MUMBAI: According to a high-ranking official, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) is not considering any layoffs because it believes in cultivating talent for longer careers once it hires an employee.
Milind Lakkad, the chief human resources officer at the nation's largest exporter of information technology services, revealed to PTI in an interview that the company is also looking to hire startup employees who have lost their jobs.
The remarks come as a slew of IT companies, including major tech giants, worldwide lay off employees for a variety of reasons.
Lakkad said in response to a specific question regarding whether there will be layoffs or involuntary attrition, "We don't do that (layoffs), we believe in grooming talent in the company...(there will be) no layoffs."
He said that many businesses have to take such a step because they hired more people than they wanted. On the other hand, "cautious" TCS believes that once a staff member joins, the company is responsible for making them productive and valuable.
Lakkad added that when it discovers a discrepancy between an employee's skill set and the requirements, it devotes more time to training the employee.
He stated that the company, which has over 6 lakh employees, will announce increases that will be comparable to those in previous years.
Lakkad said that TCS will be looking to hire employees who have been affected by the numerous startups' layoffs, particularly in education technology.
"We are doing exciting work across various industries in various technologies on a very large canvas. To participate in all of that, I believe incredible talent is required. We obviously get it from startups, from people who have done good work in those companies but are having short-term career challenges, he stated.
According to Lakkad, it is specifically seeking talent in user experience design, artificial intelligence, cloud computing, and product experience.
Lakkad responded that it is continuing to evaluate this aspect because it believes that both loyalty and performance play a significant role. When asked if TCS will be reviewing its stock options schemes, Lakkad stated that startups attract a lot of talent based on such offers.
Lakkad declined to specify whether the March quarter would see an addition or continue with a decline when asked if the December quarter's overall employee count decrease of over 2,000 staffers was a one-time event.
He explained that it had hired over 2 lakh people in the past year, including 1.19 lakh trainees, who are still working on billable projects, so the decline was caused by a slowdown in new hires.
Lakkad stated that the company does not anticipate "significant additions" from a net employee perspective over the next few quarters, pointing out that it is currently leveraging its previous investments.
Lakkad stated that this will result in an increase in the overall utilization number before it begins to decrease as the over 40,000 trainees it anticipates hiring in FY24 begin to arrive.
According to Lakkad, the company is also open to hiring people from the Indian diaspora living in the United States who have lost their jobs with the tech giants and may be about to be forced to return home because of the conditions on their visas.
According to Lakkad, the company wants to reduce the percentage of Americans working for it in the United States to 50% so that it can provide its Indian employees with global opportunities.
In addition, he stated that the United States, the company's largest revenue market, requires faster appointments and clearance for H1 visas and business visas.
Lakkad stated that TCS is taking action against potential violators and collecting data on the matter regarding employee moonlighting.
Lakkad stated that at the moment, close to 40% of employees work from offices three times per week and 60% come in two times per week.
I anticipate an increase in the number of people working from home. It will significantly rise by Q1 (FY24). We will decide how to proceed by the second quarter of FY24,” he added.