Mobility is good for careers, says TCS on employee transfers

• TCS addressed the issue of forced employee transfer that unions have been complaining about.
• Company’s HR head said that mobility is good for employee careers and it’s a part of IT business.
• Its attrition has fallen sharply in Q3 to 13.3% and that’s in the company’s comfort zone.

India’s top IT company TCS said that employee transfers are a part of their contracts with the company, addressing the issue of ‘forced’ transfers. An IT workers union Nascent Information Technology Employees Senate (NITES) has also filed a formal complaint against the company with the Ministry of Labour.

“Mobility is in the employee contracts. We have all been mobile all our lives. It will be good for them (employees) if they’re mobile and get good projects and build their careers,” said Milind Lakkad, chief HR officer of TCS at its third quarter earnings press conference on Thursday.

Lakkad however refused to comment on an allegation that TCS is moving employees even in cases where there are no projects. “We’re moving people because there is business in that location. That’s how it is,” he said.

The company also said that 70% of its employees will receive 100% of their variable pay, this quarter. The variable pay that’s given to the rest of the employees will depend on business unit performance.

The IT major said that its plan to bring employees back to office is going in the right direction. As many as 65% of its employees are coming back to office, as seen before the holiday season, said Lakkad.

“There is a lot of energy among our employees. We had organized a Family Day at ten different locations which saw tremendous participation from 180,000 people,” Lakkad said.

Attrition is now in the comfort zone

TCS’ headcount has fallen by 5,680 during the quarter to 608,985 as of December 31, 2023. At the same time, the company’s attrition has fallen sharply to 13.3% in Q3 from 14.9% in the second quarter. The company which has faced sharp attrition levels in the last one year, now said that it has fallen into their ‘range of comfort’ this year.

Lakkad said that he expects attrition to come down further going ahead. Addressing the issue of lower headcount, he said that they had hired significantly in the last few years and intends to leverage that investment.

The company has also been going to campuses to hire for FY25, and is also in the plan to bring in 40,000 freshers as of FY24. “We are committed to hiring from college campuses and growing talent organically. We have commenced our campus hiring process for the next year and see tremendous excitement among freshers to join TCS,” Lakkad said.