Mumbai, October 12, 2023 – Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), India’s largest private sector employer, has stirred the corporate world by challenging its own “25/25” work model as it calls employees back to the office five days a week. This marks a significant shift in the IT sector, indicating a return to pre-pandemic working norms.
The company also declared its Q2 2023-24 results.
TCS Q2 Earnings Highlights including the nod for a share buyback of up to Rs 17,000 crore.
In its second-quarter financial report, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) announced a robust net profit of Rs 11,342 crore, reflecting the company’s impressive performance, bolstered by a substantial order book.
TCS Q2 Earnings Recap: K Krithivasan, Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director, offered insights into the firm’s performance during the second quarter, stating, “Our clients maintain their confidence in us by assigning pivotal new technology endeavors and substantial projects aimed at digitally revitalizing their IT and business operational frameworks.”
The company’s Chief Human Resources Officer, Milind Lakkad, emphasized TCS’s commitment to the physical workplace, stating, “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.”
TCS had initially mandated a three-day-a-week office presence since September 2022, but recently, employees were asked to return full-time starting in October. The decision comes as a surprise to many as TCS had previously announced the ambitious “25×25” plan in 2020 under former CEO Rajesh Gopinathan. This plan aimed for only 25 percent of associates working from TCS facilities by 2025, with no more than 25 percent of their time spent at the office.
However, TCS’s Chief Operating Officer, NG Subramaniam, asserted that the company is currently focused on getting employees back to the office to ensure alignment with the company’s values. “People feel that it is better to be in the office. About 70 percent of our employees have started to come to the 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,” NGS said.
The TCS Q2 FY 2023-24 results are out
He highlighted the unique learning experiences and collective interactions that take place in a physical workspace. “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,” Subramaniam added.
However, he was quick to dismiss the relevance of the “25×25” plan, stating, “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 the office, and for that, the people who have joined us in the last two years or three years get the full feel of TCS. I think that’s more important.”
TCS’s Chief Human Resources Officer, Milind Lakkad, hinted at a flexible approach in the future, stating, “We will adopt based on what works for our employees and our customers.”
TCS’s decision to bring employees back to the office signifies a significant shift in the IT industry’s approach to remote work and underscores the company’s unwavering commitment to its core values and work culture. As employees grapple with this transition, TCS’s journey continues to evolve, challenging conventional norms and charting a unique path for the future of work in India’s IT sector.
