TCS planning to double employees’ salaries to reduce pay disparity: Story in 5 points

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) is taking initiatives to eliminate employee wage discrepancies. TCS’ chief human resources officer, Milind Lakkad, disclosed in an interview that the business plans to provide employees the opportunity to upskill and double their earnings. While many tech companies are laying off large numbers of employees in order to survive, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) stands out by not only hiring freshers but also addressing pay disparity, which is a common issue in the industry.

TCS CHRO on reducing pay disparity: Story in 5 points

TCS’ CHRO Milind Lakkad previously spoke with Moneycontrol about the company’s ambitions to minimize the wage gap between the highest and lowest-paid employees over the next several years.

Here is the full story in five points:

TCS employs over 6 lakh people worldwide and prefers to invest in its workers and provide them opportunities to advance in their careers rather than employing freshers at exorbitant salaries. The organization provides some in-house programs that allow employees to advance their careers. In the interview, Lakkad stated that TCS intends to enroll more people with varying degrees of expertise in these programs.

TCS’s upskilling programs provide employees the opportunity to double their wages if they pass the exams. Elevate is one such talent development program. Approximately 400,000 employees have registered for the program, with experience ranging from 0 to 12 years. Those who pass the high bar evaluation have their salary automatically quadrupled. However, approximately 10% of people each year pass such high-bar assessments and have their salaries doubled.

Lakkad further stated that the corporation is considering raising fresher pay and providing 100 percent quarterly variable compensation to its employees, particularly those at junior ranks. “However, do we need to do anything else (to reduce pay disparities)?” All of these programs we have are a better strategy than a general increase in pay at the bottom. Even with that, would we consider altering the wages at the bottom? Yes, the answer is yes. But when that would happen is unknown; there is anything we are considering,” he told Moneycontrol.

Despite the company’s high churn rate, the CHRO revealed that approximately 125,000 current employees have been with the organization for more than a decade. TCS welcomes worldwide business schools to give experiential learning for the development and transformative leadership training to guarantee that this set of workers, with over 10-20 years of experience, is up to date with the newest capabilities. Instead of pursuing external personnel, the corporation seeks to develop and elevate individuals from these groups into senior positions. TCS is also devoted to ensuring that its senior staff learn and grasp the latest technologies, such as cloud, AI, cybersecurity, and others, and are put in diverse job roles that fit with their updated abilities, according to Lakkad.

TCS has announced that for the fiscal year 2024, it will make up to 44,000 employment offers to fresh graduates. Unlike other software businesses, TCS elected to honor all offers to freshers rather than rescinding or postponing onboarding. Not only that, but Lakkad pledged that existing employees will receive 100 percent of their variable pay in addition to the regular 12-15 percent raise. “We are honoring all job offers and added 22,600 employees net in FY 23.” “We onboarded over 44K freshers and our highest-ever number of experienced professionals this year,” Lakkad said earlier this month in a statement.