TCS claims 85% of its India employees have been allowed to work from home

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), the country’s largest software services exporter, has put 85% of its employees in India on work-from-home, a person familiar with developments at the company told TechCircle. Following the escalation of the Covid-19 pandemic in the India over the last week, large portions of the country have gone into lockdown making it unfeasilble for IT services companies such as TCS to continue to run operations on-premise at their offices and campuses.

TCS declined to comment on specific queries with respect to the number of employees who are currently working remotely. “The safety and well-being of our associates is most important to us. TCS is aligned with the World Health Organization’s strategy of disease containment and is also following the advisories of local government agencies. TCS has formed an apex committee under senior leadership, which is monitoring the emerging situation on a real-time basis,” the company said in a statement.

The company said that all immediate internal and external events have been postponed, its associates are complying with business travel restrictions, and those who have travelled to vulnerable geographies are in self quarantine.

Up until last week, only about 40% of the company’s global workforce was being allowed to work remotely, The Economic Times reported. Tata Sons chairman N Chandrasekaran also met with Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray government on Friday to seek special permission, the report said.

Globally, TCS employs close to 450,000 people and India accounts for the highest headcount.

In an email to employees on Friday, CEO Rajesh Gopinathan, said that many organisations relied on TCS to keep their vital services running in critical times, according to the report.

"As you are aware, TCS supports mission critical systems that run public services, banks and stock exchanges, insurance and healthcare institutions, telecom and utility providers, retail, consumer goods and travel companies, which in turn provide essential services to people globally. These organisations and the societies they serve rely on TCS to keep their vital services running in these critical times,” Gopinathan said in the email.

“Most people have laptops, and whoever does not have one, will set up their work desktop at home. However, some people from the administration and IT departments are still working out of the office,” a TCS employee said, on the condition of anonymity.

The company has enabled work from home using its Secure Borderless Workspaces (SBWS) to ensure infrastructure support, Gopinathan said in his letter. 

This article has been amended from the original to accuratenly reflect the number of employees working remotely at TCS.