Cognizant starts tracking employees’ laptop activity, marking staff ‘idle’ after just five minutes, raising privacy concerns

Cognizant, the global IT services company, is facing questions after reports that it has started tracking employee laptop activity. 

Employees will now be marked as “idle” after just five minutes of no mouse or keyboard activity. 

The company says the move is meant to monitor productivity on certain projects, but many employees are concerned about privacy and trust.

What Is Cognizant ProHance Tracking and How It Works

The company is using the tool ProHance on select projects to monitor keyboard and mouse movement, as well as apps and websites used during work hours. 

After five minutes of inactivity, employees are flagged as “idle,” and after 15 minutes, their status changes to “away from system.”

A spokesperson clarified that the tracking is client-driven and intended to spot process inefficiencies, not to evaluate individual performance. “The tool is aimed at helping understand project processes, not to judge employees,” the spokesperson said.

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Why Cognizant Employees Are Concerned About Privacy

Despite reassurances, employees have raised privacy concerns. Many report that agreeing to the tracking was part of mandatory training, making consent feel more procedural than voluntary.

Experts also warn about how the data could be stored or misused. Some employees feel constant monitoring treats them more like data points than professionals. 

Cognizant maintains the goal is to understand project time usage and improve processes, but the move highlights tensions between productivity monitoring and employee privacy, especially in hybrid and remote work setups.

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