'Return by March end or...': TCS spells it out for employees working from home

Tata Consultancy Services has reportedly given its employees time till March end to return to office, warning them of "consequences" if they fail to do so.

The diktat comes a week after the IT bellwether had, in a report, linked hikes and variable payouts for employees to compliance with its return-to-office mandate. The new rule was communicated by unit heads to their team.

TCS is among the IT firms which also includes Infosys and Wipro, who are gradually calling back their employees to office. An ET report, quoting the firm's COO NG Subramaniam, said TCS employees have been sent a final communication on the directive, failing which "there will be consequences to face".

The firm says working from home made "employees and employers vulnerable".

At the December quarter earnings announcement on January 11, the company said 65% of the workforce had been coming to the office up to three days a week.

TCS saw its headcount plunge by 5,680 on a net basis in the third quarter of FY24; coming in line with the company’s commentary last quarter on expecting further shrinkage in headcount.

Infosys lost 6,101 employees in Q3, its fourth consecutive quarter of declining headcount. This is the second consecutive quarter for TCS seeing a headcount decline. In Q2, headcount had dropped by 6,333 employees QoQ.

The company’s total employee base as of December 31, stands at 603,305. TCS’ attrition rate has further dropped to 13.3%, down from 14.9% in Q2.

On attrition, Subramaniam told ET that remote working cannot help an organisation build a great culture.