aggressively on our targets to reduce carbon emissions, water, paper,

and waste. Our efforts are embodied in our Go Green program, including extensive

grassroots activities by associates, which helped Cognizant rise to #16 in Newsweek’s

U.S. Green rankings, as well as #51 in Newsweek’s Global Green rankings.

While sustainability has been an integral part of our business for many years, in 2011

we adopted a formal policy on sustainability and corporate responsibility, as well as

a supplier code of conduct, to ensure that our priorities and commitments are clear,

concrete, and unmistakable. We also embrace relevant GRI guidelines and performance

indicators and our results are disclosed in this annual sustainability report.

There is much more we can do to advance sustainability. You can be assured that we

will continue to approach these efforts with determination, innovation, and passion.

Sincerely,

Francisco D’Souza

Chief Executive Officer


As you will see in this report, we made tremendous progress during 2011 in our journey

to be a more sustainable and responsible company. I’m very proud of our progress,

particularly since this is only my second year leading Cognizant’s Sustainability

Office after previously serving as our Chief Information Officer.

We believe sustainability should be woven into our business and cannot be an

independent, ancillary function. To that end, our mission is to raise awareness on

sustainable practices across all of our business units and corporate functions, then

help them set goals, monitor progress, and report performance. With more than

137,000 associates, and operations across 14 countries, it’s a big ship, so to speak,

and progress towards sustainable development occurs at different rates in different

parts of the organization. That’s why we continually evaluate our performance,

critically assess where we can do better, and constantly raise the bar to meet or exceed

industry benchmarks for sustainable and responsible business practices. On our

journey, we continue to learn every day from our NGO partners, peer companies,

employees, customers, investors, and other stakeholders.

LETTER FROM VICE PRESIDENT OF SUSTAINABILITY MARK GREENLAW


A credible sustainability report should not only disclose all the positive things a

company accomplishes, but should also candidly discuss some of the challenges we

face in evolving our business practices. With that in mind, I’d like to share some

commentary on our performance in 2011 and how it has shaped our goals for 2012.

We made good progress in working to drive sustainability through our supply chain.

You’ll read that we adopted an over-arching sustainability policy which includes our

supply chain, introduced a supplier code of conduct, and began surveying our suppliers.

However, we did not get as far as we had hoped in gathering performance data from

our suppliers, so this will continue to be a major focus in 2012.

We did not achieve our target of implementing a global injury tracking framework in

2011. We have relatively few injuries at Cognizant, due to the nature of the work in

a knowledge-based industry, and we compile country specific data that meets local

laws and regulations. Nonetheless, we don’t yet have a global injury reporting

platform. This goal will continue to be a priority in 2012.

Additionally, in 2012 we will continue to build on the progress we made in 2011 to rethink

our role in education, rewire our operations to preserve the environment, and reinvent

our workplace to be as diverse, collaborative, and professionally rewarding as possible.

Our goals for the coming year include:

• Achieving 200,000 volunteer hours by employees.

• Launching 10 pilot Making the Future Afterschool and Summer Programs in the U.S.

• Continuing to make progress toward our 2015 carbon emissions reduction targets.

• Launching a world-class Diversity Program leveraging the success of our Women

Empowered (WE) initiative.

We remain committed to investing our financial and human capital in things that

matter to society, to ensuring that future generations have opportunities for professional

and personal growth, and to making a positive impact on our world. I hope you find

our 2012 Sustainability Report on these efforts informative and enjoyable to read.

Sincerely,

Mark Greenlaw

Vice President, Sustainability & Educational Affairs

6 06 Cognizant Technology Solutions CORPORATE SUSTAINABILITY REPORT 2011

ORGANIZATIONAL PROFILECognizant is a leading provider of custom information

technology, strategic consulting services, and business process

outsourcing. Headquartered in Teaneck, New Jersey (U.S.), the

Company is publicly traded on The NASDAQ Stock Market (CTSH).

Cognizant joined the “Fortune 500” for the first time in 2011

(at No. 484), and also is ranked among Fortune’s “World’s Most

Admired Companies” (No. 3 in the IT industry).


We serve clients in the United States, Europe and, increasingly in other international

markets such as Asia-Pacific and South America. To serve our clients’ needs, we have

more than 50 delivery centers in 14 countries and we are continuously adding or

expanding global delivery capacity. We utilize a seamless global sourcing model that

combines technical and account management teams located on-site at the customer

location and at dedicated near-shore and offshore development and delivery centers.

Currently, our delivery centers are located primarily in India, China, the United States,

Canada, Argentina, Hungary and the Philippines. All of our operations across the globe

are linked via our Cognizant 2.0 knowledge-sharing and project-management platform.

Our primary customers are Global 2000 companies and our business is organized

around four vertically-oriented business segments: Financial Services; Healthcare;

Manufacturing, Retail and Logistics; and Other, which includes Communications,

Information, Media and Entertainment and High Technology.

COGNIZANT’S 7 CULTURAL VALUE DRIVERS

• Open - providing an environment of open doors and open minds.

• Transparent - our communications, whether positive or negative, are always

proactive, direct and honest, and we view transparency as critical to the health

of our company.

• Driven - with a “can do” approach focused on delivering excellence at all times,

and we expect and reward personal and team initiative.

• Empowered - our associates have the freedom to find the best way to meet

a customer’s needs within the structure of our Code of Conduct.

• Opportunity - focused - presenting excellent potential for career growth.

• Flexible - able to adapt in real time to each new marketplace challenge.

• Collaborative - predicating the growth of individuals on their contributions

to their team’s success in delivering exceptional customer experiences.

OUR ECONOMIC PERFORMANCE

As a U.S. publicly traded company, Cognizant is committed to providing maximum

returns to its shareholders, while providing financial success for our employees,

suppliers, and the communities in which we operate. (For our GRI Disclosure on our

Economic Management Approach, please refer to Appendix B.)


Below is a summary of our Consolidated Statements of Operations, taken from our

2011 Annual Report.

Year Ended December 31

In thousands, except per share data 2011 2010

Revenues $ 6,121,156 $ 4,592,389

Operating expenses:

— Cost of revenues (exclusive of depreciation and

amortization expense shown separately below)

3,538,622 2,654,569

— Selling, general and administrative expenses 1,328,665 972,093

— Depreciation and amortization expense 117,401 103,875

Income from operations 1,136,468 861,852

Total other income (expense), net 32,681 16,728

— Income before provision for income taxes 1,169,149 878,580

Provision for income taxes 285,531 145,040

Net income $ 883,618 $ 733,540

— Basic earnings per share $ 2.91 $ 2.44

— Diluted earnings per share $ 2.85 $ 2.37

Cognizant donated over $8 million in 2011 to education, infrastructure and other such

investments across the globe.

Through our more than 50 development centers on five continents, we contribute

to skilled labor markets and stimulate economies in developing nations, particularly

India, by helping approximately 785 clients worldwide grow their businesses and run

them efficiently and effectively.

Proportion of Senior Managers and Above Hired from the Local Community (As of December 31, 2011)

Region Local Hires %

Asia-Pacific 66%

Europe 71%

India 97%

Americas 71%

Total 83%

Total workforce by region (Dec.31, 2011)

Region Employees

APAC 2,350

Europe 4,300

India 109,250

Americas 21,800

Total 137,700


On the hiring front, 83% of our senior managers are local hires, meaning they live

locally and are citizens or legally authorized to work within the country in which they

are hired. While we do not have explicit procedures for local hiring, factors considered

include skill availability in the marketplace, migration regulations, geography,

and local customs.

AWARDS AND RECOGNITION

While awards cannot truly measure a company’s contribution either to the corporate world

or broader society, they can serve to reflect its commitment to responsibility and trust.

We are especially pleased that Cognizant has been ranked among the Top 500 in the

Newsweek Green Rankings since 2009. We have improved our position each year, and

ranked #16 among the 500 largest publicly traded companies in the U.S., up from #138

in 2010 and #449 in 2009. We also stand as #51 in Newsweek’s Global Green rankings.

Within the IT industry, Cognizant had the #1 environmental impact score in 2011, up

from #25 in 2010 and #49 in 2009.

Global Rankings

IN NEWSWEEK’S U.S. GREEN RANKINGS and has the #1ENVIRONMENTAL

IMPACT SCORE in the IT INDUSTRY.

COGNIZANT IS #16

FORTUNE 500 LIST — moved up from Fortune 1000 in 2011

Fortune’s “WORLD’S MOST ADMIRED COMPANIES” list for the third year in a row

BARRON’S 500, ranking the S&P 500 based on sales growth and cash flow return on investment

FT GLOBAL 500, compiled by the Financial Times, RANKING WORLD’S LARGEST COMPANIES based on market capitalization

Fortune’s All-Star List of

100 FASTEST GROWING COMPANIES

FIRST PLACE in EquaTerra’s

Performance and Client Satisfaction

Rankings in Europe


SUSTAINABILITY AT COGNIZANTSTRATEGY AND ANALYSIS

Cognizant’s strategy is to be a partner with our clients—applying

the talent of our people, global delivery network, deep industry

expertise, and proficiency in technology and consulting to help

make their businesses stronger. Helping our clients succeed and

prosper has produced strong growth for our company, as well.

Since our founding in 1994, we have grown from a start-up with

175 employees, to over 137,000 associates worldwide and annual

revenues of more than $6.1 billion in 2011.


THE RELEVANCE OF SUSTAINABILITY

We believe our competitive edge in serving our clients’ needs derives from our

commitment to helping them identify, anticipate and embrace changes in technology and

business processes that will impact the ways in which they engage with their customers,

markets, employees, supply chain and other constituencies. Simply stated, our job is

to help clients see—and prepare for—the Future of Work.

It is in this context that we approach sustainability. There can be no meaningful plans

for the future without taking into account the ways in which society and business are

affected by sustainability. Along with all global enterprises, we must ask ourselves

the big questions: How could we and our clients be affected by scarcity or price

volatility of natural resources? What impact would a shortage of qualified employees

have on our growth? Could our reputation, and thus our relationships with clients, be

damaged by lapses in corporate governance? How will our working and living conditions

be affected by climate change?

SUSTAINABILITY POLICY AND COMMITMENTS

The answers to these and similar questions impact all of us—and our families,

communities, colleagues, clients and our business overall. For this reason, in 2011

Cognizant adopted a Policy on Sustainability and Corporate Responsibility that sets

forth our priorities and commitments in this area.

Our Sustainability Policy can be found on our website at

http://www.cognizant.com/OurApproach/Sustainability%20Policy.pdf

There can be no meaningful plans for the future without taking into account the ways in which society and business are affected by sustainability.


COGNIZANT POLICY ON

SUSTAINABILITY AND

CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITY

At Cognizant Technology Solutions Corporation, sustainability is vital to our success.

Our internal performance and client satisfaction depend on how we:

• Provide what’s best for people and the environment.

• Conduct our business affairs, employing the highest standards of personal and corporate conduct.

• Serve and satisfy our customers; thus shaping our ability to sustain our own future.

It also concerns how we support our employees, our business partners, the communities where we work and the next generation of professionals. We recognize that acting in a responsible and sustainable manner creates new opportunities, increases shareholder value, and enhances our brand and reputation with multiple stakeholders groups while protecting the environment and natural resources.

This policy outlines Cognizant’s overall commitment to corporate responsibility and sustainability, and guides our activities across all global operations. It is an integral part of our core business strategy and is supported by a range of global and regional policies: Core Values and Standards of Business Conduct, Environmental Policy, Occupational Health and Safety Policy, Anticorruption Policy, Supplier Code of Conduct, and many other internal policies, procedures, and programs. These policies are based on internationally recognized standards and frameworks such as the United Nations Global Compact, International Labour Organiza-tion (ILO) and the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI).

Cognizant is committed to:• Maintaining high standards of honest, ethical

and legal business behaviors at all times and complying with all applicable laws and regulations of the countries and locales in which we operate.

• Competing ethically for our business without paying bribes, kickbacks or giving anything of material value to secure an advantage.

• Providing a workplace free from discrimination, harassment or any type of abuse.

• Ensuring that child labor is not used in any operations.

• Ensuring that all forms of forced or compulsory labor are forbidden in any operations.

• Providing safe working conditions for all employees and complying with all local laws with respect to wages, hours and benefits.

• Complying with all applicable environmental laws, regulations and standards and tracking and reducing negative environmental impact.

• Enhancing the communities in which we live and work through outreach programs to improve the quality and accessibility of education for children across the globe.

• Engaging with our suppliers to ensure they follow our supplier code of conduct and are striving to improve the sustainability of their businesses.

• Utilizing the Global Reporting Initiative’s guidelines to establish performance targets for material sustainability performance indicators, tracking our performance against these indicators, and disclosing our performance publicly in an annual Sustainability Report.

In addition, Cognizant seeks to anticipate future sustainability risks and opportunities, new regulations, and market trends to ensure the responsible development of our business into the future.

AccountabilityThe responsibility for operating in a sustainable and responsible manner must be embedded into all of Cognizant’s business units and corporate functions. To ensure this is the case, Cognizant’s Vice President of Sustainability leads a global committee that is responsible for developing and driving implementation of the corporate responsibility and sustainability strategy and targets guided by this policy. Cognizant’s President is responsible for reviewing the committee’s performance against this policy on an annual basis and reporting the results of this review with our Board of Directors or a Committee of the Board of Directors.

This policy will be reviewed annually and updated as required to maintain Cognizant’s position as a leader in sustainability and corporate responsibility.


STRATEGIC PRIORITIES.

We believe it is essential to our business, as well as to society as a whole, to promote and

achieve sustainability in the following areas, which we have identified as our priorities:

• Commitment to customers – We strive to deliver superior service and tangible

business advantages to our clients in order to sustain the operational and financial

performance of our business as the foundation of all our activities.

• Educating for the future – Given our growth, we expect to continue to need increasing

numbers of talented, technologically adept employees, leading to our strong support

of education initiatives in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) disciplines.

• Stewardship of the environment – We believe that reducing our impact on the

environment is not only a responsible endeavor, but is essential to ensure a

long-term and cost-effective supply of the resources needed to support our business.

• Responsibility at work – Supporting the professional development of our employees,

ensuring the diversity of our workforce, and providing appealing working conditions

are all essential to our productivity, excellence and competiveness.

• Sound corporate governance – Operating in an ethical and transparent manner

that goes beyond mere “letter of the law” compliance is essential to maintaining our

corporate reputation and thus our credibility with customers, employees, shareholders,

business partners and others.

Our activities in each of the above areas are discussed in detail in this Report.


OUR SUSTAINABILITY CONTEXT: IMPACTS, RISKS AND OPPORTUNITIES

As a company whose “product” is information services and consulting advice, our

supply chain is essentially knowledge based. We are a people-intensive company.

Thus, our operations are not significant consumers of raw materials, nor do we sell

a product that requires packaging or shipping. Our primary impact on society and

the environment is the care and wellbeing of our more than 137,000 employees.

Our facilities do consume natural resources and energy for the physical premises and

systems, and to provide employees with proper working conditions.

Our employee base grew by 32% in 2011, as we have expanded to serve the increasingly

complex needs of a growing number of clients. We rank #68 on HR Executive magazine’s

2011 roster of the 100 largest U.S.-based non-government employers. We view our

employee base as a significant resource in contributing to society, and have an active

program known as Outreach to solicit, coordinate and support volunteer efforts.

One area in which we have a significant and positive economic impact is the

compensation we pay our employees. We also provide solid global career opportunities

with rapid advancement, primarily because we have always focused on building

a global team and accessing top talent from leading universities and the lateral

market. We believe this emphasis on talent, coupled with our unique global

culture, rank among our key differentiators.

We believe that improving education is one of the most significant ways in which we can have a long term positive impact on sustainability across the globe.


We believe our focus on the Future of Work—with its forces of globalization,

virtualization, millennials and technology—puts us at the forefront of the new economy.

It is changing the way in which businesses, consumers, employees and others relate

to and interact with each other. It is also driving businesses to be more transparent

and more accountable for the positive and negative impacts they have on society.

To the extent that our services enable clients to operate more productively, effectively

and cost-efficiently, we may have an indirect positive impact on simulating growth

and economic opportunity, while helping clients reduce their resource consumption.

In addition, we believe that improving education is one of the most significant ways

in which we can have a long term positive impact on sustainability across the globe.

This belief drives our intense commitment to help people gain the education necessary

to participate in the global economy. Our support also underlines the critical business

case to meet the increasing demand for highly educated workers. At the same time,

we recognize that improved education can bring more people out of poverty and

give them the knowledge necessary to solve some of our world’s biggest social and

environmental challenges.

Further, we strive to be an extremely well-managed company, with strong governance,

ethics and a track record of providing rewarding careers to our associates. In addition

to robust economic and social performance, we are working pragmatically to improve

how we manage our environmental impact. We are committed to lead our industry in

conserving energy, reducing and disposing of waste, and recycling. Cognizant actively

supports national and international climate-change policies, protocols and initiatives.

Further, we proactively teach our associates best practices for conserving energy and

shrinking individual carbon footprints—all in an effort to operate in an environmentally

friendly manner and drive sustainable economic growth.


COMMITMENT TO CUSTOMERSSustainability at Cognizant starts with our customer relationships,

which lie at the root of our ability to build and grow a business that

can contribute to the needs of society, employees, shareholders,

and others. We do not sell a physical product, but instead provide

high-value services to our clients, and are often embedded deeply

within our client organizations, working together over a period

of months or years.


We view each client relationship as a true partnership, as our unique global delivery

model allows our teams to be tightly integrated into a client’s organization.

Together, we strive to achieve shared performance objectives that will generate

tangible returns for our clients in terms of innovation, growth, increased efficiencies,

and enhanced competitive advantage. (For our GRI Disclosure on our Product

Responsibility Management Approach, please refer to Appendix B.)

PARTNERING WITH CLIENTS

Putting customers first is embedded in our culture. We place a very experienced

employee onsite with a client team to ensure flawless alignment. This Client Partner

is the team’s leader and by working onsite, absorbs a client’s culture, operational

processes, challenges and business goals. The Client Partner, who often has an

advanced degree and at least a decade of experience, pairs with a senior Cognizant

Delivery Director as part of what we term our “two-in-a-box” client-engagement model.

This approach lets us provide superior service to help each customer reduce IT operational

costs, embrace best practices, and undergo sustainable business transformation.

Many of our senior associates originate from the industries we serve, so we are able

to offer deep experience across nearly all major industries. Our advanced technology

also helps us serve clients better. Built on the latest Web 2.0 technologies, our Cognizant

2.0 global delivery platform lets our associates, business partners and clients worldwide

work as one. This fosters sharing of experience and insights, and collaborating more

in real time to achieve superior results.

Our customers entrust us to solve some of their more pressing business and

technology problems, and in so doing they grant us access to sensitive, confidential

data and information. To ensure that we protect this information, Cognizant has

appropriate operational and technological processes and procedures designed to

safeguard against unauthorized access, loss, destruction, theft, use or disclosure of

data. We take extraordinary care to ensure the security of our data and information.

We house our servers in secure data centers and use a wide range of industry leading

tools for scrambling test data provided by clients, as well as sanitizing and shredding

files on old computers we redeploy. We also use an extensive set of filtering and data

loss-prevention tools designed to ensure that sensitive information does not leave

our network without authorization.

We partner with our clients to achieve shared performance objectives that will drive tangible results and business transformation.


MEASURING CUSTOMER SATISFACTION

We put our commitment to client satisfaction to the test by soliciting regular client

feedback. Since customer satisfaction is one measure of an organization’s sensitivity

to its customers’ needs, from an organizational perspective, it is essential for

long-term success. Every year, we conduct a customer-satisfaction study, employing

both quantitative and qualitative methodologies. Customers within client organizations

are nominated for inclusion in the study and vetted by the client organizations.

A minimum of 45% of the nominees participate in the quantitative portion.

In our most recent annual customer-satisfaction survey, and for the fourth year in

a row, more than 85% of our clients expressed a high degree of satisfaction, which is

considered extraordinary in our industry. Also, for the last five years, over 65% of our

customers indicated that their overall experience with our services was better or much

better compared to similar service providers. Each of our business units develops an action

plan to address any issues that may rise with its scores on customer-satisfaction surveys.

In the context of sustainability, customer satisfaction provides insight into how the

organization approaches its relationship with this key stakeholder group. It can also be

used in combination with other sustainability measures. Customer satisfaction can

provide insights into the degree to which an organization considers the needs of

other stakeholders. Our clients tell us that we truly excel at partnering closely and

that we go to extraordinary lengths to solve problems, or just help out. Our associates

have a “can-do” attitude, finding flexibility beyond the contractual terms of our client

relationships. A testament to this fact is our strong repeat business and customer

retention: approximately 97% of our revenues for the year ended December 31, 2011

were derived from customers who had been using our services at the end of 2010.


LOOKING FORWARD

Cognizant has a very customer-focused culture that drives us to provide solutions

to enhance our customers’ business success and thereby sustain very high levels of

customer satisfaction and loyalty.

Looking forward to 2012:

• We expect to selectively increase the number of Strategic Customers, which are

defined as those with annual revenue potential of at least $5 million to $50 million

or more. As of December 31st, 2011, we had 191 Strategic Customers.

• We will continue to monitor our customer’s satisfaction with our services and seek

to maintain the high performance reported on the customer satisfaction survey.


EDUCATING FOR THE FUTURECognizant is working to rethink our role in improving education

in our communities. We are committed to helping clients address

future challenges and opportunities, and thus many of our

sustainability activities are focused on ensuring that our

educational system can produce the talented and motivated IT

professionals needed to meet the demands of the 21st century.


Our educational efforts are guided by the realization that the Future of Work is being

transformed by a convergence of powerful forces, specifically globalization, virtualization,

the emergence of millennials as a majority of the workforce and consumer market,

and disruptive technologies, such as cloud computing, social networks, mobile devices

and advanced analytics. These forces are profoundly reshaping markets, business

models, the way work is conducted, and the manner in which businesses innovate,

collaborate and create value.

Adapting to the Future of Work will require that businesses and organizations—and

those service firms like Cognizant who partner with them—have an ample supply of

talented, well-educated knowledge workers. Yet, by most accounts, a significant talent

shortage exists in many parts of the world.

We work to ensure that our educational system can produce the talented and motivated IT professionals needed to meet the demands of the 21st century.


MAKING THE FUTURE: STEM EDUCATION IN THE U.S.

In the U.S., it is estimated that the 30 fastest growing occupations in the next decade

will require at least some background in science, technology, engineering or math

(STEM). Yet, the country is falling behind in STEM education, relative to other countries.

Consider these statistics:

• U.S. high school students ranked behind 17 other industrialized nations in math and

behind 13 nations in science.1

• Only 30% of U.S. high school graduates are ready for college-level work in science

and 45% were ready in math.1

• It is projected that the U.S. will have a shortage of 3 million workers with college

degrees by 2018.2

1 U.S. Department of Education; National Center for Education Statistics, Dec. 2010.

2 Change the Equation (CTEq), March 2012.

Therefore, improving the effectiveness of educational programs, increasing access to

academic opportunity, and stimulating an interest in STEM studies in the countries

in which we operate is a chief priority of Cognizant’s sustainability and corporate

responsibility efforts.

Our efforts to reinvigorate a passion for STEM learning in the U.S. are embodied in

an initiative that we call Making the Future. We created this initiative to spark the interest

of young people in STEM disciplines by creating fun, hands-on learning opportunities.

Making the Future draws inspiration from the Maker Movement, a broad based

community that celebrates the art of designing and building really cool things, either

doing it yourself (DIY) or with others (DIWO). In addition to inspiring young people

toward careers in science, technology, engineering and math, we seek to develop

21st century skills such as creativity, innovation, and collaboration that will create

a brighter future for our children, preparing them to be tomorrow’s leaders in our

global economy.

There are four key components to our Making the Future initiative:

• Our flagship program, the Making the Future After-School and Summer Program.

• Financial, in-kind, and volunteer support for non-profit organizations that inspire

children through hands-on learning opportunities, such as the New York Hall

of Science, Citizen Schools and the Museum of Science, Boston, Engineering is

Elementary program.

• College scholarships for students interested in pursuing STEM degrees.

• Advocacy for change in the way STEM education is delivered, working with groups

like the Business Roundtable and Change the Equation, a CEO-led initiative to cultivate

widespread STEM literacy.


Making the Future through STEM Education

AFTER-SCHOOL AND SUMMER PROGRAM. Our flagship Making the Future initiative is the After-School and Summer

Program, designed in conjunction with the New York Hall of Science, Maker Faire and Make Magazine. Community-based

organizations, such as youth service organizations, science and children’s museums, will run the programs nationwide.

With help from facilitators and mentors, participants will make projects of their choosing, such as electronic gadgets,

robots, software programs, crafts, music, or technology-enhanced clothing. We expect to launch 10 After-School and

Summer Program locations around the U.S. during 2012 and plan to grow the program over the next five years.

NON-PROFIT PARTNERSHIPS: Cognizant is partnering with major educational nonprofits to create and expand

programs that emphasize hands-on, project-based learning to help children. Our efforts include providing financial and

technological support and volunteer assistance for the following organizations:

- NEW YORK HALL OF SCIENCE. We established the Cognizant Maker Space at the New York Hall of Science (NYSCI)

in March 2012. This space consists of a permanent 1,200 square-foot area located inside the NYSCI main hall, where

children of all ages can experience the joy of making things, testing them, and displaying them using a mix of fabrication,

digital, and everyday tools and objects. The Cognizant Maker Space will add a new dimension to NYSCI’s ability to create

engaging and innovative learning experiences for school groups, visitors, and families.

- CITIZEN SCHOOLS. Citizen Schools is a national nonprofit organization that works with middle schools in low-income

areas to expand the learning day for students and connects scientists, engineers, and other professionals with students.

We joined Citizen Schools’ efforts as a National Leadership Partner, with a substantial grant and a commitment

of talent and organizational capacity. Cognizant associates also create and teach “apprenticeships,” 11-week

hands-on courses for middle school students.

- ENGINEERING IS ELEMENTARY. Engineering is Elementary (EiE) , a Museum of Science, Boston, program provides

basic engineering curriculum for use by teachers in kindergarten through fifth grade. Cognizant is providing EiE with

substantial financial support, which will help to fund the creation and collection of video training resources for elementary

school teachers and support expanded and deeper implementation of the EiE curriculum. The three-year project will

expand EiE’s reach to educators anywhere at any time, especially those who cannot attend face-to-face professional

development workshops. The videos will be available online and in DVD format.

ADVOCACY THROUGH CHANGE THE EQUATION. Cognizant also is a member of Change the Equation (CTEq), a CEO-led

initiative to cultivate STEM literacy. Change the Equation is bringing together companies like Cognizant across multiple

sectors, all of which are dedicated to preparing students for STEM-related careers as an investment in their business, the

economy and our democracy. Through innovative and effective company-led programs, Cognizant and CTEq aim to fill

the opportunity gap with capable and enthusiastic STEM-literate young people.

For more information on our Making the Future initiative, refer to www.cognizant.com/makingthefuture

COGNIZANT FIELDED90 VOLUNTEERS

for Citizen Schools programs— the 2nd largest volunteer group of any company.


A “call to action” mobilized over 90 Cognizant associates to become Citizen

Teachers in classrooms across the U.S. to inspire inner-city youth to succeed.

By partnering with Citizen Schools, a national non-profit that expands the learning

day for middle school students in low-income areas, associates inspire students to

learn STEM disciplines as well as other 21st century skills —teaching apprenticeships

such as designing solar cars, programming robots, producing film documentaries,

and becoming more creative thinkers in the process.

At the Bronx School of Science Inquiry and Investigation in New York, students

learned about alternative energy, electricity and magnetism, and velocity and

aerodynamics while building solar cars and gearing up for the solar sprint race.

At the Martin Luther King School in North Carolina, students programmed robots

to perform rescue missions in a simulation exercise.

Cognizant associates Joelle Quilla and Young Lee made a lasting impression on

students in Newark, New Jersey by leading a documentary film apprenticeship

called “Lights! Camera! Action! Change!” The project also provided an opportunity

to address a real issue facing teens today: violence. The Newark community faced

a tragedy in 2007, when a senseless shooting took the lives of three college bound

teens in the parking lot of a local school. The film project allowed students to explore

community issues and interview stakeholders, inspiring them to make better choices

and recognize education as the gateway to personal success.

Cognizant associates are the role models who are working with students to

develop critical thinking, collaboration, creativity and innovation. One student

was overheard saying, “When learning is this much fun, I want to learn more.”

PARTNERING WITH CITIZEN SCHOOLS

24 Cognizant Technology Solutions SUSTAINABILITY REPORT 2011

Citizen Teachers Make a Difference


ADDRESSING INDIA’S ACADEMIC CHALLENGES

As a company with significant operations in India, Cognizant is well aware of the

opportunities and challenges of the country’s educational system. India has the third

largest higher education system in the world, behind only the U.S. and China, and its

graduates have found opportunities in a dynamic IT industry that continues to fuel

economic growth and lift millions out of poverty.

Yet, there are serious challenges within India’s public education system. The proportion

of children in grammar school able to read a Standard 2 level text declined from 54%

in 2010 to 48% in 2011, and similar declines also have been found in basic arithmetic

(source: Pratham, Annual Status of Education Report, Jan. 2012). At the college level,

many employers find that curriculums can be outdated, requiring them to send recent

university graduates to “finishing schools.” Despite government and NGO action on these

issues, much remains to be done to improve India’s educational opportunity at all levels.


OUTREACH: CHANNELING THE POWER OF VOLUNTEERS

Cognizant’s Outreach program channels the enthusiasm and energy of our associates,

backed by corporate financial and administrative support, into volunteer activities

in the education area, many of which are focused on India. Outreach is entirely led

by our volunteers, who are organized into Outreach Councils by business unit or

location. Each Council sets the tone of its volunteers’ activities, encourages associates

to participate, solicits suggestions from employees as to schools and programs that

might benefit from our efforts, applies for the necessary corporate support, and

monitors outcomes. In 2011, Outreach volunteers participated in over 1,700 projects.

Successful programs and best practices are shared among Councils.

> 18,200ASSOCIATES VOLUNTEERED IN SCHOOLS AND ORPHANAGES

in local communities to improve learning opportunities for underprivileged children (a 235% increase over 2010).

VOLUNTEERSCLOCKED

PROJECTSAND EVENTS

hours (up 400% year-over-year) impacting an estimated 265,000 lives (a 112% increase from 2010).

associates have participated in since Outreach was launched in 2007, reaching out to over 400,000 children.

100K

3,000


Outreach: Embracing the Volunteer Spirit

BE A TEACHER recruits volunteers to teach classes at neighborhood schools. Some 120 volunteers are teaching in 10

schools, reaching 1,200 students. Through efforts such as targeted coaching for students with poor test scores, rewards

for improved performance, summer coaching and a Neuro Linguistic program, volunteers have increased pass rates by

10-30% at 5 schools in India.

EDUCATE A VILLAGE is a partnership between Cognizant and AID India to set up study centers in 25 villages in Tamil

Nadu. Outreach will sponsor a village once associates raise 50% of the amount needed to run a study center for one

year (US$1,100), or 20 associates commit to volunteer for a specific village. Some 700 associates have volunteered or

contributed to villages through this program.

DICTIONARY TRAINING is an Outreach service offering that introduces the use of dictionaries to students in a fun yet

effective way. Specially trained Cognizant volunteers visit schools referred by our associates and take sessions for students

from Class 7 to Class 10. Children in most of these schools are from impoverished backgrounds and these sessions are

the first time that they have been able to use a dictionary.

STREET CHILDREN EMPOWERMENT PROGRAM volunteers visit with homeless children at 3 centers in Chennai to

take students on field trips and lead story telling, math puzzle, and hygiene sessions. Since June 2011, volunteers have

made more than 100 visits to these centers and clocked 550 volunteer hours.

TALHUNT is an interschool cultural competition. In 2011, some 18,000 students from 59 schools competed to showcase

their creative abilities. Winning schools receive financial aid to help improve their facilities.

INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECTS, such as renovating classrooms and building libraries, computer labs, science labs,

and sports facilities, have been completed at schools and other locations, through a combination of volunteer labor and

Cognizant donations. We have sponsored 146 such infrastructure projects in India in 2011.

NOTEBOOK DRIVES conducted by Outreach volunteers distributed free notebooks to over 66,000 children in 2011—

and 120,000 children in the past three years.

SOCIAL AUDIT SHOWS OUTREACH RESULTS*

* Social audit of Outreach activities in India conducted for 2010 by the Centre for Social Initiatives & Management.

of the parents credited their children’s improved academic performance to Outreach volunteers.

89%of students developed an interest in reading after a library was set up or revamped at their school.

78% 82%of volunteers feel volunteering helps increase their awareness of social issues and desire to help society.


A dilapidated single-room residential middle school with a leaky roof

and a single teacher who taught 120 students from grades 1–8 is now

transformed. The school, located in Topslip, a wildlife sanctuary in the

Anamalai mountain range, caters to the children of a tribal society

residing in hamlets inside the Sathyamangalam forest. Volunteers of

the Wild Wings Society (WWS), a grassroots group started by Saravanan

Chandrasekaran, a Cognizant employee and environment enthusiast,

have supported this school through their “Project Green Books” initiative

from June 2011. While the project’s main mission is developing more

environmental awareness among tribal communities, they made it a

priority to upgrade the educational experience of the Topslip students.

Each week, WWS’s team of 10-15 volunteers plans weekend activities

for the children and logistics for volunteers’ visits to the school. A two

hour journey through hilly terrain and forests brings volunteers to the

school. When the volunteers arrived at the school for their first visit, all

grades met in the same classroom, many students did not even know

which class they were studying in.

The volunteers started with Orientation programs for students and

placed them in grades based on their age. Volunteers cleaned and

renovated the school with the support of youth from the neighboring

village and set up a children’s park. Inspired by their work, the government

has now allotted an additional staff for the school. The WWS team says

that this is just the beginning —a beginning of a better future.

PROJECT GREEN BOOKS

Project Green Books Improves the Educational Environment



GRASSROOTS AND OTHER EDUCATION ACTIVITIES

Cognizant also provides support for Grassroots activities in India that are not part of

the formal Outreach program, but are championed by individual associates. One such

program, Third Eye, produces books in Braille in non-curriculum subjects. Donations

raised by our associates have enabled nine publishers to produce some 250 titles,

bringing the joy of reading to visually challenged students. Another Grassroots program,

Green Star, uses techniques developed in our Business Process Outsourcing (BPO)

practice to track students’ performance. Green Star has led to a 17% increase in

attendance and 40% increase in homework completion over the last year.

As a global organization, we are committed to promoting educational initiatives at many

of Cognizant’s locations around the world. For example, in the U.K., we have joined with

other leading companies to support the Prince’s Trust, which develops programs to

combat youth unemployment. Our financial and operational support enables young

people to participate in programs that give them the skills, confidence and motivation to

move into work, education or training. In December 2011, we were one of the recipients

of the Trust’s “Superstars Award”, given in recognition of the 17 Cognizant associates

who took part in the Wild UK Challenge, a strenuous event in which participants raise

funds for the Trust by hiking, cycling and kayaking 100 miles in three days.


LOOKING FORWARD

2012 U.S. STEM EDUCATION GOALS

• Launch 10 pilot Making the Future After-School and Summer Programs.

• Launch a US college scholarship program for students wishing to

pursue STEM degrees.

• Fund a micro-grant program to bring Engineering is Elementary

curriculum to 50 teachers.

• Provide additional education-oriented volunteer opportunities

for associates.

2012 GLOBAL OUTREACH GOALS

• Clock 200,000 volunteer hours.

• Encourage 1 in every 5 associates to volunteer.


As a result of our commitment to STEM education, Cognizant was invited to

participate in the second annual White House Science Fair held on February 7,

2012. Mark Greenlaw, who leads our Making the Future program, represented

Cognizant at the event. For the Cognizant “family”, a highlight of the White

House Science Fair was the involvement of Joey Hudy, the 14-year-old son of

Victor Hudy, a Cognizant employee. Joey attended the Fair with his parents

and his “Extreme Marshmallow Cannon”, which he designed to fire

marshmallows up to 175 feet using pressurized air. He demonstrated the

invention for President Obama, who took the opportunity to shoot

a marshmallow across the State Dining Room.

Joey’s story demonstrates the impact of our efforts to advance STEM education

in the U.S.—as we support programs to inspire young learners to pursue

science, technology, engineering, and math disciplines by creating fun,

hands-on learning opportunities. In a speech following the White House

Science Fair, President Obama saluted the innovative spirit embodied in the

motto on Joey’s business card: “Don’t be Bored, Make Something!”

WHITE HOUSE SCIENCE FAIR

Young Inventor Aims for Success



STEWARDSHIP OF THE ENVIRONMENTCognizant is working to rewire our operations to lessen our

environmental impact. We are committed to leading our industry

in energy conservation, waste reduction, and recycling. Taking a

responsible stance with respect to the environment is a business

imperative, and not merely a reaction to compliance requirements

or current popular interests.


While some may deny or dispute the risk of climate change, we take a precautionary

approach as defined by Article 15 of the Rio Principles and have implemented significant

programs to reduce our carbon emissions. We recognize that climate change may

pose operational risk to our facilities located in coastal cities around the world.

It could also cause disruptions to our operations if severe weather caused by climate

change impacts goods and services in our supplier chain. Unchecked growth in the

consumption of resources could also lead to escalating electricity and transportation

costs or uncertainty of supply, which could also impact our business.

At the same time, concern over climate change has provided an opportunity to reassess

our energy dependence and energy productivity. We have identified opportunities to

conserve energy through disciplined energy management practices, improved facilities

design and reengineered business processes. The result is not only enhanced energy

efficiency and productivity, but also the potential for significant cost savings. (For our

GRI Disclosure on our Environmental Management Approach, please refer to Appendix B.)

Consequently, we have established a greenhouse gas policy that is reducing emissions

across our global delivery network. In addition, we are working with our employees to

put into effect best practices for conserving energy and shrinking individual carbon

footprints. Collectively, these measures ensure that we operate in an environmentally

friendly manner and drive sustainable economic growth. With more than 137,000

associates and more than 50 delivery centers worldwide, we work to better manage

our offices’ environmental impact. For example, in Cognizant’s annual Carbon Disclosure

Project declaration, we reported a 32% per capita reduction in 2011, compared to 2008.

Concern over climate change has provided an opportunity to reassess our energy dependence and energy productivity.


GO GREEN

Our commitment to achieve measurable reductions in our environmental impact is

embodied in a company-wide effort that we call Go Green. Launched in 2009,

Go Green uses sophisticated organizational change-management practices to engage

associates actively in Cognizant’s environmental programs.

2011 GO GREEN ACCOMPLISHMENTS*

* 2011 compared to 2008.

Energy Optimization We embarked on an energy efficiency improvement project using Six Sigma and Lean techniques. The project covered

all aspects of our infrastructure—office space, utilities, desktop hardware and data centers—as we identified operational

levers to optimize energy usage and reduce waste. We formed teams focused on key energy consuming equipment

and ran Six Sigma Green Belt Projects for HVAC, Uninterruptable Power Supplies, Lighting and Generators. First we

focused on operational efficiency, sharing best practices across locations, tracking and reporting progress, and recognizing

the most efficient locations through a reward and recognition program. We then focused on design efficiency, measuring

total cost of ownership of equipment and fine-tuning our design requirements. Finally, we focused on equipment

efficiency by tracking key efficiency metrics and building internal expertise to improve problem solving.

Through our energy optimization efforts, over the last three years we have achieved 40% reduction in per capita

energy consumption in our India facilities.

Energy HandbookOur energy optimization efforts culminated in the publication of an Energy Handbook, which

collected all of the best practices developed across our global facilities.

The Handbook has been distributed to all of our facilities management and infrastructure teams

to serve as a ready-reference in energy management and design.

34%32%

60%

REDUCED PER CAPITA ENERGY CONSUMPTION BY

REDUCED PER CAPITA CARBON EMISSIONS BY

REDUCED PAPER CONSUMPTION BY

Average Monthly Per Capita Electricity Consumption (in kWh)

2008 2009 2010 2011

400

350

300

250

200

150

100

50

0


We are proud that our efforts to reduce Cognizant’s environmental impact

have been recognized by well-respected external sources.

• We ranked #16 in Newsweek’s 2011 Green Rankings of the 500 largest publicly

traded companies in the U.S. and #51 in their Global Green Rankings.

• Cognizant earned Newsweek’s #1 environmental impact score for the IT

industry in 2011, up from #25 in 2010 and #49 in 2009, largely due to our

low per-capita emissions.

• Cognizant was recognized in 2011 for “Exceptional Leadership in Internal

Measures” in the IT segment in the Parivartan Sustainability Leadership

Awards, organized by India Carbon Outlook, which recognizes Indian

companies that have embraced sustainability in their business operations.

• Our Golf View Campus in Bangalore won the Indian Bureau of Energy

Efficiency’s “National Energy Conservation Award” for 2011 in the Office

Buildings category.

• Cognizant’s offices at the Bagmane Tech Park in Bangalore received

the “Energy Efficiency Award” bestowed by the Karnataka Renewal

Energy Department.

• Our Smart Metering Management Platform (SMMP) won the 2011 Smart

Grid Excellence Award from SmartGrid.TMCnet.com, a website dedicated

to technologies that enable and harness smart grids.

• Cognizant was a winner in the U.S. EPA’s “Apps for the Environment”

awards program, for CGSearch, our mobile Green IT application that enables

users across the U.S. to compare the air quality index, air pollutant levels

and energy consumption of various cities.

EXTERNAL RECOGNITION

Winning Awards for Environmental Commitment



Grassroots Green

TREE PLANTING PROGRAM. We made a commitment to plant a tree for every associate in 2010, to celebrate reaching

the 100,000 employee mark, and we are on track to exceed that goal. In Chennai, India, we have partnered with TIST to

plant 100,000 saplings. Because trees planted under such programs often die of neglect, this program pays subsistence

farmers to care for the saplings for 10 years. Similarly, we have partnered with the New Jersey Tree Foundation in the

U.S., Carbon Managers in the U.K., and Natuurmonumenten in the Netherlands to plant trees in these geographies.

“Planting 100,000 trees was an unforgettable experience. When we went and saw the grown up trees four months later it was wonderful. I really enjoyed the day.” - Manoj Kumar CS

EARTH DAY CAMPAIGN. The Go Green program went social with our Earth Day campaign, “A billion acts of green” via

Facebook and Twitter, which encouraged associates across Cognizant to share their green acts and inspire others

using social media.

GREEN QUOTIENT. We held a quiz on environmental issues for engineering graduates, in which over 700 students from

engineering schools participated.

CARBON SCORE. Organized by one of our campus HR teams, this program gave business school students an opportunity

to address industry-specific environmental challenges with innovative business plans.

WORLD ENVIRONMENT DAY. The day was celebrated across Cognizant with music concerts, street plays and games

themed on the environment.

BIRD HABITATS. The hundreds of trees planted on our campuses over the last three years attract a lively bird population.

We provide bird feeders and bird baths, and two of our offices have bird watching binoculars so associates can observe

rare migratory birds.


ENVIRONMENT MANAGEMENT SYSTEM.

We have implemented an Environment Management System, as defined by ISO 14001

standards, which allows us to identify and control the environmental impact of our

activities; continually improve our environmental performance; and implement a

systematic approach to setting, achieving and measuring environmental objectives

and targets. This system has been certified at six of our facilities, four of which were

certified in the past year.

WATER USAGE.

As a service business, we do not use water in our supply chain. Accordingly, while we

do not see significant opportunity for reducing water use, we do compile and study

water usage data and look for opportunities to conserve water. We have measured

consumption of water procured from external sources for the majority of our India

operations. We chiefly use water for air conditioning, personal hygiene, cleaning,

landscaping, drinking, and cafeteria operations.

Based on a total consumption of about 918,876 kiloliters of utility water, the average

associate uses about 554 liters per month at the office. Similarly, based on total

consumption of 27,076 kiloliters of drinking water, the average associate drinks 196

liters per month at the office. Our operations did not affect any local water body

significantly. We recycled and reused over 210,509 liters of water (22% of utility

water reused).

We have piloted a series of measures in key facilities to reduce our per capita water

utilization (excluding drinking water). Initiatives include re-using treated water for

flushing, using bio-blocks for waterless urinals and re-using water from air conditioners.

We will be setting a reduction target shortly.

REDUCING TRAVEL IMPACT.

As a global company, travel is a major part of our environmental footprint. We have

placed a significant corporate emphasis on video conferencing and telepresence

facilities, using this technology to reduce travel to meetings and other business-related

sessions. To date, with environmental impact in mind, we have deployed over 1,000

telepresence and high-definition video units, reduced our air travel and, in the process,

improved our associates’ work-life balance and our collaboration with customers.

“PAPERLESS” OFFICES.

We have made great strides in reducing paper usage at our offices through online

submission of expense reports, medical bills and tax documents. Our Cognizant

Academy training organization has drastically reduced paper by offering courses via

webinars and e-Learning, saving time, energy and cost spent on travel and logistics.

Paper feedback forms were replaced with email to collect training feedback eliminating

189,000 sheets of paper.


R&D ON GREEN IT

We are conducting research and development on a number of IT applications that

can help organizations to go green. For example, CG Live is a program that monitors

PCs and collects data from sensors to analyze and decide on a course of action

(such as Hibernate/Sleep/Log-off). It also provides real-time energy consumption

details of PCs. Cnap is an SMS-based mobile application to hibernate/wake-up PCs,

whereby users can remotely manage their PCs to save energy. Gboard, an extension

of Cnap, detects whether the user of a PC is logged off/hibernated and sends this

information to the server to switch off lights near the idle PC.

LOOKING FORWARD

We achieved significant emissions intensity reduction with relentless focus on energy

usage. After addressing the demand side we are now focusing on the supply side

where we are looking to source green energy from a mix of wind, bio-mass and solar

projects. We are also focused on reducing our per capita water consumption and

recycling our considerable food waste to produce bio-fertilizers and bio-gas.

Specifically we are working towards achieving the following objectives over the next

several years:

• Reduction of scope 1 & 2 per capita carbon emissions by 40% from 2008 levels by 2015

• Energy Efficiency @ 1.2 kwh/sqft/mo

• Zero water discharge at all campuses

• 100% recycling of paper in all major offices

• Recycling of food waste in our major campuses

• Sunset of ODS refrigerants

Energy Consumption Mega Joules

Direct Energy Consumption (in

Mega Joules) - 100% from use of

non–renewable diesel fuel

97,719,156

Indirect Energy Consumption

(in Mega Joules) - 100% from

purchase of non–renewable

electricity

690,057,180

Total Energy Consumption (in

Mega Joules)

787,776,336

Energy saved due to conservation and efficiency improvements - 13,781 MWh


GHG

Performance

2008 2009 2010 2011 2011-2010

Change

2011-2008

Change

SCOPE 1 Emissions 22,981 21,567 28,647 27,829 -3% 21%

SCOPE 2 Emissions 98,784 103,377 122,187 144,629 18% 46%

SCOPE 3 Emissions 35,964 27,738 46,270 64,487 39% 79%

Total GHG Emissions 157,729 152,681 197,104 236,945 20% 50%

SCOPE 1 Intensity 0.37 0.28 0.28 0.20 -26% -45%

SCOPE 2 Intensity 1.60 1.33 1.17 1.06 -13% -36%

SCOPE 3 Intensity 0.58 0.36 0.44 0.47 6% -19%

GHG Intensity 2.56 1.96 1.90 1.73 -9% -32%

Waste Quantity Hazardous Disposal Method

E-waste 5,163 PCs Yes Recycled with authorized vendors

Used oil 13,185 Liters Yes Disposed through authorized recyclers

Used bulbs 19,914 nos No Disposed through various vendors

Used batteries 5,831 nos Yes Disposed through authorized recyclers

Other waste 1,611 Kgs No Disposed through various vendors

The emissions data for 2008 to 2010 have been restated using recently published regional India grid emission factors.

Gas CH4

N2O HFC-134a 407C

Weight 3.42MT 0.21MT 1.22MT 0.52MT

Waste DataWeight of transported, imported, exported, or treated waste deemed hazardous

Emissions of ozone-depleting substances by weight NO, SO, and other significant air emissions by type and weight


RESPONSIBILITY AT WORKCognizant is working to reinvent our workplace to meet the

needs of clients and associates now and in the future.

Helping businesses adapt to a rapidly changing technological

and competitive landscape requires ever greater numbers

of talented and highly motivated people. Therefore, our

relationships with our associates are an integral part of

Cognizant’s sustainability efforts.


We focus on attracting and retaining the best talent; building an increasingly diverse

workforce; enhancing the skills and career potential of our associates; and providing

attractive compensation, benefits and working conditions. In all geographies, Cognizant

complies with local norms, employment laws and best practices, including but not

limited to regulations that relate to minimum notice periods in relation to operational

changes. In addition, we aim to foster a culture of service, characterized by a

passionate commitment to partnering with clients and achieving exceptional results.

(For our GRI Disclosure on our Labor Management Approach, please refer to Appendix B.)

The effectiveness of our efforts to make Cognizant a great place to work and build

a career can be measured in several ways—including our ongoing ability to attract

qualified people, our low and declining attrition rate, and high employee satisfaction

scores. We added over 33,000 employees in 2011. We believe our attrition rate stands

among the lowest in our industry: attrition for 2011 as a whole was 13%, more than 5

percentage points lower than for the corresponding period in 2010, and our attrition

rate reached a low of 10% in the 2011 fourth quarter on an annualized basis.

We also received record high scores on our most recent annual, independently

conducted employee satisfaction survey. The Business Effectiveness Survey (BES)

conducted annually through Hay Management Consultants returned the best

BES score (72% favorable responses) in our history, with improvements across all

dimensions surveyed.

We focus on attracting and retaining the best talent to help clients adapt to and benefit from a rapidly changing business landscape.


DIVERSITY INITIATIVES

The diversity of our workforce is an important area that we have targeted for focus

and improvement. Increasing the number of women in management and senior

leadership roles globally has been an important area of emphasis. In general, the IT

industry, as with many of the STEM-oriented industries, attracts a lower percentage

of women than men.

Women represented 32% of the Company’s associates overall, and 16% of management,

as of December 31, 2011. Women represented 44% of our global campus hiring last year.

WOMEN EMPOWERED.

The cornerstone of our efforts to attract, develop and retain qualified female employees

is a program we call “Women Empowered”. It is the first of many future employee

resource groups Cognizant plans under our overall Diversity program. This initiative

emphasizes communications and networking to provide a collaborative and supportive

environment for female associates. Using our Cognizant 2.0 global collaboration

platform and social media sites such as LinkedIn and Facebook, female employees

can communicate and get to know one another by sharing career information and

providing resources and advice.

Level Overall

Management 16%

Associates 38%

Overall 32%

Level APAC Europe India The Americas Overall

Senior Mgmt 0.99 1.05 1.08 1.01 1.04

Middle Mgmt 1.39 0.93 1.04 1.00 1.03

Associates 1.22 1.13 1.03 0.99 1.03

Overall 1.27 1.00 1.03 1.00 1.03

% of Women by level (Dec.31, 2011)

Summary: Women constitute 32% of the total workforce of Cognizant, up 1% from 2010. Over 80% of the women returned from maternity leave, considering 1 in 12 women availed of the leave.

Summary: For work of similar nature, Cognizant pays equal pay to men and women of its work force. The ratio of the basic salary of women to men in 2011 was 1. (Note: Where ratios do not equal 1, differences are on account of variations in work experience and nature of skills)

Ratio of basic salary of men to women (Dec.31, 2011)


2011 was a year of immense growth for Women Empowered as it began to gain traction

globally. By December 2011, Women Empowered had over 100 volunteers across

North American, India and Europe. Our volunteers are critical in the development and

execution of Women Empowered’s five main pillars of focus: attract, retain, develop,

communicate and network. In 2011 Women Empowered hosted over 20 events

that comprised of breakfasts, “lunch and learns”, focus groups, webinars and

panel discussions. Volunteers within our Attract team became individual members of

Women in Technology International and were successful in hiring significantly more

women into our business consulting practice. Along the way we developed the C2.0

platform and LinkedIn page to enable our female associates around the world to

network and share information. We also initiated the development of a flexible work

arrangement policy and identified a select group of high-potential female leaders to

participate in a formal mentoring program through Women Unlimited, Inc.

Over the next several years, we expect the initiatives described above, and others

to be added as our programs evolve and we expand the number of women in leadership

roles around the globe. In particular, Women Empowered is working on several initiatives

for 2012 including Sabbatical and Extended Personal Leave policies to offer associates

better work-life balance, formal mentoring programs for junior to mid-level manager

staff, and more regional based networking events. Leveraging what we have learned

through the development of Women Empowered, Cognizant will start its second

employee resource group by the end of 2012.


Women Empowered organized a special edition of Cognizant Community for

female clients in 2011. Community is our annual event for clients, partners and

employees, and provides an important forum for networking and discussions of

IT issues and their impact on business. In November, our Cognizant Community

for Women was held in Hartford, Conn. and brought together over 42 clients to

talk about “How Women Will Shape the Future of Work.” Among the highlights

was a keynote speech by Ilene Lang, President and Chief Executive Officer of

Catalyst, the leading nonprofit membership organization dedicated to expanding

opportunities for women in business. Following Ilene’s speech, we hosted an

insightful panel discussion that was moderated by Malcolm Frank, then Senior

Vice President and currently, as of February 8, 2012, Executive Vice President of

Strategy and Marketing at Cognizant. Our Panelists comprised four senior female

clients and Cognizant’s Karen McLoughlin, then Senior Vice President for the

Enterprise Transformation Group. Karen has since been promoted to Chief

Financial Officer at Cognizant, representing a significant milestone for Women

Empowered and Cognizant’s overall Diversity mission. Because of the success of

this Cognizant Community event, Women Empowered plans to host three more

events in 2012 beginning with one in Dallas, Texas in April that will focus on how

today’s women executives are encouraging STEM education and careers for

tomorrow’s female executives.

WOMEN EMPOWERED

Cognizant Community for Women Powers Opportunity



TRAINING AND PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

We are committed to continuous learning, giving our associates opportunities to stay

current with leading-edge technologies and to develop communication skills so they

can perform their roles effectively and efficiently.

In addition to the formal learning in classrooms, Cognizant Academy brings learning

to our employees’ desktops. We use multi-modal methods, such as content-management

systems, blogging, Wikipedia, video-based training and distance education/higher

education, as well as Technology-Based Training.

Nearly 14.2 million hours of training were provided in 2011, with the average employee

receiving 116 hours of training.

The first year at Cognizant is the most formative period of a strong career. Our Campus

Associate Training Program (CATP) is our flagship, mission critical training program

that helps recent graduates acquire the disciplines and mind-set to transition from

college to corporate life. In 2011, CATP was launched for Americas and Europe.

More than 100 graduates recruited from over 14 universities across the Americas and

Europe graduated from this program. We will be extending the CATP program to the

U.K. and Middle East in 2012.

Our Life-Cycle Intervention Series comprises programs exclusively for associates

who step into a supervisory/managerial role for the very first time. Role-specific and

business-aligned, these programs equip associates to meet the highest standards of

delivery excellence and people management.

Senior executives have three dedicated learning tracks called Executive Essentials,

Executive Excellence and MPower that cater to over 7,000 emerging leaders. MPower

is a complete suite of on-line resources including courses, books, videos and guest

speaker sessions covering a broad range of topical areas.

of training were provided in 2011, with the average employee receiving 116 HOURS of training.

14.2NEARLY

MILLION HOURS


CAREER DEVELOPMENT

We provide individualized career-development tracks to empower our people to

reach their full potential—and enable the Company and our clients to gain the

benefits of enthusiastic, motivated, and highly-skilled employees. Employees are

encouraged to succeed in a variety of challenging roles over time. We build periodic

job rotation into our employment guidelines. Internal job-posting programs inform

associates as to opportunities available across the Company. Fast-track growth

opportunities are offered to high performers, and opportunities to shift tracks also

are encouraged to avoid an associate being pigeon-holed in one discipline.

In addition to providing opportunities for role and lateral career changes, we actively

create promotion and leadership opportunities. As an organization growing at an

accelerated rate compared with our competition, it becomes crucial to develop and

acquire leadership talent to manage our large and growing business. Last year,

one-third of our associates moved up the career chain to take on higher responsibilities.

PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT

All employees undergo regular performance assessments at least once a year.

These reviews are designed to assess their performance against goals and competencies,

which are documented in a goal-setting document and are based upon the associate’s

chosen career track. Our process is to provide associates with developmental feedback

both during and at the end of the year. Assessment includes a performance score

card for senior management employees. Virtually all of our employees are covered

under this performance management process. Performance is directly linked to all

forms of reward and recognition, both monetary and otherwise.


COMPENSATION AND BENEFITS

Cognizant offers an attractive employment package that includes a highly competitive

salary and benefits package tailored to each geography, as well as additional financial

incentives and performance rewards. We also reward personal achievement and

contribution, financially and through public recognition.

Benefit plans vary by geography, depending on local customs and regulations.

For example, benefit options for U.S. associates include medical and dental plans,

flexible health care and day-care spending accounts, a 401(k) plan, employee stock

purchase plan, life and disability insurance, a confidential employee assistance plan,

a wellness resource center, prepaid legal services, and discounts on merchandise

and services. We also have recognition programs that reward associates for activities

ranging from excellence in technology to significant contributions at the team, business

unit or organizational level. Our operations in other countries have compensation and

benefit programs that are at or above local statutory requirements and are specifically

designed to attract, retain and reward our employees.

EMPLOYEE SATISFACTION AND WORKING CONDITIONS

Cognizant strives to provide excellent working conditions for its associates across

the globe. As a knowledge-based company, the majority of our employees work in

very pleasant office environments. Many of our facilities have been built within the

last 10 years; three of our recently built facilities are LEED® (Leadership in Energy

and Environmental Design) certified. Additionally, we began pursuing OHSAS 18001

certification of our facilities in 2010 and have achieved certification of eight of our

largest facilities in India.

Accidents with injury cases India

Total number of injury cases 18

Total number of Lost Time cases 3

Total number of fatalities None

We provide individualized career-development tracks to empower our people to reach their full potential.


We have health and safety committees in all our large facilities that focus on areas

such as ergonomics, transportation and the cafeteria. The committees meet every

month to discuss opportunities for improvement and how to make changes to ensure

a healthier and safer workplace. Because we are a knowledge-based industry and do

not have a physical manufacturing process, injury rates in our business are extremely

low and generally fall into the category of repetitive strain from computer or keyboard

use and long sitting hours.

We track injuries in different systems in accordance with local requirements. We are

working to implement a global injury tracking system to enable global reporting of injuries

in the work place. In Continental Europe (CE), we are working to set up policies,

committees and a full injury tracking processes. We expect to have completed this by

year-end 2012 in the Netherlands, Switzerland, France, Germany and the Nordic countries.

We inform and educate our workforce on safety at the workplace and offer online

training on Occupational Health & Safety. We have a systematic risk assessment

system to identify occupational diseases and implement control measures to mitigate

these risks.

COLLECTIVE BARGAINING

In the IT industry in general, and across our company, collective bargaining is not

a common practice, with the exception of Belgium, Sweden, and France, where we

have collective agreements in place. We recognize the right of employees to freedom

of association, in line with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights issued by the

United Nations in 1948. As of December 31, 2011, 140 of our employees (0.1%) were

covered by Collective Bargaining Agreements.


HUMAN CAPITAL AWARDS

We are proud that Cognizant has won accolades in 2011 from external forums and

industry bodies as a good place to work, as well as for our training and career

development programs.

• Vault.com ranked Cognizant #6 among the 25 Best Places to Work in IT consulting

in October 2011, based on 16 quality of life indicators.

• Cognizant was named to the prestigious Training Top 125 rankings compiled by Training

magazine, the leading business publication for learning and development professionals.

• Our Career Compass program received the Gold Award for Integrated Talent

Management from the Brandon Hall Group, a leading research firm devoted to

organizational performance.

• In 2011, for the first time, Cognizant joined the Top 100 U.S. Employers list, an annual

ranking by HR Executive Magazine of the largest U.S.-based, non-government

employers based on total number of employees.

LOOKING FORWARD

A key objective is to expand our OHSAS certification program to more facilities in

different geographies. Steps that we intend to take in that regard include:

• We will move to a global injury tracking system to provide a global view of workplace

injuries, rather than the current practice of tracking injuries in different systems

per local requirements.

• We are working to set up policies, committees and full injury tracking processes

in all countries across Continental Europe (CE). We expect our main CE countries,

Netherlands, Switzerland, France, Germany and the Nordic countries, to have

completed this by year-end 2012.

In addition, we are working towards achieving the following objectives over the next

few years:

• Cognizant Europe will launch Women Empowered for Europe March 2012 —

a committee has been appointed to support the initiative and the program will start

with networking events.

• Establish a second employee resource group under our diversity initiative.

• Achieve Zero workplace accidents causing lost time.

• Reduce Ergonomic ailments to an absolute minimum (10% reduction year-on-year).

• Implement transportation automation ensuring better safety and security of associates.


GOVERNANCE AND ETHICSWe take our governance responsibilities very seriously at

Cognizant and have built a reputation as a highly ethical

company with strong governance policies and practices.

We consider ethical behavior the cornerstone of our long-term

business success. As our CEO emphasizes in our Core Values

and Standards of Business Conduct (Code), “Our winning

mentality isn’t just about doing great things. It’s about doing

great things the right way. That’s how we continue to build

trust with our customers and protect the valuable asset that

is Cognizant.”


(For our GRI Disclosures on our Society and Human Rights Management Approaches,

please refer to Appendix B.)

ETHICS TRAINING

All associates are required to complete annual ethics training and vice presidents and

above must certify their compliance with the Code’s provisions annually. Our employees

spent over 97,000 hours on ethics training in 2011, compared to 37,000 hours in

2010. The substantial increase in hours was due in part to tracking time spent taking

a second ethics course. However, the percentage of employees taking ethics training

dropped to 82% in 2011 from 91% in 2010. In 2012, we introduced an improved system

for tracking the amount of ethics training our employees received. Our formal

learning was supplemented in 2011 by education campaigns featuring games, quizzes

and prizes. Additionally, our Enterprise Risk Management group conducts annual

risk analysis surveys covering all business units and corporate functions to assess the

likelihood of various risks including corruption.

Our Code of Ethics can be found on our website at

http://www.cognizant.com/OurApproach/CodeofEthics.pdf

Ethical behavior is critical to building trust with our stakeholders and protecting the valuable asset that is Cognizant’s reputation.

WE LIVE BY A CODE OF ETHICS THAT REAFFIRMS OUR CORE VALUES

AND STANDARDS OF CONDUCT THAT IS DESIGNED TO:

• Communicate the basic principles of policies, business ethics and

legal requirements.

• Protect Cognizant’s reputation and ensure that all associates understand

the rules of the game.

• Assist in making decisions to make sure our business is conducted with

integrity and honesty as well as in accordance with legal requirements.

• Instill trust and confidence in the minds of our associates, customers,

shareholders, vendors and other stakeholders.

The Code contains our policies and procedures on a broad range of issues, including: the acceptable use of Cognizant and client assets; accuracy of books, records and public reports; honest and fair competition; compliance with laws, rules and regulations; confidential information and intellectual property protection; conflicts of interest; insider trading; political activities; respectful treatment of associates, customers and business partners; and responsible use of social networking. The Code also serves as an aid to associates and managers when making decisions. It contains industry-specific examples, frequently asked questions, key contacts and links to internal policies, among other things.


RIGOROUS CONTROLS

Like all U.S. publicly traded companies, Cognizant is subject to the Sarbanes-Oxley

Act of 2002, which covers financial disclosure and addresses controls over financial

reporting, audit committees, external auditors, codes of ethics, whistleblower protection

and attorney conduct. Since it went into effect, we have complied with all of

Sarbanes-Oxley’s provisions and have never reported a “material weakness” in controls

over financial reporting. Our compliance is tested independently by our external

auditors. Additionally, we have had no legal actions for anticompetitive behavior,

anti-trust, or monopoly practices. Nor have we had any significant claims against

us regarding the use of our products or services.

Our Board of Directors includes an independent, non-executive chairman and six

of our eight directors are “independent” under rules of The NASDAQ Stock Market,

where Cognizant is listed. One of the directors is a woman (non-executive). Directors

are required to complete an extensive annual survey to guard against conflicts of

interest that could interfere with the exercise of independent judgment. We also have

had great continuity with our Board, with four independent directors serving at least 10

years and the other two independents serving two years and four years, respectively.

Our Audit Committee, whose members are in regular communication with the chief

financial officer (CFO), controller, general counsel and heads of compliance and

internal audit, consists of four independent directors, one of whom serves as chairman

and who is an audit committee financial expert, having served as CFO at Paine

Webber and Pan American Airways. Our nominating and corporate governance

committee develops and recommends corporate governance policies and oversees

the evaluation of the board’s effectiveness.

Sustainability performance is also reviewed at the Board Level. Cognizant’s Vice

President of Sustainability leads a global committee that is responsible for developing

and driving implementation of the corporate responsibility and sustainability strategy

and targets guided by our global policy, described previously. Cognizant’s President

is responsible for reviewing the committee’s performance against this policy on an

annual basis and reporting the results of this review to our Board of Directors or a

Committee of the Board of Directors.

We have a whistleblower hotline, called the Compliance Helpline, which serves as a

vehicle for employees, clients, vendors and others to report concerns anonymously

about ethical behavior. Complaints are routed jointly to the compliance director and

general counsel with a detailed account of all reported incidents sent monthly to the

audit committee chairman and to executive management.


REGULATORY COMPLIANCE

Like many knowledge-driven, U.S.-based global companies, we depend on a global

workforce of talented professionals. Our partners and customers expect and deserve

nothing less than our full commitment to all applicable laws and regulations—on the

immigration front and in all other parts of our business. Our success depends on our

adherence to both the spirit and the letter of U.S. visa laws and indeed to laws of all

types in all the countries around the world in which we operate.

In 2011, in an effort to ensure that we continually operate with the highest ethical

standards, we voluntarily asked a highly-regarded international immigration law firm

to undertake a comprehensive audit of our entire immigration practice and compliance

with all relevant U.S. immigration laws. Their report, issued just a few months ago,

found that “Cognizant is in compliance with U.S. immigration laws, actively promotes

and requires full compliance with legal requirements, and supports an overall atmosphere

of compliance.” Like others in our industry, Cognizant is regularly subject to random

immigration audits by the Department of Homeland Security. These audits are

designed to verify the status and identity of foreign workers in the United States and

ensure compliance with appropriate H-1B visa laws and regulations. After hundreds of

such DHS audits, Cognizant maintains a nearly 100% compliance rate.

COMPLIANCE RESOURCES

Our dedicated compliance resources include our general counsel, compliance director

and chief security officer. They work to ensure that management and associates

comply with all internal policies and external laws and regulations. As for professional

guidance, we retain both outside legal counsel and independent accountants to

ensure that good governance practices and regulations are followed. We may consult

with these professionals regarding, among other things, board approval of acquisitions

and related-party transactions; complete and accurate disclosures in public filings such

as our annual report; and the performance of annual audits of our financial statements.

Our internal audit capabilities include audit teams in the United States, India and the

United Kingdom/Europe. They have direct access to the board’s audit committee and

their scope is set annually based upon risk assessments, e.g., finance, compliance and

security. The internal audit teams perform reviews of Sarbanes-Oxley section 404;

compliance with laws and regulations, such as immigration statutes; control reviews

at entities that are not covered by Sarbanes-Oxley; compliance with internal policies

that cover banking, travel and expenses; accounting processes; and payroll.

Cognizant has established a stringent policy covering insider trading and black-out

periods for stock transactions. This policy is designed to prevent the occurrence or

appearance of improper trading in our stock by associates and directors. It assures

shareholders, analysts and others that the market for our stock is a fair one and

not influenced improperly by those that may possess non-public information.

The black-out period that covers all associates extends from 15 days before each

quarter ends to the third business day after we release earnings.

Our partners and customers expect and deserve nothing less than our full commitment to all applicable laws and regulations.


ANNUAL ASSOCIATE SURVEY

We conduct an annual survey of associates to monitor employee satisfaction levels

and solicit feedback on leadership, management and other concerns, including on

ethics and business conduct. An outside party tabulates the survey results and they

are reviewed annually by management to determine if any actions need to be taken.

In addition, we offer exit interviews to all terminated associates and the results of

those interviews are communicated to the compliance director and the general counsel

if they contain allegations of fraud or unethical conduct.

SUPPLY CHAIN INTEGRITY

We strive to ensure that the vendors who participate in our supply chain employ the

highest ethical standards within their own business and we investigate and respond

to any allegation of bribery or corruption.

Cognizant introduced a Sustainable Procurement Policy in 2011 that includes a Supplier

Standards of Conduct, as well as a supplier survey based on the GRI G3.1 guidelines.

The Supplier Standards of Conduct includes (but is not limited to) such areas as

compliance with applicable laws, ethical competition, non-discrimination against

employees, prohibitions against child and forced labor, safe working conditions,

compliance with environmental laws, accuracy of financial records, and avoidance

of conflicts of interest. Cognizant encourages its suppliers to publicly disclose their

performance on environmental, social, and governance measures. We are also working

with our procurement team to embed corporate responsibility clauses into our

contracts. The supplier survey is an important mechanism to ensure these clauses

are followed.

Our Supplier Standards of Conduct can be found on our website at

http://www.cognizant.com/RecentHighlights/Supplier_Standards_Conduct.pdf

In 2011, we had two claims of corruption involving employees and vendors in our

supply chain. After conducting thorough investigations, we found fault in both cases

and both employees were terminated and we no longer do business with the vendors.

Additional remedies may be pursued to the extent allowable under local laws. As a

result of these issues, new controls were implemented for the creation of new vendors

in certain higher risk procurement areas.

Cognizant also recognizes the critical importance of fundamental human rights, such

as the prohibition of child labor and forced labor. Cognizant does not use child or

forced labor or bonded labor in any of our operations. As a technology services company,

such issues are not a significant risk factor in our business operations. In our daily

operations, we adhere to all International Labor Organization standards and are

studying our supply-chain policies and procedures to ensure that all our suppliers

conform to the same high standards as we do.

As for political activities, we encourage participation in the political process on an

individual basis and not on behalf of the Company. Regarding policy advocacy activities,

our associates are prohibited from lobbying the government or other policy-making

organizations on Cognizant’s behalf unless it is explicitly part of their job to do so.

Those engaged in policy advocacy on behalf of Cognizant comply with all applicable

laws, rules and regulations, and our Standards of Business Conduct.

We strive to ensure that the vendors who participate in our supply chain employ the highest ethical standards.


PUBLIC POLICY ADVOCACY

In terms of public policy, a wide range of policies are in place or are being considered

by governmental bodies in capitals from Washington to Brussels to Delhi that can and

do have a material impact on our business. We consider policy advocacy on issues of

importance to our business, customers, employees, shareholders and industry an

essential component of our strategic planning. We work to ensure that our public

policy positions complement or advance our global sustainability and citizenship objectives.

Fundamentally, Cognizant’s public policy objectives are focused on issues that we

consider essential to advancing innovation, competitiveness, job creation, economic

growth and sustainable standards of living. Our policy agenda is centered on workforce

development, education, tax, market access, and information privacy and security.

Workforce Development. Cognizant’s success depends significantly on recruiting,

hiring and retaining highly skilled professionals. Cognizant and its customers face

near and long-term skills gaps in developed countries, which necessitate workforce

development and migration policies to gain access to the skilled talent Cognizant

needs to compete and innovate.

Education. Building on our Public Outreach, Cognizant participates in broad-based

industry associations and coalitions to support policy initiatives geared to increase

curriculum quality and student participation in the science, technology, engineering,

and math disciplines.

Tax. Tax laws have a substantial impact on capital investment and economic development.

We advocate for tax policies that facilitate innovation, improve competitiveness, and

fuel investment and job creation.

Market Access. Trade agreements that reduce barriers and improve access to

new markets are vital for improved commerce and collaboration for Cognizant, our

partners and our customers. We advocate for bilateral, regional and worldwide trade

agreements that facilitate trade in services, enable temporary migration of skilled

professionals, increase protections on intellectual property, and allow for greater

regulatory transparency.

Information Privacy/Security. Today’s technology infrastructure facilitates global

commerce and communication, drives the creation of new consumer products and

services, and provides a foundation for governments to better serve its citizens.

To protect this infrastructure, which is mostly owned and managed by the private

sector, governments work with private entities to protect their citizens from cyber

attacks and data breaches. We support policies that improve cyber-security through

effective information management and technological innovation.


Industry Bodies. We have memberships in following industry associations and

national/international advocacy organizations:

U.S.-based organizations

• US India Business Council (our CEO is part of the Leadership Council)

• US Chamber of Commerce

• Business Roundtable

• Information Technology Industry Council

• European-American Business Council

• TechAmerica

India-based organizations

• NASSCOM (our Group Chief Executive—Technology and Operations chairs the

Quality Forum)

• American Chamber of Commerce, India (our Senior Vice President—Marketing serves

as the Chairman of the Chennai Chapter and is on the national Executive Board)

• Confederation of Indian Industry (our Group Chief Executive—Technology and

Operations serves on the Board of the Southern Regional Council, and our Director

of sustainability serves in the Regional Corporate Sustainability Initiative Forum)

European-based organizations

• Intellect

• American Chamber of Commerce/European Union

• Swiss-American Chamber of Commerce

LOOKING FORWARD

In 2012, our Goals are to:

• Achieve 90% compliance rate on mandatory ethics training.

• Include our new Supplier Standards of Conduct in new vendor contracts.

• Initiate our new Supply Chain Survey with at least 50 of our top vendors and

obtain a response rate of 80% or better.


APPENDICES


APPENDIX A: ABOUT THIS REPORT

Since Cognizant was founded in 1994, we have been engaging with multiple stakeholders to address key areas of our business that will impact our long-term growth and success. The stakeholder groups with which we have engaged since that time include customers, shareholders, employees, governments, NGOs and suppliers. Should a new stakeholder group wish to engage with us, our management team assesses the impact the stakeholder group has on our long-term success, the degree to which their priorities intersect with ours, our ability to productively engage with them, and the legitimacy of the stakeholder group in the context of other stakeholders.

CustomersWhile all stakeholder groups are important to Cognizant, we see our customers as the stakeholder group having the greatest impact on our long-term success. We have a customer-focused business model, as described in the section “Commitment to Customers”, in which our client partners and account managers are typically embedded at the customer location and constantly monitor customer satisfaction and areas for improvement. Many customers also have regular interaction with our top management through structured account reviews every quarter. We also invite our key customers to an annual customer community meeting where we share ideas and industry best practices, and solicit feedback how we can best meet their needs. We conduct an annual independently-administered customer satisfaction survey to formally assess how well we are meeting their needs. Finally, we participate in regular customer-initiated surveys and reviews of our performance across multiple dimensions of sustainability. Often, in these reviews, our customers will ask to see our public disclosures on sustainability, and in response, we provide a copy of this report. Of primary interest to our customers is our ability to solve their business and technology problems, scale our business to meet their future needs, and maintain competitive pricing. Additionally, they expect us to operate in a highly ethical manner, minimize our impact on the environment, and uphold the highest standards for labor practices and human rights. Our customers also expect us to ensure our suppliers conform to similarly high standards, and as a result of engagement on this topic we have invested in improving our supplier sustainability processes and reporting.

ShareholdersAs a publicly-traded company, our shareholders are our owners and therefore constitute another extremely important stakeholder group. We formally engage with our shareholders every year in our annual shareholder meeting. We also brief shareholders through public conference calls every quarter on our performance and business outlook. Meetings with substantial shareholders are held regularly to explain our performance and plans and to solicit feedback. Our investors are primarily concerned about revenue growth, profit margins, business risks, and our overall reputation. These issues are primarily addressed through our financial reporting and disclosures. The section of this report on Governance and Ethics is also written with the interests of our shareholders in mind.

EmployeesAs a people-based business, our employees are the key to our success. We have frequent and deep opportunities to engage with them, both formally and informally. Many of these mechanisms are described in the section “Responsibility at Work”. Our open and transparent management culture encourages instant and spontaneous feedback on issues that are material to employees by way of blog posts and comments, e-mails, participative committee meetings, and town hall meetings. We also conduct an annual formal independently-administered employee satisfaction survey, using the survey results to create action plans to address any issues identified. Our employees are primarily interested in their professional development and advancement, compensation and benefits, and working conditions. They wish to work for a responsible and ethical company that provides opportunities to give back to the communities in which they live and work. We are extremely proud of way our employees serve not only our clients, but also our communities. One of the goals of this report is to highlight and recognize the great work our employees do on programs such as Outreach and Go Green.

GovernmentsGovernment stakeholders are primarily interested in our compliance with laws and regulations and our ability to provide economic benefit through employment, wages paid to their constituents, and taxes paid to the government. They are also interested in the size and nature of investments we make in local communities, in areas such as education. For example, our U.S. STEM Education program, Making the Future, was developed in part due to our desire to address an important issue to the U.S. Government: the pipeline of U.S. STEM workers. We work directly and through industry associations to engage with the governments at national and local levels on a very frequent, regular basis. We engage in public policy discussions as described in our section on Governance and Ethics. Government agencies regularly inspect/audit our operations and we also regularly report on our financial, environmental and labor compliance.

NGOsWe engage with NGOs to work on issues of mutual interest facing the community, such as access to primary education, STEM education and primary health care access. We work with global NGOs such as the Carbon Disclosure Project and the Global Reporting Initiative that are shaping the emerging issues of sustainability and the triple bottom line. We work with education-oriented NGOs such as Change the Equation and Citizen Schools on U.S. education issues; our Making the Future program, discussed in this report, was developed around our engagement with these two NGOs. The frequency of these engagements varies with each NGO and issue; with some NGOs we engage weekly, whereas with others it may be on an ad hoc or annual basis.

STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT

This is our second annual Sustainability Report and documents the year ended December 31, 2011, a period in which Cognizant’s revenue increased 33%. The report covers a global scope, which includes all countries and operating units of the Company, leased and owned facilities, and all functions and business units under opera-tional control. There were no limitations on the boundary of the report.


SuppliersSuppliers are another important stakeholder group. Our suppliers are primarily interested in long-term beneficial relationships with Cognizant. We engage with them through regular business meetings and formal requests for proposal. In 2011, we began surveying our suppliers to understand their perception of our relationship, and also introduced a new Sustainable Procurement Policy that includes Supplier Standards of Conduct and a supplier sustainability survey, as described in the “Supply Chain Integrity” section. Our goal is to engage deeply with our top 50 suppliers.

This report was developed specifically with these stakeholder groups in mind. However, we did not specifically involve any groups in the report development process, other than a team of about 20 employees who were directly involved in providing or developing report content.

In determining what to report, we formed a Sustainability Reporting Committee led by our VP of Sustainability, which included executives from the areas which regularly interact with our stakeholders: Investor Relations, Public Policy, Compliance, Finance, Human Resources, Environment, Facilities & Procurement, Marketing, and Social Programs. This committee reviewed all GRI indicators to determine which were most material, based on their interactions with constituent stakeholder groups. This resulted in tagging each indicator as “High,” “Medium,” “Low,” or “No” materiality. As we are a knowledge-based company that provides services rather than products, our greatest assets are our employees and the trust of our clients. Given this nature, we deemed the following areas as highly important to our stakeholders:

• Governance, ethics, and protection of customer privacy and data.

• Overall quality of service delivery and mechanisms for gathering customer feedback

• Labor practices, including investing in employees through training, measuring employee satisfaction and ensuring a safe and rewarding workplace.

• Our commitment to communities, particularly global efforts to improve education.

• Our environmental performance, especially initiatives to track and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

These stakeholder issues, and the ways in which Cognizant has responded to them, have been addressed throughout this report.

Subsequently we examined each indicator that was deemed to have high or medium stakeholder materiality to determine if we had the necessary data to report. This resulted in the final set of indicators we chose to disclose. For the high materiality indicators where we did not have the necessary data, we determined what processes would need to be implemented in order to gather and report on the information in future years.

In terms of data measurement techniques, in all cases and to the best of our knowledge, we have followed the GRI Indicator Protocols for data measurement. Additionally, we have used published standards for data measurement such as The Greenhouse Gas Protocol: A Corporate Accounting and Reporting Standard (Revised Edition) for carbon emission calculations and the World Resources Institute’s toolkit for calculating air travel emissions. In all cases, we are reporting actual data and not estimates. At this point in time, we have not chosen to pursue third party assurance of our sustainability report. Our last sustainability report was for the year 2010. We have not had any significant changes from previous reporting period in the scope, boundary, or measurement methods applied in the report, other than the change in emissions factors noted on page 39.

If you have any questions or comments please write to Mark Greenlaw—Vice President, Sustainability & Educational Affairs or send an email to [email protected]


APPENDIX B: DISCLOSURES ON MANAGEMENT APPROACH

Goals and PerformanceAs a U.S. publicly traded company, Cognizant is committed to providing maximum long-term returns to its shareholders. Cognizant’s economic goals and financial performance are extensively documented in our annual report and other regulatory filings which can be found on our investor relations website at www.investors.cognizant.com. This section will discuss our management approach with respect to Economic Performance, Market Presence, and Indirect Economic aspects of sustainable development.

We believe we provide substantial economic value to society. We work with our clients to optimize their business performance and use of technology, and in turn help them achieve economic, social, and environmental objectives. Our industry leading performance provides substantial financial reward to our investors. Our more than 137,000 employees benefit by having high-paying knowledge-worker jobs, with excellent working conditions, interesting and rewarding work, and ample career growth.

We seek to build a strong and positive market presence in the communities in which we work. We hire a vast majority of our employees in the local geography and provide highly

competitive compensation. We work to use suppliers based in the local community to the extent possible.

We seek to provide strong indirect economic benefits by building local infrastructure that will benefit the communities in which we operate. Our primary area of investment is in the education of children in our communities. These programs are extensively described in the section of the report “Educating for the Future”.

PolicyWe have numerous internal policies and practices that drive us to achieving strong financial and economic performance. We do not have specific policies around the local hiring or use of local hires. Our Sustainability Policy (found at http://www.cognizant.com/OurApproach/Sustainability%20Policy.pdf) describes our commitment to “Enhancing the communities in which we live and work through outreach programs to improve the quality and accessibility of education for children across the globe.”

Goals and PerformanceCognizant is committed to leading our industry in energy conservation, waste reduction, and recycling. Taking a responsible stance with respect to the environment is a business imperative, and not merely a reaction to compliance requirements or current popular interests.

We have set organization-wide goals in around energy and carbon emissions. Our goal is to reduce energy consumption and emissions by 40% per capita by 2015 versus our 2008 baseline. We have made excellent progress against these goals, as outlined in this report. Because we do not have a physical supply chain, we are not a heavy consumer of natural resources. We do use paper in our operations, so have also set goals around paper use.

We operate within office buildings and the issue of biodiversity is generally addressed by the landlords who own our facilities. In cases where Cognizant is engaged in constructing new facilities, we conduct environmental impact assessments and follow all local laws and regulation in terms of protecting natural habitats.

We strive to reduce our emissions from transport of our employees, both when traveling on business or for local commuting. We have implemented a global Telepresence platform to reduce the need for employee business travel. We work with our transportation providers to reduce their energy consumption.

Additional environmental goals can be found in the section “Stewardship of the Environment” within this report.

PolicyWe have a series of policies that govern our environmental impact. Our Sustainability Policy (found online at http://www.cognizant.com/OurApproach/Sustainability%20Policy.pdf) outlines our overall commitment to “Complying with all applicable environmental laws, regulations and standards, and tracking and reducing negative environmental impact”. Additionally, we have an Environmental Policy which further guides our actions in this area.

Organizational ResponsibilityWe have a VP of Sustainability, reporting to our President, who oversees performance across all aspects of sustainability. Reporting to our VP Sustainability is our Director of Sustainability who oversees our “Go Green” team which focuses specifically on our environment, health, and safety performance. This team manages our annual Carbon Disclosure Project data gathering and reporting, our ISO14001 and OHSAS 18001 certification processes, works with facilities management on energy efficiency and water conservation programs, and also organizes our “Green Brigades” across the globe, which are grass-roots groups of employees who wish to become involved in projects to benefit the environment in the communities in which they live and work.

Training and AwarenessThe Go Green team provides frequent company-wide communications on topics ranging from energy and resource conservation to personal conservation. We engage our associates to participate in events such as “Earth Hour”, World Water Day, and local events and competitions that educate our associates and raise awareness (See “Grass-roots Green” section earlier in this report). We provide environmental training via e-learning and specific training with resources, such as our Energy Handbook, to our facilities management teams to ensure they are trained in best practices around energy management and conservation. As part of our ISO14001 certification process, we provide facility management teams with information about hazardous materials and proper disposal procedures.

Monitoring and Follow-UpThe Go Green team gathers data on both a monthly and annual basis. We follow industry standard protocols to gather and report environmental performance information, such as the Greenhouse Gas Protocol. In key areas such as energy use, we produce a monthly dashboard on energy consumption, and use six sigma and lean technique to work with managers at under-performing facilities to learn from the best practices employed by the top-performing facilities. Other areas are monitored on a quarterly or annual basis. As outlined in our Sustainability Policy, we conduct annual sustainability reviews with our President, who then reports the results to our Board of Directors or a Committee of the Board.

DISCLOSURE ON

MANAGEMENT APPROACH:

ECONOMIC ASPECT

DISCLOSURE ON


ENVIRONMENTAL ASPECT

This section provides detailed information regarding our management approach as required by the GRI G3.1 guidelines. Disclosures are provided for the Economic, Environmental, and Social categories. The Social category is further broken down into Labor, Human Rights, Society, and Product Responsibility categories.


Goals and PerformanceMeeting the needs of a growing customer base and helping clients adapt to a rapidly changing technological and competitive landscape requires ever greater numbers of talented and highly motivated people. Therefore, our Labor practices are an integral part of Cognizant’s sustainability efforts. We focus on attracting and retaining the best talent; building an increasingly diverse workforce; enhancing the skills and career potential of our associates; and providing attractive compensation, benefits and working conditions. In addition, we aim to foster a culture of service, characterized by a passionate commitment to partnering with clients and achieving exceptional results.

The effectiveness of our efforts to make Cognizant a great place to work and build a career can be measured in several ways—including our ongoing ability to attract qualified people, our low and declining attrition rate, and high employee satisfaction scores. We believe our attrition rate stands among the lowest in our industry: attrition for 2011 as a whole was 13%, at least 5% points lower than for the corresponding period in 2010, and attrition reached a low of 10% in the 2011 fourth quarter.

PolicySince we are a people-driven company, we have numerous internal policies which guide labor practices such as hiring, performance management, compensation, training, and development. Many of these processes our outlined in the Responsibility at Work section of this report. Additionally, our Sustainability Policy (found online at http://www.cognizant.com/OurApproach/Sustainability%20Policy.pdf) outlines the fact that our internal policies are based on internationally recognized standards and frameworks such as the United Nations Global Compact, International Labour Organization (ILO) and the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI). Specifically, in the area of labor practice, we are committed to:


• Providing safe working conditions for all employees, and complying with all local laws with respect to wages, hours and benefits.

Additionally, our Code of Conduct (found at http://www.cog-nizant.com/OurApproach/CodeofEthics.pdf) outlines many additional policies regarding our commitment to being an equal opportunity employer and providing a workplace free of discrimination and harassment. As part of our efforts to certify our facilities using OHSAS 18001, we also have a formal policy on Occupational Health and Safety and strive to provide a healthy and safe work place.

Organizational responsibilityOur Chief People Officer (CPO), reporting to our President, has global responsibility for all labor practices at Cognizant. Reporting to the CPO are country-specific HR leaders who apply the goals and targets set by our CPO within the context of each of the countries in which we operate. Additionally, groups exist to focus on specific human resources areas, such as training (Cognizant Academy), career development and performance management, compensation, benefits, and compliance. Also, our Director of Sustainability supports the CPO in pursuing OHSAS 18001 certifications for Occupational Health and Safety. We also have a designated leader of our Women Empowered and diversity initiatives.

Training and AwarenessOur global Talent Management teams provide extensive training and awareness across all aspects of our business, including topics such basic human resource management, conducting effective performance appraisals, managing career development, and opportunities for training. Our Touchstone team provides regular educational communications on various topics related to occupational health and safety, healthy living, and work-life balance. Additionally, our mandatory ethics training covers topic such as ensuring our workplace is free of discrimination and harassment. Our Women’s Initiative is also raising awareness on gender issues.

Monitoring and Follow-UpOur global Talent Management team gathers information and monitors our internal performance at various intervals throughout the year. One essential input is feedback from our annual employee satisfaction survey, described in more detail in the Responsibility at Work section of this report. Extensive analysis is done on the results of this survey and plans are put in place each year to address any areas for improvement. We gather data using exit interviews and surveys from employee leaving the company. Additionally, as part of our compliance process we run a “whistle-blower” hotline to enable employees, vendors, and other stakeholder to anonymously report any violations of fair labor practices. We comply with all local laws and regulations regarding labor practices and in many countries are required to report information to government organizations, such as the U.S. Department of Labor.

DISCLOSURE ON


LABOR ASPECT


Goals and PerformanceCognizant is deeply committed to ensuring the basic human rights of all people. Cognizant has extensive policies in place to prevent against discrimination, and Cognizant employs no child or forced labor within its operations. Newly implemented procedures are also in affect to ensure that human rights violations are not occurring in our supply chain.

PolicyOur Sustainability Policy, Core Values and Standards of Business Conduct, and Supplier Code of Conduct guide Cognizant’s actions in the area of Human Rights. These policies are based on internationally recognized standards and frameworks such as the United Nations Global Compact and International Labour Organization (ILO). Our Sustainability Policy (found online at http://www.cognizant.com/OurApproach/Sustainability%20Policy.pdf) outlines Cognizant’s commitment to:

• Maintaining high standards of honest, ethical and legal business behaviors at all times and complying with all applicable laws and regulations of the countries and locales in which we operate.


• Ensuring that child labor is not used in any operations.• Ensuring that all forms of forced or compulsory labor are

forbidden in any operations.• Engaging with our suppliers to ensure they follow our

supplier code of conduct and are striving to improve the sustainability of their businesses.

We recognize the right of employees around freedom of association, in line with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights issued by the United Nations in 1948.

Our Supplier Code of Conduct (found at http://www.cogni-zant.com/RecentHighlights/Supplier_Standards_Conduct.pdf) was implemented in 2011 to ensure human rights violations are not occurring within our supply chain.

Our Standards of Business Conduct (found at http://www.cognizant.com/OurApproach/CodeofEthics.pdf) provides guidance to all employees on holding ourselves to the highest ethical standards and complying with all laws in the countries in which we operate.

Organizational Risk AssessmentWe have a cross-functional risk assessment process that includes members of our risk management, compliance, legal, human resources, finance, procurement, and sustainability functions. We attend industry conferences and stay abreast of current trends on all types of sustainable development issues including human rights, ethics, and sustainable supply chain. We raise and track risks at the company level, and we analyze our business for risk across both geographical and topical dimensions.

Impact AssessmentDue to the nature of our business, we have very minimal risk of human rights violations. While the risk is low, our analysis has identified our supply chain as the highest risk area, particularly within our labor subcontractor vendor base (such as our facilities maintenance vendors, food service vendors, transportation vendors, security providers, and other similar service vendors). We have identified that vendors providing services in some countries have higher risks than others, and prioritize our monitoring activities accordingly. We work closely with these vendors to communicate our policies around ethical behavior and human rights, require them to accept our Supplier Code of Conduct, and monitor them for adherence to the code.

Organizational ResponsibilityResponsibility for the Human Rights aspect is shared across our Chief People Officer, General Counsel, Director of Risk Management, Director of Compliance, Director of Procurement, and VP of Sustainability. Our performance on Human Rights is reviewed annual by our President pursuant to our Sustainability Policy, who then reports into our Board of Directors or Committee of the Board.

Training and AwarenessBasic Human Rights training and awareness for all employees is accomplished through our mandatory training on our code of ethics. Leaders of areas such as Procurement and Sustainability attend industry conferences and stay abreast of current literature on human rights issues.

Monitoring, Follow-Up and RemediationWith the support of the executives identified above under the Organizational Responsibility section, our Director of Compliance monitors ongoing performance against aspects relating to Human Rights and works with business unit and functional heads to address any weaknesses or performance deficiencies. Any material issues are then reported to the Board Audit Committee.

DISCLOSURE ON


HUMAN RIGHTS ASPECT


Goals and PerformanceWe take our governance responsibilities very seriously at Cognizant and have gained a reputation as an ethical company with strong governance policies and practices. We consider ethical behavior the cornerstone of our long-term business success. An indication of this commitment is that since our inception in 1994, Cognizant has never experienced a material weakness in this aspect.

PolicyOur Sustainability Policy, Core Values and Standards of Business Conduct, and Supplier Code of Conduct guide Cognizant’s actions in the aspects that relate to Society. These policies are based on internationally recognized standards and frameworks such as the United Nations Global Compact and International Labour Organization (ILO).

Our Sustainability Policy (found online at http://www.cognizant.com/OurApproach/Sustainability%20Policy.pdf) outlines Cognizant’s commitment to:

• Maintaining high standards of honest, ethical and legal business behaviors at all times and complying with all applicable laws and regulations of the countries and locales in which we operate.

• Competing ethically for our business without paying bribes, kickbacks or giving anything of material value to secure an advantage.

• Engaging with our suppliers to ensure they follow our supplier code of conduct and are striving to improve the sustainability of their businesses.

More detailed guidance on ethical behavior is outlined in our Core Values and Standards of Business Conduct (found at http://www.cognizant.com/OurApproach/CodeofEthics.pdf), which is designed to: • Communicate the basic principles of policies, business

ethics and legal requirements.• Protect Cognizant’s reputation and ensure that all associates

understand the rules of the game. • Assist in making decisions to make sure our business is

conducted with integrity and honesty as well as in accordance with legal requirements.

• Instill trust and confidence in the minds of our associates, customers, shareholders, vendors and other stakeholders.

The Code contains our policies and procedures on a broad range of issues, including: the acceptable use of Cognizant and client assets; accuracy of books, records and public reports; honest and fair competition; compliance with laws, rules and regulations; confidential information and intellectual property protection; conflicts of interest; insider trading; political activities; respectful treatment of associates, customers and business partners; and responsible use of social networking.

Organizational ResponsibilityResponsibility for aspects relating to Society is shared across our General Counsel, Director of Compliance and Chief Security Officer. They ensure that management and associates comply with all internal policies and external laws and regulations. As for professional guidance, we retain both outside legal counsel and independent accountants to ensure that good governance practices and regulations are followed. Additionally, our head of Procurement is responsible for monitoring the performance of suppliers with respect to both Human Rights and Society aspects.

Training and AwarenessAll associates are required to complete annual ethics training and vice presidents and above must certify their compliance with the Code’s provisions annually. Monthly reports are provided to managers to identify those employees who have not completed the mandatory training.

Monitoring and Follow-UpOur Director of Compliance monitors ongoing performance against aspects relating to Society and works with business unit and functional heads to address any weaknesses or performance deficiencies. Any material issues are then reported to the Board Audit Committee. We also have an independent internal audit capability that includes audit teams in the United States, India and the United Kingdom/Europe. They have direct access to the board’s audit committee and their scope is set annually based upon risk assessments, e.g., finance, compliance and security.

Goals and PerformanceCognizant is a service-based business and provides IT services to leading companies across the globe. Because we may be working with sensitive and private client information, Cognizant has extensive processes to ensure customer privacy, as described earlier in this report. Our goal is to have no material breaches of customer privacy.

With respect to advertising and marketing communications, we strive to employ the highest standards in all advertising and marketing communications. Marketing is not targeted to individual consumers, but rather to business executives in the target industries we serve.

We conduct an annual customer satisfaction survey to get feedback from our customers on the quality of our services and the way in which we conduct business. The customer satisfaction survey is described in more detailed in the section “Commitment to Customers”.

Given the nature of our service, the GRI Aspects of Customer Health and Safety, and Product and Service Labeling as-pects are not material in our business.

PolicyOur Core Values and Standards of Business Conduct and Acceptable Use Policies (found at http://www.cognizant.com/OurApproach/CodeofEthics.pdf ) cover aspects relating to Customer Privacy. We have no written policies in place regarding Marketing Communications but strive to adhere to industry standard practices.

Organizational ResponsibilityOur Chief Security Officer and Global Information Security team track and report on security measures with respect to customer privacy. Our VP of Marketing ensures the integrity of all advertising and marketing communications.

Training and AwarenessWe do extensive organization-wide training on customer privacy. This training is part of our mandatory training on our Standards of Business Conduct. There is no specific training relating to Marketing Communications.

Monitoring and Follow-Up

Our Global Information Security Team monitors all potential breaches to customer privacy and reports them to our Chief Security Officer (CSO). Our CSO will then engage our business unit heads, General Counsel, Compliance Director, and Hu-man Resources teams to take corrective action.

DISCLOSURE ON


SOCIETY ASPECT

DISCLOSURE ON


PRODUCT RESPONSIBILITY

ASPECT


APPENDIX C: GRI INDICATORS STANDARD DISCLOSURES PART I: Profile Disclosures

Profile Disclosures Description Reported Page

1.1 Statement from the most senior decision-maker of the organization. Fully 2

1.2 Description of key impacts, risks, and opportunities. Fully 13, 14

1. STRATEGY AND ANALYSIS


2.1 Name of the organization. Fully 6

2.2 Primary brands, products, and/or services. Fully 6

2.3 Operational structure of the organization, including main divisions, operating companies, subsidiaries, and joint ventures.

Fully 7

2.4 Location of organization’s headquarters. Fully 6

2.5Number of countries where the organization operates, and names of countries with either major operations or that are specifically relevant to the sustainability issues covered in the report.

Fully 7

2.6 Nature of ownership and legal form. Fully 6

2.7 Markets served (including geographic breakdown, sectors served, and types of customers/beneficiaries).

Fully 7

2.8 Scale of the reporting organization. Fully 14

2.9 Significant changes during the reporting period regarding size, structure, or ownership.

Fully 14

2.10 Awards received in the reporting period. Fully 9

2. ORGANIZATIONAL PROFILE



3.1 Reporting period Fully 58

3.2 Date of most recent previous report (if any). Fully 59

3.3 Reporting cycle Fully 58

3.4 Contact point for questions regarding the report or its contents.

Fully 59

3.5 Process for defining report content. Fully 58, 59

3.6 Boundary of the report Fully 58

3.7 State any specific limitations on the scope or boundary of the report Fully 58

3.8Basis for reporting on joint ventures, subsidiaries, leased facilities, outsourced operations, and other entities that can significantly affect comparability from period to period and/or between organizations.

Fully 58

3.9Data measurement techniques and the bases of calculations, including assumptions and techniques underlying estimations applied to the compilation of the Indicators and other information in the report.

Fully 59

3.10Explanation of the effect of any re-statements of information provided in earlier reports, and the reasons for such re-statement (e.g., mergers/ acquisitions, change of base years/periods, nature of business, measurement methods).

Fully 59

3.11 Significant changes from previous reporting periods in the scope, boundary, or measurement methods applied in the report.

Fully 59

3.12 Table identifying the location of the Standard Disclosures in the report. Fully 64-71

3.13

Policy and current practice with regard to seeking external assurance for the report. If not included in the assurance report accompanying the sustainability report, explain the scope and basis of any external assurance provided. Also explain the relationship between the reporting organization and the assurance provider(s).

Fully 59

3. REPORT PARAMETERS



4.1Governance structure of the organization, including committees under the highest governance body responsible for specific tasks, such as setting strat-egy or organizational oversight.

Fully 52

4.2 Indicate whether the Chair of the highest governance body is also an executive officer.

Fully 52

4.3For organizations that have a unitary board structure, state the number and gender of members of the highest governance body that are independent and/or non-executive members.

Fully 52

4.4 Mechanisms for shareholders and employees to provide recommendations or direction to the highest governance body.

Fully 52, 54

4.5

Linkage between compensation for members of the highest governance body, senior managers, and executives (including departure arrangements), and the organization’s performance (including social and environmental performance).

Fully

2012 Proxy State-ment Pages 40–50 and Compensation Committee Charter

4.6 Processes in place for the highest governance body to ensure conflicts of interest are avoided.

Fully 52

4.7Process for determining the composition, qualifications, and expertise of the members of the highest governance body and its committees, including any consideration of gender and other indicators of diversity.

Fully52Annual Report: Page 17

4.8Internally developed statements of mission or values, codes of conduct, and principles relevant to economic, environmental, and social performance and the status of their implementation.

Fully 50, 51

4.9

Procedures of the highest governance body for overseeing the organization’s identification and management of economic, environmental, and social performance, including relevant risks and opportunities, and adherence or compliance with internationally agreed standards, codes of conduct, and principles.

Fully 51

4.10 Processes for evaluating the highest governance body’s own performance, particularly with respect to economic, environmental, and social performance.

FullyAnnual Report: Page 46

4.11 Explanation of whether and how the precautionary approach or principle is addressed by the organization.

Fully 33

4.12 Externally developed economic, environmental, and social charters, principles, or other initiatives to which the organization subscribes or endorses.

Fully 37, 47, 60, 61, 62

4.13

Memberships in associations (such as industry associations) and/or national/international advocacy organizations in which the organization:• Has positions in governance bodies;• Participates in projects or committees;• Provides substantive funding beyond routine membership dues; or• Views membership as strategic. This refers primarily to memberships maintained at the organizational level.

Fully 56

4.14 List of stakeholder groups engaged by the organization. Fully 58

4.15 Basis for identification and selection of stakeholders with whom to engage. Fully 58

4.16 Mechanisms for shareholders and employees to provide recommendations or direction to the highest governance body.

Fully 58

4.17Key topics and concerns that have been raised through stakeholder engagement, and how the organization has responded to those key topics and concerns, including through its reporting.

Fully 59

4. GOVERNANCE, COMMITMENTS, AND ENGAGEMENT


STANDARD DISCLOSURES PART II: Performance Indicators

Profile Disclosure Description Reported Page

DMA Disclosure on Management Approach Fully 60

ECONOMIC PERFORMANCE

EC1Direct economic value generated and distributed, including revenues, operating costs, employee compensation, donations and other community investments, retained earnings, and payments to capital providers and governments.

Fully

8Annual Report: Page 45

EC2 Financial implications and other risks and opportunities for the organization's activities due to climate change.

Fully 33

EC3 Coverage of the organization’s defined benefit plan obligations. FullyAnnual Report: Page F-18

EC4 Significant financial assistance received from government. Fully

Annual Report: Pages F-18 & F-19

MARKET PRESENCE

EC7 Procedures for local hiring and proportion of senior management hired from the local community at locations of significant operation.

Fully 8, 9

INDIRECT ECONOMIC IMPACTS

EC8 Development and impact of infrastructure investments and services provided pri-marily for public benefit through commercial, in kind, or pro bono engagement.

Fully 8, 20-30

EC9 Understanding and describing significant indirect economic impacts, including the extent of impacts.

Fully 7, 8

ECONOMIC




ENERGY

EN3 Direct energy consumption by primary energy source. Fully 38

EN4 Indirect energy consumption by primary source. Fully 38

EN5 Energy saved due to conservation and efficiency improvements.

Fully 38

EN7 Initiatives to reduce indirect energy consumption and reductions achieved.

Fully 34

WATER

EN8 Total water withdrawal by source. Fully 37

EN9 Water sources significantly affected by withdrawal of water. Fully 37

EN10 Percentage and total volume of water recycled and reused. Fully 37

EMISSIONS, EFFLUENTS AND WASTE

EN16 Total direct and indirect greenhouse gas emissions by weight. Fully 39

EN17 Other relevant indirect greenhouse gas emissions by weight. Fully 39

EN18 Initiatives to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and reductions achieved. Fully 33

EN19 Emissions of ozone-depleting substances by weight. Fully 39

EN20 NO, SO, and other significant air emissions by type and weight. Fully 39

EN22 Total weight of waste by type and disposal method. Partially 39

EN24Weight of transported, imported, exported, or treated waste deemed hazardous under the terms of the Basel Convention Annex I, II, III, and VIII, and percentage of transported waste shipped internationally.

Partially 39

Transport

EN29Significant environmental impacts of transporting products and other goods and materials used for the organization’s operations, and transporting members of the workforce.

Fully 37

ENVIRONMENTAL




Employment

LA1 Total workforce by employment type, employment contract, and region. Partially 8

LA2 Total number and rate of employee turnover by age group, gender, and region. Partially 41

LA3 Benefits provided to full-time employees that are not provided to temporary or part-time employees, by major operations.

Fully 47

LA15 Return to work and retention rates after parental leave, by gender. Fully 42

LABOR/MANAGEMENT RELATIONS

LA4 Percentage of employees covered by collective bargaining agreements. Fully 48

LA5 Minimum notice period(s) regarding significant operational changes, including whether it is specified in collective agreements.

Fully 41

OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH AND SAFETY

LA6 Percentage of total workforce represented in formal joint management–worker health and safety committees that help monitor and advise on occupational health and safety programs.

Fully 47, 48

LA7 Rates of injury, occupational diseases, lost days, and absenteeism, and number of work related fatalities by region.

Fully 48

LA8Education, training, counseling, prevention, and risk-control programs in place to assist workforce members, their families, or community members regarding serious diseases.

Fully 48

TRAINING AND EDUCATION

LA10 Average hours of training per year per employee by employee category. Fully 45

LA11 Programs for skills management and lifelong learning that support the continued employability of employees and assist them in managing career endings.

Fully 45

LA12 Percentage of employees receiving regular performance and career development reviews.

Fully 46

DIVERSITY AND EQUAL OPPORTUNITY

LA13Composition of governance bodies and breakdown of employees per category according to gender, age group, minority group membership, and other indicators of diversity.

Partially 42

EQUAL REMUNERATION FOR WOMEN & MEN

LA14 Ratio of basic salary and remuneration of women to men by employee category, by significant locations of operation.

Fully 42

LABOR




INVESTMENT AND PROCUREMENT PRACTICES

HR3Total hours of employee training on policies and procedures concerning aspects of human rights that are relevant to operations, including the percentage of employees trained.

Fully 51

FREEDOM OF ASSOCIATION AND COLLECTIVE BARGAINING

HR5Operations identified in which the right to exercise freedom of association and collective bargaining may be at significant risk, and actions taken to support these rights.

Fully 54

CHILD LABOR

HR6 Operations identified as having significant risk for incidents of child labor, and measures taken to contribute to the elimination of child labor.

Fully 54

FORCED AND COMPULSORY LABOR

HR7Operations identified as having significant risk for incidents of forced or compulsory labor, and measures to contribute to the elimination of forced or compulsory labor.

Fully 54

HUMAN RIGHTS




LOCAL COMMUNITIES

SO1 Percentage of operations with implemented local community engagement, impact assessments, and development programs.

Fully 27

CORRUPTION

SO2 Percentage and total number of business units analyzed for risks related to corruption.

Fully 51

S03 Percentage of employees trained in organization’s anti-corruption policies and procedures..

Fully 51

SO4 Actions taken in response to incidents of corruption. Fully 54

PUBLIC POLICY

SO5 Public policy positions and participation in public policy development and lobbying.

Fully 54, 55

ANTI-COMPETITIVE BEHAVIOR

SO7 Total number of legal actions for anticompetitive behavior, anti-trust, and monopoly practices and their outcomes.

Fully 52

SOCIETY



PRODUCT AND SERVICE LABELING

PR5 Practices related to customer satisfaction, including results of surveys meas-uring customer satisfaction.

Fully 18

COMPLIANCE

PR9 Monetary value of significant fines for noncompliance with laws and regula-tions concerning the provision and use of products and services.

Fully 52

PRODUCT RESPONSIBILITY

For the printing for the 2011 Cognizant Sustainability Report we saved the following resources by using Mohawk Options 100% PCW recycled fiber paper.1

Trees

55 fully grown

2,608 pounds

Solid waste

23,571 gallons

7,742 pounds net

Greenhouse gases2

39 millions BTU

Water Energy

Fuel oil2

3 barrels

1 Calculations to demonstrate the environmental benefits of using recycled fiber in lieu of virgin fiber are provided by Mohawk Fine Papers. FSC® is not responsible for any calculations on saving resources by choosing this paper.

2 includes additional savings derived from manufacturing with windpower

WORLD HEADQUARTERS

Glenpointe Centre West500 Frank W. Burr Blvd.Teaneck, NJ 07666

PHONE: 201.801.0233TOLL FREE: 888.937.3277www.cognizant.com

cognizant sustainability report 2011

Documents

annual sustainability

vp of sustainability

sustainability efforts

future of work

business environment

needs of clients

business models

business processes