Mumbai: Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) has begun a large-scale workforce restructuring, offering severance benefits of up to two years’ salary to employees whose skills no longer meet evolving business demands, according to a Moneycontrol report. The move, affecting about 2 per cent of the IT major’s global workforce—over 12,000 employees—comes amid growing automation and shifts in client priorities.
The majority of those impacted are mid and senior-level professionals who have not upskilled to align with emerging requirements. Employees whose positions are being phased out will receive three months of notice period pay, followed by severance ranging from six months to two years’ salary, depending on their tenure. “The lowest severance pay in this category is six months,” a source familiar with the matter told Moneycontrol. Staff who have remained “on the bench” for more than eight months without securing a project role will only receive the notice period pay. However, tenure-based packages apply in several cases: those with 10 to 15 years of service may be eligible for 1.5 years’ salary, while employees with more than 15 years of service could receive up to two years’ pay.
In its statement to India Today Tech, TCS said, “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.”
The company has also introduced career transition measures, including outplacement services, coverage of agency fees for three months, and access to mental health support through its “TCS Cares” programme. Eligible staff may also opt for early retirement, which provides full retirement benefits in addition to severance based on tenure.
CEO K Krithivasan previously described the restructuring as “one of the toughest decisions” of his career. The report notes that most workforce changes were carried out in August and September, with a limited number of employees still being assessed for alternate roles via the Resource Management Group.