New Delhi: Tata Consultancy Services, the largest IT services provider in the country, has issued a clarification which seeks to put an end to the rumours that are afloat about it planning large scale (nearly 25,000) layoffs. The company yesterday issued a statement in which it called such discussions on social media forums as entirely 'false' and 'baseless'.
In its statement, TCS said, "We would like to place on record that TCS has not initiated, and is not planning to initiate, any large scale exits of any section of its staff in any part of the organisation." The company further added that involuntary attrition for the first nine months of this year has been 2574 employees which represent 0.8 per cent of the total employee strength. "The total involuntary attrition for the current fiscal year will be around 1 per cent," it said.
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The reports of large scale layoffs got prominence when a disgruntled employee posted a sound recording of her exit interview.
On its part the company has maintained that only "non-performers" have been asked to leave and the lay-offs at TCS are no more in number than in the last few years.
"The involuntary attrition for the first nine months of this year has been 2,574 employees which represents 0.8 per cent of the total employee strength. The corresponding numbers for FY14 and FY13 were 2,203 and 2,132 respectively. The total involuntary attrition for the current fiscal year will be around 1 per cent," the company said.
Recently a Chennai-based group of IT-professionals called the Young Tamil Nadu Movement, launched the Forum for IT Employees (FITE), and said it is mobilising employees who have lost their jobs as part of ‘involuntary attrition.' The group has also threatened to take legal action against the company for laying off employees.
The group has also initiated an online campaign by starting a page on social networking site Facebook titled, “We are against TCS Layoff” and that the country's largest software exporter is planning to sack “25,000 non-performers by the end of February 2015”. The page now has over 5,000 followers.
"We have consistently nurtured our in house talent and have also been the largest job creators in the country. Our leadership status continues to present many growth opportunities for all our employees, and it is reflected in the fact that we have a consistently had the highest employee retention levels in the industry," TCS said.
Most affected by the restructuring drive could be middle-to-senior level positions, sources had said, adding that some employees could be offered positions at vendors working with TCS.
TCS will report its December quarter earnings on Thursday, when the management is likely to throw more light on the issue.
