Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), India's largest IT company, has recently mandated a return to a five-day office workweek for its employees. The company has made it compulsory for its staff to work full-time from the office. During the TCS earnings call on October 10, the Chief Human Resources Officer of the company, Milind Lakkad, emphasized that this move is essential to instill and integrate the company's core values within the workforce. Lakkad stated, "We firmly believe that being physically present in the office is crucial for the new generation of employees to seamlessly merge with the broader TCS workforce. This physical presence facilitates the learning, understanding, and internalization of TCS values and our distinctive approach. Nevertheless, we will continue to evaluate and adapt our work models to best serve the needs of our clients and employees."

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) released its second-quarter (Q2) financial results today. During this quarter, TCS reported a year-on-year (YoY) growth of 9% in consolidated net profit, totaling Rs 11,342 crore. The consolidated revenue also exhibited substantial growth, increasing by nearly 8% YoY to reach Rs 59,692 crore. However, when considering sequential growth, the results were more modest, with revenue experiencing a slight 0.5% increase and profit showing a 2.4% uptick.

In constant currency (CC) terms, the revenue growth stood at 2.8% YoY.

As of October 6, the majority of TCS is owned by promoter companies, who hold a 72.3% stake. Foreign institutional investors come in second with the largest share at 12.5%, while mutual funds and UTI collectively own a 3.46% stake in the company.

TCS headcount falls

TCS’s headcount saw a net fall of 6,393 employees in Q2 of FY24, taking the overall headcount to 608,985. Further, the headcount fell by 7,186 compared to the year-ago period. This comes as India's largest software exporter had added around 523 employees sequentially in Q1. Voluntary attrition for the quarter stood at 14.9% compared with 17.8% last quarter and the company said further improvements in the metric would be seen going forward.

“We should not relate the headcount degrowth with business demand or the business situation,” Lakkad said, as this is happening across quarters. “People coming in for the last 18 months are getting leveraged now in the past year.” Reduced hiring numbers reflect the investment in fresh talent made over the past two or three years paying off, Lakkad said, adding the company has recalibrated hiring numbers as attrition has reduced.

Hiring is continuing in large numbers, he said, both from campus and elsewhere. Trainee hiring continues and all offers will be honored. “There may be delays, a quarter here and there, but they will come on board,” the CHRO said.

Regarding variable pay, the company will pay 100% of variable pay for 70% of the workforce, Lakkad said. The remaining will get paid based on the business unit performance, he added.

TCS had told employees informally to return to the office five days a week starting October 1.