Why TCS asked its employees to report to office 5 days a week?

India's leading private sector employer, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), has taken the lead among major IT sector players by mandating a return to the office for at least some of its employees on all days of the week. TCS's Chief Human Resources Officer, Milind Lakkad, emphasized the company's strong belief in the importance of employees coming back to the office.

This represents a shift in work-from-home policies within the IT sector, signaling a return to a pre-pandemic style of work. The reason behind this move, as stated by the CHRO, is the significant number of individuals who have joined TCS in the last three years and have either worked virtually or in a hybrid manner.

TCS aims to integrate the new workforce with the larger TCS workforce, emphasizing the importance of learning, understanding, and internalizing TCS values and culture. Consequently, employees were instructed to return to the office five days a week starting in October. This decision is a departure from the company's policy since September 2022, which required employees to come to the office three days a week and adhere to a roster.

The Chief Operating Officer, NG Subramaniam, expressed the company's support for working from the office and noted that about 70 percent of employees have already returned to the office. He stressed that given TCS's extensive hiring and attrition levels, it is advisable to bring everyone back to the office, as it aligns with the company's needs.

TCS's new approach contradicts its previously announced 25x25 plan, which aimed to have only 25 percent of associates working from TCS facilities by 2025, with employees not spending more than 25 percent of their time at work. However, the COO indicated that the company's focus has shifted towards getting everyone back to the office and ensuring that new employees experience the TCS way of working and the valuable interactions that occur in a collective workplace.

While the company had previously set ambitious targets for remote work, the current priority is to have employees return to the office. The company will continue to evaluate future work models based on what works best for both employees and customers, without committing to a specific plan at this time.