New Delhi: Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), one of India’s biggest and oldest IT companies, is getting a lot of heat from its employees. The main reason? Salary cuts, unfair bonuses, and outdated allowances. If you talk to some people working there, you’ll hear words like “unfair,” “demotivating,” and “stressful.” Let’s break down what’s actually happening.
Bonuses that don’t feel like a bonus anymore
Employees say that the Quarterly Performance Bonus (QPB) is not being given properly. In the last two years, many mid-level workers have received only 40% to 75% of what they were promised. The twist? TCS gives bonuses based on how the whole business unit performs, not based on the hard work of individual employees. So even if someone gave their best, they could still get a smaller bonus if the team didn’t meet targets. This has made many feels unvalued and frustrated.
There’s also a big complaint about night shift allowance. For over 10 years, the night shift pay has stayed stuck at Rs 360 per night. In a time when prices of everything, from food to fuel, have gone up, this allowance feels like a joke to many. People working late nights say they’re doing extra effort but getting no real extra benefit.
Office Attendance = Bonus? That’s New
TCS now wants employees to be in the office at least 85% of the time if they want their full bonus. This move comes just after the work-from-home culture became popular during COVID. Many employees now prefer remote or hybrid work, so this new policy has made things harder. Junior employees are mostly safe, but some senior staff say they’ve lost 20–40% of their bonus because of this rule.
On top of all this, there’s another problem. Thousands of employees got income tax demand notices because of errors in TCS’s tax deduction in the last quarter of FY 2024. Many were confused and worried. But the company has told them not to pay anything right now, and that it’s working with the tax department to fix the issue.
What TCS Management is Saying
TCS says things aren’t as bad as people are saying. According to them, over 70% of employees received full variable pay in the recent quarter. They also said that bonuses are always linked to how well each business unit does, and this isn’t something new. But employees feel this is just a way to avoid real responsibility.
Past problems still hurt the image
This is not the first time TCS has been in the spotlight for the wrong reasons. Just last year, a recruitment scam was found in the company. The CEO called it a “one-time issue.” Also, many people still remember how Ratan Tata once tried to sell TCS to IBM, and the Corus Steel deal, which many experts call a bad decision. All these things are part of a bigger picture that shows TCS is not perfect, and maybe never was.
