TCS not considering layoffs

Mumbai: Amid layoffs across the world in the IT sector, the Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) is not considering any layoffs as it believes in grooming talent for longer careers once it hires an employee. The country's largest information technology services exporter is also looking to hire startup employees who have lost their jobs, its Chief Human Resources officer Milind Lakkad said in an interview.

"We don't do that (layoffs), we believe in grooming talent in the company(there will be) no layoffs,"Lakkad said, replying to a specific question on whether there will be layoffs or involuntary attrition. He said many companies are forced to take such a step because they hired more than they wanted while the cautious TCS believes that once a staff member joins, it is the company's responsibility to make them productive and derive value.

In cases where it finds a gap between the skill sets required and what an employee possesses, it focuses on training the employee by giving her more time, Lakkad added. He said the company, which employs over 6 lakh people, will be announcing hikes which will be similar to earlier years. With a slew of startups laying off people, especially in sectors like education technology, Lakkad said TCS will be looking to hire such impacted workers.

It is a very large canvas, we are doing exciting work across different industries in different technologies. I think all of that requires some phenomenal talent to come in and participate. we are getting it obviously from startups, people who have actually done some good work in those companies and have short-term career challenges, he said. Specifically, it is looking for talent in user experience design, artificial intelligence, many aspects of cloud and having product experience, Lakkad said.

When asked if TCS will be reviewing its stock options schemes, given that startups attract a lot of talent based on such offers, Lakkad said it is continuing to evaluate on this aspect as it feels that both loyalty and performance play a significant role.

To a question on whether the decline of over 2,000 staffers in overall employee count in the December quarter was a one-off, Lakkad declined to specify if the March quarter will have an addition or continue with a decline. He explained that over the last year, it has hired over 2 lakh people including 1.19 lakh trainees, who are still getting into billable projects and hence, the slowdown in new hires resulted in the decline.