Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) is aiming to get its employees back to the office by the end of this year or early next year. This, after 18 months of remote working due to the pandemic. But, now with the majority of employees expected to be vaccinated against the coronavirus, according to a report in the Economic Times (ET), plans are being made to get most of the workforce back working from the office. “We expect that sometime towards the end of the calendar year or early next year, and depending on how this third wave turns out, we will get back to 70-80% (of the people) in the office,” TCS chief executive officer Rajesh Gopinathan told ET.
According to a BBC report, around 90% of the company’s staff in India have received at least one dose of the vaccine so far. Vouching for the return to office of its employees, TCS chief operating officer N G Subramaniam told the BBC that it’s time to replenish the social capital an office environment fosters. "The overarching feedback we've got is that about 50% of the people feel they can come to work," Subramaniam said.
As per the ET report, India’s largest IT services company contributes almost 15% to the country’s $150 billion software exports and employs over a tenth of its 4.6 million technology workforce. Gopinathan said he expects TCS to gain a larger share of the global technology outsourcing market, amid the general trend of a market shift towards utilising bigger players.
However, TCS envisions a hybrid model of work where only 25% of its staff will work from the office by 2025. Through this, the company is aiming to utilise the vacant real estate space to house its laboratories and Research and Development (R&D) facilities, besides using it as modern-day workplaces for its employees.
Earlier in July, TCS had declared that it has over 5 lakh employees while announcing the financial results for the first quarter of FY22. The IT behemoth reported a profit of Rs 9,008 crore in Q1 of FY22, up 28.5% year-on-year. Its workforce rose 17.3% year-on-year and came to 5,09,058. TCS said this represented its highest-ever quarterly net headcount addition of 20,409.