TCS not considering layoffs, hiring impacted employees from startups

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) is not considering any layoffs as it believes in grooming talent for longer careers once it hires an employee, a top official has said.

The country's largest information technology services exporter is also looking to hire startup employees who have lost their jobs, its chief Human Resources officer Milind Lakkad told PTI in an interview.

The comments have come amid IT companies, including big tech giants, the world over laying off people due to a slew of reasons.

“We don't do that (layoffs), we believe in grooming talent in the company…(there will be) no layoffs,” Lakkad said, replying to a specific question on whether there will be layoffs or involuntary attrition.

Read | TCS shares fall nearly 3% after earnings announcement

He said many companies are forced to take such a step because they hired more than they wanted while the “cautious” TCS believes that once a staff member joins, it is the company's responsibility to make them productive and derive value.

In cases where it finds a gap between the skill sets required and what an employee possesses, it focuses on training the employee by giving her more time, Lakkad added.

He said the company, which employs over 6 lakh people, will be announcing hikes which will be similar to earlier years.

With a slew of startups laying off people, especially in sectors like education technology, Lakkad said TCS will be looking to hire such impacted workers.

“It is a very large canvas, we are doing exciting work across different industries in different technologies. I think all of that requires some phenomenal talent to come in and participate. we are getting it obviously from startups, people who have actually done some good work in those companies and have short-term career challenges,” he said.

Specifically, it is looking for talent in user experience design, artificial intelligence, many aspects of cloud and having product experience, Lakkad said.

When asked if TCS will be reviewing its stock options schemes, given that startups attract a lot of talent based on such offers, Lakkad said it is continuing to evaluate on this aspect as it feels that both loyalty and performance play a significant role.

To a question on whether the decline of over 2,000 staffers in overall employee count in the December quarter was a one-off, Lakkad declined to specify if the March quarter will have an addition or continue with a decline.

He explained that over the last year, it has hired over 2 lakh people including 1.19 lakh trainees, who are still getting into billable projects and hence, the slowdown in new hires resulted in the decline.

Over the next few quarters, the company does not see “significant additions” from a net employees standpoint, Lakkad said, pointing out that it is leveraging its past investments now.

This will lead to an increase in the overall utilisation number, before it starts going down as the over 40,000 trainees it expects to hire in FY24 start coming in, Lakkad said.

The company is also open to hiring people of Indian diaspora in the US who have lost their jobs with the tech majors and May be on the brink of being forced to return home as per their visa conditions, Lakkad said.

At present, 70 per cent of its US employees are Americans, Lakkad said, adding that it would like to get the number down to 50 per cent because it also wants to offer global opportunities to its staff in India.

He also said that there is a need for quicker appointments and clearance for both business and H1 visas in the US, its largest market by revenue.

On moonlighting by employees, Lakkad said action against potential violators is work in progress at TCS and it is accumulating data on the same.

At present, close to 40 per cent of the staff work from offices three times a week and 60 per cent come two times a week, Lakkad said.

“I expect these numbers (of those working from offices) to increase. By Q1 (FY24) it will significantly go up. by Q2 of FY24, we will decide the way forward,” he added.