Tata Consultancy Services’ (TCS) headcount fell by 5,680 on a net basis in the three-month period ended December 31, making it the second quarter of decline in employee count.
The Tata group firm’s attrition on a last 12-month basis fell to 13.3% from 14.9% in Q2. As of December 31, TCS had a total employee base of 603,305 from across 153 countries, of which 5.7% were women. During the second quarter, the IT firm’s headcount dropped by 6,333 employees from that in the sequential quarter.
“The fall in headcount is due to the previous hiring we had made over a period of time, and that investment is now paying off,” TCS chief human resources officer Milind Lakkad said.
“Attrition is trending down and at 13.3%, is now in our range of comfort. We are committed to hiring from college campuses and growing talent organically. We have commenced our campus hiring process for the next year and see tremendous excitement among freshers to join TCS,” he added.
In an interview to FE in October, Lakkad had said the Tata group company expects attrition to reach benchmark levels of 11-14% in the next quarter. TCS had earlier announced plans to add 40,000 freshers in FY24. “The plan is on track and we are adding employees every quarter.”
On variable pay, he said the company would give 100% to 70% of the employees, and for the remaining 30% of staff, it would depend on the business unit’s performance.
On the allegations of forced transfer of employees, he said transfers are a part of employee contracts. Nascent Information Technology Employees Senate, an IT workers union, has filed a complaint with the ministry of labour against “forced transfer”.
The IT firm has been investing in workforce, and provided 39.7 million learning hours this year. Employees acquired 3.7 million competencies. TCS, which has asked employees to work from office five days a week, expects to be back to its normal operating mode by FY24-end.