After the pandemic, Indian IT giant, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) was the first among the large IT sector players to mandate at least some of its employees to return to work on all days of the week.
TCS Implementing New Work From Office Policy
India’s largest private sector employer’s Chief Human Resources Officer Milind Lakkad, TCS “strongly believes” that people need to come back to the office.
This move by TCS marked a shift in work-from-home policies for the IT sector, thus signaling a return to pre-pandemic style of work.
It is noteworthy here that a large number of people who have joined the company in the last three years have either worked virtually or in a hybrid manner, Lakkad said.
Further adding, “We strongly believe that they need to come to work so that the new workforce gets integrated with the larger workforce of TCS. That is the only way they will learn, understand, and internalize TCS values and the TCS way.”
Return to Work 5 Days a Week
Now further enhancing the game, the employees were asked to return to work 5 days a week starting October, as per the emails that were sent out to various units.
Again, this is a change in policy for the company, since September 2022, employees were asked to come into the office three days a week and mandated that they adhere to a roster.
According to Lakkad, working from home was more convenient for everybody, but there were drawbacks to the system.
The company has been advising its employees to work from the office, and are realizing its advantages, said NG Subramaniam, Chief Operating Officer, on October 11.
Adding, “People feel that it is better to be in the office. About 70 percent of our employees have started to come to office at this stage which is a very good thing. Given the large-scale hiring that we did and the kind of attrition that we experienced…we believe that it is advisable to get everybody back to the office at this stage, which is the need of the hour for TCS.”
Further he said, “The TCS way of working, the membership that they experience and the kind of interactions that one typically has in a collective with customers, these things are not taught anywhere. These things are observed and learned and it’s better in a collective workplace.”
TCS At Odds With Previous Announcement
Interestingly, this seems to be at the odds with the company’s previously announced 25×25 plan.
Earlier, the IT major had announced its plan where, by 2025, only 25 percent of its associates will need to work out of its facilities at any point of time, under former chief executive officer Rajesh Gopinathan during 2020.
Then they also mentioned that the employees will not need to spend more than 25 percent of their time at work.
On this topic, the COO said that it can be said that for now, this plan is defocused and it’s not necessary that the company will adhere to this plan.
Adding, “The important thing is do we have the right systems, processes and procedures to adapt ourselves to the needs of things? Our focus is to get everybody back to office, and for that the people who have joined us in the last two or three years get the full feel of TCS. I think that’s more important.”
The company will assess its future work models as they go forward but did not commit to anything, CHRO Lakkad said.
Adding, “We will adopt based on what works for our employees and our customers.”
