TCS cuts variable pay for these employees for second quarter in a row

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) has reportedly reduced the quarterly variable pay for its senior employees for the October-December quarter, even though they followed the strict work-from-office policy, reported MoneyControl. This marks the second consecutive quarter that TCS has cut variable pay for certain employees. The country’s largest software exporter previously cut variable pay of senior staff for July-September quarter, 2024. Some employees then received only 20-40% of their quarterly variable allowances (QVA), while others got none. On the contrary, nearly 70% QVA was given out in Q1FY25.
The report quotes an anonymous employee, who said “I was supposed to get Rs 54,000 in QVA, but ended up getting Rs 21,000 last quarter and this quarter it was even less at Rs 16,000”.

In April 2024, TCS introduced a revised variable pay policy that ties employees' office attendance to their quarterly payouts. The new policy includes four attendance brackets, with those attending the office less than 60% of the time receiving no variable pay.
Employees with attendance between 60-75% will receive 50% of the variable pay, while those attending 75-85% will be eligible for 75%. Only employees with over 85% office attendance will qualify for the full variable pay.
Meanwhile, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) posted a 11.95% increase in net profit to Rs 12,380 crore for Q3. This marks a rise from ₹11,058 crore in the same period last year and ₹11,909 crore in the previous September quarter. The company’s total income also grew by 6.13% to ₹65,216 crore, up from ₹61,445 crore in the year-ago period and slightly higher than the ₹64,988 crore recorded in the preceding quarter. TCS, India’s largest IT company, continues to demonstrate steady growth.