Inside the offshoring playbook: How U.S. companies replace American workers one contract at a time
For the first time, Americans can see exactly how a major U.S. employer outsources American jobs, not in vague terms, but through formal documentation. A binding contract between Prudential Financial Inc. and Cognizant Technology Solutions lays out a step-by-step playbook for eliminating American jobs and shifting the work to foreign workers overseas.
This isn’t theory, it’s in writing. The document provides rare black-and-white evidence of how U.S.-based work is “transitioned” out of the country. While Americans have heard stories about being forced to train their replacements, this agreement reveals the actual process behind those headlines: how Prudential worked with Cognizant to plan, schedule and execute a full transfer of work to offshore teams, with American employees pushed out in the process.
The devil is in the details: The betrayal in black and white
Section 1.1(b) of the agreement openly states that the work previously handled by Prudential employees would be “eliminated” and reassigned to Cognizant. These weren’t new jobs. They were the same roles Americans had been doing – application support, software maintenance, reporting – all now classified as functions to be transitioned out.
The language is careful but clear. Cognizant wouldn’t just be stepping in to help; it was there to take over. The contract also gave Cognizant the right to perform any “incidental” tasks needed to complete the work, even if not spelled out directly. In other words, it had wide authority to expand its control over operations once embedded.
The built-in replacement plan
The contract’s Transition Services section describes the process by which Cognizant would assume responsibility for Prudential’s internal IT operations. A detailed transition plan was required, complete with milestone dates and task lists, all designed to avoid disruptions to business continuity. But what the contract avoids saying outright is what’s plainly obvious: This plan definitively phases out American workers in favor of a lower-cost, offshore workforce.
This wasn’t a case of hiring extra help. It was a direct replacement strategy. Cognizant was required to observe how Prudential’s in-house team handled the work, copy it, and then eventually take it over – permanently. The agreement mandated a phased approach so the transfer wouldn’t appear sudden. But behind the corporate phrasing was the harsh reality: The American team had to teach the offshore team how to do their jobs before being let go.
American workers forced to hand over their jobs
The agreement also makes it clear that Prudential would manage the entire transition internally. The company appointed project leads and gave Cognizant open access to internal systems, documents and staff. These staff were expected to help onboard the new offshore teams. But the contract offered them no job protection, no bonus, no role in the future structure. Their job was to help with the transition … and then leave.
Foreign labor in, American labor out
From the very first deliverables listed, it’s clear what this contract was meant to do. The top priority: “Set up an offshore development center,” or ODC. That’s a dedicated office or facility in another country, in India in this case, where a foreign team will take over work that was once done in the U.S. This ODC becomes the new home base for handling core operations.
Right after that came the requirement to build and carry out a “knowledge transition plan,” which is the process of transferring everything the American workers knew to the new offshore team. These steps weren’t optional, they were the foundation of the entire deal. The rest – maintenance, bug fixes, reporting and support – were tasks already being done by U.S. employees. Now, those responsibilities were being prepared for transfer abroad.
Engineered dependence on foreign labor
The contract also included a unique clause about “non-billable” consulting hours. For every dollar Prudential spent, it received free consulting hours from Cognizant. But here’s the catch: Those hours were heavily weighted toward India-based services. Once Prudential spent over $1 million in a month, it earned up to 800 hours of free offshore consulting, far more than what it would get from U.S.-based support. That structure created a clear incentive: The more Prudential outsourced to India, the more “free” services it received. The longer it stayed with Cognizant’s offshore model, the deeper its dependence became.
They even set up what’s called a Center of Excellence, or CoE, a permanent team focused on building deep expertise around Prudential’s systems. This team, made up mostly of Indian business analysts and engineers, was responsible for mastering the technology, guiding decisions and supporting long-term operations. Although the contract labeled this effort “non-billable,” meaning Prudential didn’t pay extra for it, the long-term effect was significant. It wasn’t just about supporting the transition, it was about anchoring control overseas.
The transition team: Locked out for good
As part of the transition, Cognizant assigned two full-time managers: an account manager and a transition manager. These weren’t back-office roles, they were embedded into Prudential’s leadership chain, given the responsibility to oversee the transition and manage future staffing. They represented Cognizant’s permanent leadership presence inside Prudential’s operations.
While Cognizant controls the operation, Prudential still directs staffing decisions, and there is a clause prohibiting Cognizant from rehiring former Prudential employees unless Prudential explicitly allows it. That means even if laid-off American workers wanted to come back through the vendor, they couldn’t. Their exit is final and contractually reinforced.
That clause closed the door on U.S. workers returning under the new model, even if they were qualified. They had trained their replacements and that was the end of the road – for them.
The technology transfer and foreign control
Another section lays out the software licensing structure: Prudential granted Cognizant, including its India-based affiliates, full legal rights to use its proprietary software systems to perform services. That meant Indian offshore teams were authorized to access and operate systems containing personally identifiable information (PII) and sensitive financial data tied to Prudential’s American clients. Cognizant assumed liability for its offshore teams’ use of the software, but the control and the data were now fully remote.
Map, transfer, replace, terminate
The contract’s “Assumptions” section lays the groundwork for how the offshoring will take place. Prudential committed to giving Cognizant access to all documentation, systems, meeting rooms and even American employees themselves. These Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) were instructed to guide Cognizant’s team, help them learn the job and ensure that knowledge transfer was successful. This wasn’t just outsourcing. It was a fully coordinated transfer of control, with the U.S. workforce footing the labor to make it happen.
It also commits to giving Cognizant’s offshore team access to engagement-specific software and guarantees coordination support to bridge the onshore-offshore model. This section confirms that Prudential is not just outsourcing the work; it is actively managing the transfer of knowledge, tools, systems and control to a foreign team.
This section also outlines the assumed support Prudential will provide to Cognizant for free, even for work that isn’t directly billable, further demonstrating how the employer is actively facilitating the transfer of jobs offshore.
Labor displacement as deliverable
Once the handoff was underway, Cognizant assumed even more responsibility. The contract required performance tracking, called SLAs, only after the American team had fully trained the offshore team. These metrics kicked in after the replacements were operational, once the domestic team had been phased out.
The human handoff: Americans train their replacements
The “Pre-Knowledge Transition” phase required Prudential to grant access to all systems and assign American employees to begin the onboarding process. These employees were tasked with training the very people who would take their jobs. They hosted Q&A sessions, performed software demos and wrote training manuals. Their required deliverables were detailed: everything from system diagrams to escalation charts to maintenance plans. All of it handed over through a central knowledge repository.
This section confirms the most direct and personal part of the offshoring process: American workers are required to conduct classroom-style training, Q&A sessions, hands-on demos and even “reverse shadowing” to prepare the offshore team to fully take over their jobs.
During “Guided Support,” the offshore team began taking control, with U.S. workers watching, guiding and validating the handover. This was the final leg of the transition. Americans were still involved, but only to support the full shift to India.
By the final phase, “Governance,” the offshore team had full control. Prudential created a model where multiple vendors like Cognizant could operate with zero dependence on the original American workforce. The system was now re-designed to run without them.
The final handoff: Offshore replacement takes over
In the “Steady State” phase, Cognizant took full ownership of support, system fixes and enhancements. All technical documentation and service records were already prepared by the displaced U.S. team. Their role was over.
An internal staffing chart shows how this played out in numbers. In nearly every functional cluster, offshore workers outnumbered or replaced American workers entirely. U.S.-based workers were billed at $67/hour. Their replacements in India were billed at $22.50/hour for the same tasks. In some cases, the U.S. presence disappeared completely. It wasn’t just a shift. It was a swap.
Terminating the Americans
The “Termination Assistance” section confirmed the final step. Even after the official transition ended, Cognizant had to remain on-site for three months to continue support and hand off operations, either to another vendor or back to Prudential. But that handoff would not include the U.S. workers who trained them.
Cognizant was required to provide full services during the wind-down, including answering all Prudential questions, turning over documentation and ensuring the transition remained smooth. It wasn’t a contingency plan; it was the final clause in a structured replacement contract.
Prudential is responsible for training Cognizant, providing Subject Matter Experts (SMEs), documentation and ongoing guidance. Once transition is complete, Cognizant takes over full support, including issue resolution and warranty periods, ensuring any operational gaps during handover are still managed by the incoming vendor.
Key takeaway: Prudential is contractually obligated to train and hand over all responsibilities to Cognizant, replacing internal American workers with foreign vendor labor while maintaining service quality. This transition plan makes the displacement of domestic employees a built-in feature of the agreement.
The fine print that erased the American worker
For American workers, this contract spelled the end of their roles, permanently. There were no offers of rehiring, no retention plans and no support to help them transition. Instead, many were forced to train the offshore teams replacing them, document the systems they built and hand over guidance, only to be let go once those teams took over. What followed wasn’t just job loss; it was the full relocation of high-skilled tech and operations work from the U.S. to foreign labor hubs, especially India.
This move wasn’t accidental, it was outlined and executed by contract. And with it came a long-term shift in hiring patterns, salary trends and the regional demand for technical talent. As part of the deal, Cognizant’s offshore teams, including those in India, a country with poor data privacy protections, were given access to sensitive information like Social Security numbers and financial records tied to Prudential’s American clients. These foreign teams were assigned system maintenance, bug fixes and production support – meaning the digital backbone of a major U.S. firm was now handled overseas. This wasn’t just about saving money, it was about restructuring the system. American workers built the tools, ran the systems, trained the replacements and were erased from the future. It’s a story happening across the country, quietly and legally, one contract at a time.
The bigger picture? India has turned job displacement into an export model. While Americans lose high-paying jobs, India gains service contracts, trade credits and political leverage, without ever building the products or taking the risk. U.S. companies opened the door and India optimized the model. Now, they call it a “services export.” But what they’re actually exporting isn’t services, it’s Americans’ jobs.
Unless the U.S. confronts these offshoring pipelines, tightens visa loopholes and stops rewarding companies for abandoning American workers, the massive bleed will just continue. The future of America’s workforce is being written in fine print, and clearly it’s time to read it out loud.