Bad news for Ratan Tata’s group TCS as it faces strong backlash over…, these people hit hardest…
Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), one of India’s largest IT multinational corporations, is facing a backlash for its questionable pay practices. More precisely, it is about the Quarterly Performance Bonus (QPB) system. The backlash grew on June 15, when Saubhik Bhattacharya, General Secretary of the All India IT and ITES Employees Union (AIITEU), accused the company in a public forum of “exploiting” its workers. In particular, he slammed the company for what he described as “strategic exploitation.” According to him, the irregular payout of performance bonuses is affecting the financial well-being of thousands of employees, despite being a part of their official Cost to Company (CTC).
Why is Ratan Tata’s group TCS facing strong backlash?
“Several employees of Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) have reached out to AIITEU expressing great discontent over the strategic exploitation by TCS using the facade of Quarterly Performance Bonus (QPB)…,” the statement read as reported by EdexLive.
Saubhik Bhattacharya of the All India IT and ITES Employees’ Union (AIITEU) states that TCS’s salary structure has both fixed and variable components, with the variable component including monthly performance pay and a Quarterly Performance Bonus (QPB). Although the QPB is intended for rewarding performance, the AIITEU asserts that it is often slashed or withheld in TCS’s discretion. Union-sponsored surveys show that many mid-level employees (Assistant Consultants, Associate Consultants, and C4 Consultants) receive only 40%-75% of their qualified QPB payments over the last two years, reported EdexLive.
Who within TCS is hit hardest by this problem?
On average, these QPB deductions have reduced employees’ annual Cost to Company (CTC) by 30 %, leaving them with much less than originally promised. The union also pointed out that QPB payouts are now explicitly tied to office work in person. Since the COVID-19 transition, TCS has been pushing employees to give up their WFH arrangements. Only employees who maintain an 85% attendance record in the office will qualify to earn their full QPB, making attendance a precondition of earning performance-linked incentives.
Bhattacharya called this policy “disturbing,” adding that it creates unwarranted pressures on employees—especially as the bonus does not depend on an employee’s individual performance, but on the organization’s revenue over the quarter.
TCS’s new policy, enacted on June 12, 2025, is under scrutiny due to its strict attendance protocols. The policy stipulates that an employee may be subject to disciplinary measures as determined by the company, for working fewer than 225 business days in the preceding 12-month period or unallocated periods of 35 business days per year.
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