Report of correspondent of Mazdoor Ekta Committee
Nascent Information Technology Employees Senate (NITES) that represents India’s IT workers, has sent a letter to the labour and employment ministry, accusing Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) of coercive and punishing practices towards its employees.
TCS announced a new bench policy on 12 June. The policy stipulates that employees without any project allocation for more than 35 days/7 weeks a year, would risk negative career growth or even termination. In effect, this policy has introduced a culture of fear, exerted immense pressure, and psychological burden on employees who are between projects. Employees are being pressured to resign if they fail to secure a new project within 35 days of completing an assignment.
Companies like TCS execute various projects for clients across the world. Workers are assigned to a project by the company management. When a project is completed, the workers who were working on that project are put on the bench. They are forced to be idle until they are assigned to a new project.
As per the new policy, employees must have a minimum of 225 billable days/45 weeks in a rolling 12-month period and can spend no more than 35 days/7 weeks on the bench. Employees have been scrambling for projects, which means intense competition among them. Some are being forced into projects that do not suit their skill sets. Some are getting rejected in client interviews while others are unable to find projects in their home locations. Employees are facing repeated threats of being issued letters of termination and denial of experience if they fail to meet this unrealistic deployment timeline. In some cases, benched employees are even being asked to return their salaries.
At the same time, employees on the bench are expected to be constantly available, log daily timesheets, complete mandatory learning hours and chase new projects. There is constant pressure on employees to upgrade their skills in their spare time. This is almost impossible when they have to work for 10 hours and spend two or three hours travelling between their home and workplace every day.
TCS’ chief executive and managing director is reported to have said, “It’s always been expected that associates take responsibility for their careers. While HR supports project placement, we also expect associates to proactively seek new assignments after completing existing ones.”
Employees cannot be held responsible for project shortages faced by the company which is the reason for employees being on the bench. Designating employees as “associates’ is similar to gig workers being called “partners.” It cannot be the responsibility of employees to find new projects to work on. This is the responsibility of the company management.
Mazdoor Ekta Committee stands with the employees of TCS and with all IT workers in their struggle for an 8-hour workday and security of livelihood. The working class has fought hard to win these rights for all workers and all IT workers must unite to intensify their struggle in the face of new attacks on them.