IT giant TCS kicks off appraisal cycle during annual compensation review

Falling attrition and lower number of new employees being hired at India's largest IT services players has not meant lower hikes. TCS kicked off the promotion cycle within the company and said that exceptional performers were given 12-15 per cent raise in the annual compensation review. 

For TCS the attrition for the first quarter of FY24 came in at 17.8 per cent, a drastic fall from 20.1 per cent in the Q4 FY23. 

The company said that the average salary hikes were in 6-8 per cent range. however high performers received hikes in 8-10 per cent category and exceptional performers were given 12-15 per cent hikes. 

For Q1 the company will be giving 100 per cent variable pay to 70 per cent of the employees, for 30 per cent it will be performance based.

"We remain focused on developing, retaining and rewarding the best talent in the industry, and enhancing their effectiveness by bringing them back to office to foster our culture," said Milind Lakkad, CHRO, TCS.

He also added that the company's retention level will be back to pre-pandemic level by the second half this fiscal year. TCS traditionally has had attrition at 11-13 per cent. 

However, the softness in business was evident on the firms hiring targets. For the Q1 the company onboarded 532 employees, lower than the 820 it did in the Q4 of Fy23. 

Additionally, the company also confirmed that in some cases it has deferred to onaboard lateral hires. "There have been some delays in deals as a result of that onboarding is getting delayed. But we will honour every offer we have made," said Lakkad in the media briefing.  

On return to office initiative, the company said the pace is picking-up, with 55% of the workforce already in office thrice a week.

On the ongoing investigation in the jobs for bribe issue, the company did not comment in detail. "Whatever had to be said has been stated. As a company we keep on looking at our processes and make the requisite changes," said N Ganapathy Subramaniam, COO and executive director, TCS when asked what were some of the weakness in the system.