TCS job cuts: Trade unions crack IT code

CHENNAI: The last bastion has been breached. The Indian information technology sector, which was untouched by trade union activity, is suddenly being targeted by both organised and unorganised groups. The trigger appears to be the decision of the country's biggest software services firm, Tata Consultancy Services, to send home "underperformers".

First, it was a loosely knit Forum for IT Employees (FITE) that took to the streets of Chennai and Bengaluru to draw attention to the rights of tech workers at TCS. Now, the floodgates appear to have been opened with organised trade unionists like the left-wing CITU, right-wing BMS and INTUC jumping in. Political parties such as PMK have also asked for government intervention to protect jobs.

"I believe the IT industry is due for unionisation though the employees themselves have so far stayed away from the trade union system due to fear of being black-listed. The industry was also given exemption from Industrial Employment (Standing Orders) Act," said Chandrika R, a researcher and coordinator of Tamil Nadu Labour, a blog on labour issues in India.

Industrial Employment (Standing Orders) Act requires employers to define and inform workers of the terms and conditions of employment. While industry sources said the Act is not relevant to the modern services industry, activists said the absence of standardized hiring, appraisal and firing policy will make IT employers less accountable for their actions.

As per Trade Unions Act, 1926, seven or more members of the union can submit their application in the prescribed form to the registrar of trade unions. The application should be accompanied by a copy of the rules of the trade union. The members need to be current employees of the establishment. Activists say reluctance of staff is the biggest problem in unionization of the IT sector.

A few weeks ago, TCS said it would send home "non-performers". While agitating techies say TCS was sending home more than 25,000 workers, the tech giant maintains that it will send home not more than 3,000 techies as part of its "workforce restructuring".

"Right now, our focus is to mobilize maximum signatures for our online petition addressed to the Prime Minister since we need collective strength and unity to consider forming a union in the future," said Parimala P, coordinator of FITE.

A Soundararajan, general secretary of CITU, Tamil Nadu, said his union was aware of the happenings in TCS and has dispatched a few of its members to show support and solidarity to FITE. "We will sit down and discuss the issue with those involved and decide on further action," said Soundararajan.

BJP-backed Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS) officials said they would get a first-hand account from the affected TCS staffers. "We have to understand this sector and TCS. We will then mobilize people for the union, if need be," said S Durai Raj, secretary of BMS.

Tamil Nadu state president of Congress-backed INTUC, G Kalan said that though the time is ripe for a trade union for the IT sector, one can take off only if employees cooperate.

However, TCS, which is the eye of the storm, said, "As a performance-driven company, workforce optimization is a continuous process, which happens throughout the year, taking into account employee performance, business needs, and people's aspirations. This leads to some amount of involuntary attrition in the company. This is nothing out of the ordinary or a special situation for us to comment about." The company has a total hiring target of 55,000 professionals and is on track to meet it.

IT industry lobby body Nasscom did not wish to comment on the matter.

1 lakh, and counting: TCS is now top employer of women

MUMBAI: In a landmark for India Inc, the number of female employees at Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) has crossed the one-lakh mark, making it the country's biggest employer of women in the private sector. Women now comprise one-third of the IT major's 3.06 lakh workforce. This makes TCS, also the most valued company in India, one of the top employers of women in the technology sector globally. The top slot is held by IBM, which has an estimated 1.3 lakh women out of a workforce of 4.31 lakh. 

In terms of market cap, the next two players in the domestic IT market are Infosys (54,537 women employees) and Wipro (45,276) but the female workforce of TCS is more than the two combined. The IT and BPO sector collectively employs about 3.1 million, of which nearly one million are women, according to industry body Nasscom.

The Mumbai-headquartered IT giant's achievement has also given a boost to the $103-billion Tata Group's female employee strength, which now stands at more than 1.4 lakh. "We have a lot of female talent in India, especially in the technology space. It's great to see that the company has been able to attract them. From 10,000 to 1,00,000, that is a growth of about 10x in 10 years," N Chandrasekaran, CEO and MD, TCS, told TOI. 

In India, across companies and sectors, the gender ratio is undeniably skewed towards male employees. However, India Inc has been stepping up efforts to bridge the gap by implementing progressive policies and creating innovative solutions to hire, retain and encourage women talent. "Diversity challenges homogeneity in thinking, which is a good thing. There is no doubt that we want to be a rich and diverse organization," said the TCS boss. There have been several research reports which indicate that women think differently than men, and bring more empathy and intuition to leadership. 

Within TCS, a major chunk —over 40% — of its women employees are either new recruits or at junior levels, while about 11% are in the senior management.



Though the tech giant has improved its gender diversity, it sees significant attrition after women rise to the mid-management level. To check this trend, the company has introduced steps like extended maternity leave options, flexi-work hours and onsite child-care facilities. It also has re-orientation courses that help women integrate seamlessly into the workforce on their return from a career break. Besides, it has mentoring programmes to groom women candidates with high potential for leadership roles.


Ratan Tata, chairman of TCS with N Chandrasekaran (L), MD and CEO in Mumbai.

"While the one lakh figure may sound good, it is important for me to create a mechanism that ensures women continue to pursue careers. Because women diversity comes down as you go higher," said Chandrasekaran. Women are scarce at the company's leadership rank and non-existent at the board level. The government mandates at least one woman director in listed companies like TCS by March 31, 2015. 

Besides attrition, women's safety is another matter of concern. "We are creating emergency technology applications. We have also informed our employees to not leave alone in case they are working till late as a precautionary measure,'' said Chandrasekaran, who has set an internal target of zero incident. TCS has launched a safety app which automatically sends distress messages along with location details to a set of pre-designated contacts and also calls up one of them.