No remote work allowed, India's largest IT company gets a bitter end

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), a Mumbai-based multinational technology and consulting company, has required employees to return to the office for at least three days a week since last year. TCS has said it no longer encourages remote working, a policy it introduced during the Covid-19 pandemic.

A series of female employees of Tata Consultancy Services quit their jobs because the remote work policy was canceled. (Photo: BI)

TCS’s annual report found that the policy had a backlash, affecting employee retention rates, leading to a sharp increase in female employees leaving the company. In the report, HR Director Milind Lakkad commented that, typically, female employees at TCS leave at the same or lower rate than male employees, so this was an unusual phenomenon.

He understands there are other reasons, but intuitively, he thinks working from home during the pandemic has helped women reorganize their family lives, which makes them reluctant to return to the office even when things return to normal.

Lakkad noted that the high turnover rate was a “setback” to TCS’ efforts to boost gender diversity. The company employs more than 220,000 women, or 35.7% of its workforce.

The HR director explained the reason for the company’s change to a remote work policy. It was because junior and new employees were not directly integrated into the work culture. More than half of the employees joined TCS after March 2020. New employees absorb the culture through interactions with colleagues and superiors, observing and learning how they work and think. Without these interactions, employee engagement and learning are negatively affected. These factors forced TCS to gradually bring people back to the office.

According to a YouGov survey last year, 57% of American women consider telecommuting an important part of their job, compared with 44% of men. That’s because some women, especially those with young children, find it easier to balance work and personal life when working from home.

(According to BI)

A wave of resistance to returning to the office is rising. Employers in Silicon Valley have introduced new policies to force employees back to the office, but have encountered great resistance.

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