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TCS employees face seating shortage amid return-to-office push

By Nithya Bose in India News, posted October 30, 2023

Employees at Tata Consultancy Services are facing a severe shortage of office seating, leading to confusion over assigned seats.

Over the last two years, TCS has seen remarkable growth, hiring an additional 1 lakh employees and pushing its headcount to over 6 lakh.

This increase in personnel is a major contributing factor to the office space crunch.

One contributing factor to this predicament is the discontinuation of what TCS called "occasional occupation zones (OOZs)."

These were dedicated spaces for temporary seating arrangements for employees in various TCS offices.

With these spaces no longer available, some have been forced to make do with working in corridors and lobbies.

These poses add to the discomfort, particularly given the long working hours.

TCS has been urging its employees to return to the office five days a week, marking the end of work-from-home arrangements for some teams.

Adding to the confusion is the directive for employees to work from the offices assigned to them rather than choosing offices closer to their homes.

A source from TCS's HR team said this is part of its effort to streamline the return-to-office transition and ensure a smooth employee experience.

The source said there had been confusion due to discrepancies in resource allocation between different offices.

Some staff said their team managers informed them about city allowance deductions on failure to comply with the designated office locations.

City allowances for TCS employees working in tier-1 cities can range from ₹2,000 to ₹3,000 per month.

Despite this, some employees are willing to forgo this allowance for flexibility in their work arrangements.

The Maharashtra labour and employment ministry has issued a notice to TCS following a complaint filed by the Nascent Information Technology Employees Senate (NITES).

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It's regarding the delayed onboarding of lateral recruits.

The notice demands that four senior TCS executives meet with department officials.

NITES has requested compensation for the affected staff for the delayed months.

The organisation has also urged to grant access to TCS's employee assistance program.

Notably, TCS has recently announced a slowdown in hiring, leading to a reduced headcount and lower attrition rates.

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