TCS refutes reports claiming it warned employees of ‘disciplinary action’ over work from home

India’s biggest IT company Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) has refuted media reports claiming that the company sent a warning to employees not adhering to its work-from-office policy. In a statement given to several media outlets, a spokesperson for the company said TCS has not linked the career and compensation of employees with roster management. 

“Over the last several months we have been encouraging associates in India to return to the office and spend three days a week at the workplace,” the spokesperson said, adding, “For now, we have not communicated or deployed linkages to career or compensation.”

What was claimed in previous media reports?

Earlier, a Times of India report had referred to “memos” that TCS allegedly sent to its employees to claim that the company warned its employees of “disciplinary action” if the roster was not followed. It also quoted the “memo” as reading, “You are warned and directed to start reporting to work from your office location as per the assigned roster with immediate effect.”

Watch: Indian tech giant TCS sued in US for favouring Indian candidates in hiring practices

The report also noted that TCS was the first IT company in India to introduce the “work from office” policy after the pandemic and strictly enforce it. On the other hand, other companies, such as Infosys, have asked their employees to come to the office, but that has not been made mandatory.

‘100 per cent remote work model not feasible’

TCS made an announcement last year stating that it would not permit employees to work fully remotely as the COVID-19 pandemic significantly subsided. Instead, the company sent emails to its employees instructing them to work from the office three days a week or 12 days a month.

According to TCS’s approach, only a maximum of 25 per cent of its employees will be required to work from the office at any given time. The company had previously mentioned that the scheduling of office attendance would be based on project requirements and would involve a combination of both freshers and experienced professionals.

TCS has stated that this process marks a gradual shift from its Secure Borderless Workspaces (SBWS) to a hybrid model. Under this new model, most employees will have the opportunity to work from the office for a few days each week.