TCS Mandates 5 Days in Office: The IT services giant Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) is likely to end hybrid work starting from October 1, 2023. In an internal email, the company has asked its employees to be present in the office for five days a week, indicating a shift from remote work. This change in policy affects policies in the IT sector that provide employment to over five million Indians.
Certainly, this shift will be officially communicated within the next three weeks. According to insider sources, managers across different sections are encouraging employees to be in the office five times a week. However, the company will maintain flexibility with hybrid policies and make exceptions where necessary.
CNBC-TV18 reported an internal email saying, “As communicated by CEOs and Chief Human Resources Officers (CHROs) across various townhalls, it is mandatory for all associates to be present in the office on all working days (5 days per week) effective October 1, 2023. There will be no leave from October 1, 2023.”
This marks a significant departure from TCS’s previous stance, where employees were required to follow a roster system and spend three days a week in the office since September 2022. Non-compliance with this roster system would result in consequences for employees.
Sources suggest that the email has not been sent to all teams and is being rolled out differently. TCS declined to comment on the matter, stating that the company is currently in a silent period.
The company had faced criticism in the past when its Chief Human Resources Officer, Milind Lakkad, pointed out in the annual report that the attrition rate for women leaving the company was higher than that for men.
“Historically, TCS has had a similar or lower attrition rate for women compared to men, so this is unusual. There could be other reasons, but it’s easy to speculate that for some women, working from home during the pandemic reset domestic arrangements, preventing them from returning to the office even when everything became normal,” Lakkad had said.
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As of June 30, TCS had approximately 615,318 employees. In the company’s FY23 annual report, Lakkad noted that more than half of the workforce had been working remotely since March 2020.
“Working from home is certainly more convenient for everyone, but it had its drawbacks. Employees who were well integrated within the organization could work effectively and even collaborate using the social capital built up over years. It’s not the same for junior employees,” Lakkad had stated.
He further mentioned, “New employees learn from senior colleagues and leaders through physical interactions, observing their behavior and thinking. Without those interactions, employee engagement and culture were also negatively impacted. All these factors prompted us to bring people back to our offices during the year.”
This appears to be a departure from TCS’s former CEO Rajesh Gopinathan’s 25 X 25 vision announced in 2020. According to the model, by 2025, only 25 percent of its associates would need to work outside facilities at any given time, and employees would not be required to spend more than 25 percent of their time on work. Source: Money Control
