The bulk of the previously announced layoffs at IT major Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) has been operationalised by the end of September, and only a few isolated cases remain under evaluation, sources in the know said.
The Tata Group company had in July announced that will trim about 2% of its workforce, or over 12,000 employees, as part of a restructuring exercise to align skills with shifting client demand and rising automation.
Severance breakdown: Up to two years’ pay based on tenure
Severance payouts have been tiered by service length, ranging from six months to two years of salary. All affected employees receive three months’ notice pay, after which the severance ranges from six months to as much as two years of salary.
Those with longer service stand to gain the most: employees with 10 to 15 years in the company are being offered roughly 1.5 years’ severance, while those with more than 15 years qualify for the highest payout of two years. The baseline for anyone impacted is six months of pay, according to people familiar with the process.
“In keeping with the values of our company, those affected by our recent initiative to realign skills have been provided care and support as is due to them in each of the individual circumstances,” TCS said in response to queries sent by FE, thought the IT major didn’t provide further details.
Stricter rules for ‘bench’ employees and transition support
Not everyone, however, is eligible for this full package. Employees who have been “on the bench” — unallocated to projects for over eight months — are covered under a stricter framework. For them, the company is offering only the standard notice pay of three months without the extended severance that applies to other categories.
The soruces, however, clarified that not all bench employees are being asked to leave, but only those who have remained without a role for a prolonged period.
For those approaching retirement, an early retirement option has been extended. This allows access to the full suite of retirement benefits, including insurance, alongside an additional severance ranging from six months to two years’ pay, depending on tenure.
In addition to financial payouts, TCS is rolling out a set of support measures to ease the transition. Career assistance is being offered through outplacement services, with the company footing the bill for agency fees for three months, sometimes longer in the case of junior staff.
Select employees have also been given access to therapy or counselling under the “TCS Cares” programme. In isolated cases, where a role match might still be possible, affected staff have been given the option to engage with the Resource Management Group and explore redeployment across the organisation.