A man walks past a logo of Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) before a press conference announcing the company's quarterly results in Mumbai, India, January 11, 2024. Image for representation.
Credit: Reuters File Photo
Bengaluru: A couple of weeks ago, the country's largest IT services firm Tata Consultancy Services, which employs over 6,13,000 people, announced job cuts that will impact 2 per cent of its global workforce or about 12,250 employees.
But according to sources in the know, the actual number of layoffs are far more than 12,250 after the company recently revised its bench policy.
Employees on the bench (without any projects) for more than 35 days, are also being asked to resign, the sources said.
A few employees that DH spoke to allege that much before the company officially announced 2% job cuts, they were forced to resign. A 42-year-old woman from Mumbai, who worked with TCS for over 11 years, said, "I took an unpaid leave for three months due to personal reasons and I rejoined on July 1. But I was not given access to my laptop and the HR team kept saying that they would provide me access. But on July 8, they called me and forced me to submit my resignation.”
The woman claimed that there are many such employees in Mumbai as well as Kolkata offices. "They are forcing us to state the reason for resignation as 'personal’," she said.
Two days ago, a Reddit user alleged that many trainees were let go after being on the bench for about five weeks.
"He (the HR person) straight away told me to either resign immediately in front of him or face termination with a negative release letter and no pay. I would get three months of pay on resignation and no negativity in the release letter. Why did they even hire me? Along with me, four more freshers from my batch have resigned too. One of them started crying and the HR did not even let him leave the room with those tears," the user alleged.
These layoffs are happening across various offices of the company including Bengaluru. An employee who was asked to resign said on condition of anonymity, "Nobody expected such layoffs from a company like TCS."
A query sent to TCS on the actual number of layoffs did not elicit any response till the time of going to press.
Last month, while announcing job cuts, TCS in a statement had said that it is on a journey to become a "Future-Ready organisation. This includes strategic initiatives on multiple fronts including investing in new-tech areas, entering new markets, deploying AI at scale for our clients and ourselves, deepening our partnerships, creating next-gen infrastructure and realigning our workforce model."
Meanwhile, Karnataka State IT/ITeS Employees Union (KITU) and TCS recently held a meeting earlier this week in connection with layoffs. Boban Varghese Thomas, general manager - HR, and Mahesh G K, assistant manager of TCS held talks with G Manjunath, Additional Labour Commissioner.
Suhas Adiga, General Secretary, KITU, who was present at the conciliation meeting, demanded restoration of the employment for those who have lost their jobs. He also mentioned that the action by TCS was in violation of the provisions of the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947.
Adiga told DH that KITU has received over 100 complaints from TCS employees in Karnataka alone regarding both layoffs and bench policy. "The meeting remained inconclusive. We will discuss further in the next conciliation meeting that will be held on September 8," he said.