TCS does away with Bell Curve model

Following the footsteps of global tech giants like IBM and Accenture, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), India’s largest IT services company, has also done away with the Bell Curve Model of employee appraisal.

N Chandrasekaran, chief executive & managing, said the recent appraisals did not follow the Bell Curve model. “We are appraising employees on individual performances, and appraisals will be more regular than an annual or quarterly feature.”

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While the company did not provide further details on the new system they have put in place, sources say it is still being fine-tuned. “We have not received any mail, but seniors have told us that the company has done away with Bell Curve system,” said an employee on condition of anonymity. For FY17, TCS announced a salary hike of 8-12 per cent in India and two-four per cent onsite. The new system will be applicable to all 353,843 employees.

One of the reasons behind doing away with the Bell Curve system was the high attrition rate. For instance, in the first quarter of FY16, attrition touched 15.9 per cent. Attrition for the same quarter in FY15 was about 12 per cent. For Q4 FY16, TCS reported attrition of 15.5 per cent.

Typically, the Bell Curve segregates all employees into distinct baskets — top, average and bottom performers — with the vast majority being treated as average performers.

Infosys, towards the end of 2015, announced its decision to do away with the model. Infosys now periodically reviews the goals for employees.

In March this year, Wipro announced its new feedback-based evaluation system. At Wipro, the new evaluation system will be feedback based and will be more frequent.