People at the Core
With its focus on new and emerging work strategies, TCS has successfully created a template of HR policies for other companies to follow
india is home to many a successful and innovative company, but some stand out more than the rest. With policies focussing on issues ranging from employee benefits to creating a positive work environment and opportunities for growth to skill development, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) has distinguished itself as a great place to work from one that is just good. In doing so, TCS is also setting the template for other firms to follow. And this has helped TCS emerge as the top-ranked firm in the BTTaggd Best Companies to Work For in India ranking this year.
TCS—which will see Global Head of BFSI Business Group K. Krithivasan take over as CEO & MD from incumbent Rajesh Gopinathan on September 15—understands the importance of adapting and exploring new ways of working in the modern era. “It will help us improve the productivity and consistency of the work that gets delivered, reduce the need for governance, up the pace of delivery, and reduce the need for peripheral functions. There is an immediate and urgent need to provide organisational support for new and emerging work models,” says Milind Lakkad, EVP & CHRO at TCS.
Lakkad expects job definitions to evolve as platforms such as ChatGPT, Bard and AI cobots (collaborative robots) become ubiquitous. AI-based tools/bots, Lakkad says, are being leveraged for a wide assortment of strategies with an emphasis on recruitment, talent management, etc. And investing in new tech skills has not only helped TCS stay in the game, but also remain up to date with emerging tech. “Cloud, DevOps and Data Science have now become horizontal skills driving talent development, and we have been incorporating these technologies in multiple proactive talent building investments,” he says.
For Lakkad, TCS’s core HR policy has a lot to do with attracting, developing and retaining diverse talent. “We believe in building a purpose-driven, happy workplace, where every employee is encouraged to follow their passion, thrive together and stay hungry. We strive to... create a stimulating, rewarding and inclusive workplace,” he explains. Talking of inclusion, TCS boasts 35.7 per cent female workers and recognises that a diverse and inclusive workforce is vital to drive innovation, foster creativity and guide business strategies. “This year, TCS reached a significant milestone to become one of the few firms in the world employing more than 200,000 women,” he says.
The company’s policies, too, create a more understanding and supportive environment for women to
work there. For instance, TCS offers an optional 30 days of paid leave to woman associates post-maternity leave, along with ‘leave without pay’ based on requirement and eligibility. “We run a TCS-sponsored online maternity care programme that offers expectant mothers and fathers-to-be expert guidance and counselling through the maternity continuum. We also run TCS Rebegin, an opportunity for women professionals to rejoin the workforce,” he says, adding that the initiative benefits women professionals who have taken a career break and helps them return to the corporate world.
TCS has also introduced a flexible work policy on the maternity continuum along with other benefits that extend beyond women employees. “TCS health insurance now includes medical insurance for same-sex partners and reimbursement for sex reassignment surgery. Further, LGBTQ+ associates may add their partners as dependents in their insurance policy,” he elaborates, while adding that there is complete non-tolerance of unlawful, direct and indirect discrimination, harassment and victimisation.
With a workforce of 613,974 till March 2023, whose average age hovers around 31.4 years across 153 nationalities, Lakkad says that strategic talent development is a key focus area, which has led them to create a culture of lifelong learning. The company’s ‘One HR’ structure has helped the management focus on associates’ well-being, business continuity, compliance and fuelled growth. “Our reimagined HR strategy positions us well to continue delivering outstanding associate experience,” he says.
Lakkad believes that the company’s philosophy of empowering employees, its talent retention policies and a decentralised organisational structure have helped it with succession planning as well. “TCS’s philosophy… has resulted in a large and deep bench of leadership talent that enables robust succession planning and continuity and consistency in strategy,” he explains.
TCS has also invested deeply in reskilling its talent, and this, says Lakkad, has established outstanding learning ecosystems. For instance, close to 400,000 associates are a part of its flagship Elevate programme that offers learning across different grades—including prescriptionbased learning at junior levels and subscription-based learning at mid and senior levels. This helps associates create a brand for themselves and for TCS to create growth and transformation consultants. “We have intensified our focus on equipping our mid-level managers with future-relevant specialised skills to be the growth drivers for our customers. More than 83 per cent of the target associate pool are already participating and close to 60 per cent are certified in various market-relevant skills,” says Lakkad.
That, and more, is what makes TCS stand out among its peers.
when 32-year-old Shoaib, who identifies as a transgender woman, lost her job as a flight attendant during the pandemic, she applied and got offers from leading banks, but they required her to change her gender identity. Shoaib’s desire to be herself resulted in her refusing all the offers. She then applied for the role of a Customer Service Associate at Accenture in India, which has an inclusive LGBTQ+ policy. “We don’t want any special treatment or behaviour. We yearn to be treated equally. That’s what helps people change the notion that we are different,” she says. “That culture of equality at Accenture makes all the difference,” says Shoaib, who joined Accenture in India’s team of more than 300,000 people in October 2020.
“We have a deep-rooted commitment to foster diversity and create an equal workplace culture. For us, Pride is about being open and committed to supporting each other in a psychologically safe environment. Our sensitisation sessions are focussed on helping our people understand the nuances of gender expression and identity. In FY22, we ran a successful internal campaign to normalise the use of inclusive pronouns for our LGBTQ+ people,” says Lakshmi C., MD and Lead of Human Resources at Accenture in India.
Accenture has a six-month-long inclusive internship programme that aims to build a skilled talent pool of transgender candidates. It is designed to help interns develop workplace skills, augment their work experience and establish professional networks for the future. “The programme allows us to assess prospective candidates and create a more diverse workforce,” says Lakshmi. It also hires LGBTQ+ talent through strategic external partnerships, Pride employment fairs and employee referrals.
Inclusivity and diversity are important for Accenture globally. It plans to achieve a gender-balanced workforce by 2025. Globally as well as in India, nearly 47 per cent of its employees are women with 26 per cent of Accenture in India’s leadership team being women, as compared to 29 per cent globally. “We continue to invest in helping our women build enduring and meaningful careers. In addition to our enabling structures such as flexible work options, gender-neutral paternal leave, benefits that enable care
giving and sensitisation training, we have also curated several learning and development programmes for our women to build deep functional, technical and leadership skills,” says Lakshmi. For instance, it launched the Vaahini Women in Leadership, a networking space for women MDs.
Accenture’s focus on providing growth and learning opportunities for its employees is one of the key reasons for it being ranked No. 2 on the BT-Taggd Best Companies to Work For in India ranking this year. Globally, in FY22, it invested $1.1 billion and 40 million hours in the training and development of its employees to make them future-ready. It employs nearly 738,000 people globally of which more than 300,000 are in India.
“Our commitment to the growth of our people is evident from the nearly 157,000 promotions at Accenture across the world in FY22,” says Lakshmi. The company has launched iAspire at Accenture’s Advanced Technology Centres in India—a platform that offers visibility to in-demand career paths so that employees can build personalised career journeys and learning paths. “This encourages our people to expand their skill profile to enable sharper matches between skills, aspirations and available opportunities,” says Lakshmi. This has helped employees like Vishwanath Kadkol, Manager, Capability Network, to make a significant career shift by moving into a business consulting role after spending nearly a decade as part of Accenture’s HR function. “I have benefitted immensely from the accelerated learning path that Accenture offered, along with the hands-on exposure of working across industry sectors,” he says.
Accenture is also evolving from being a ‘consumer of talent’ to a ‘creator of talent’. Last year, in addition to hiring engineering graduates, the company hired nonengineering graduates in India and trained them to develop into multistack technologists. In India, it also launched the Career Reboot 2.0 programme that helped it hire and reskill experienced women professionals who had been on a career break for two years or more.
Through its ‘Skills to Succeed’ programme, the company has skilled over 1.36 million people in India for participation in the digital economy over the last decade. “In FY22, we piloted a successful initiative to create STEM awareness among schoolgirls in grades 6, 7, and 8, so that we can inspire them to build a career in technology,” says Lakshmi.
Recognition at work is important for most employees. “We heard that being recognised and recognising others is key to their sense of belonging. Therefore, in FY22, we re-imagined our recognition programme and enabled all our 738,000+ people across the world with monetary award points, so that they can use them to recognise colleagues regularly, and in the moment,” says Lakshmi.
Layoffs have become a harsh reality in today’s world and Accenture hasn’t escaped it either. It recently laid off 19,000 employees globally. However, Lakshmi says the company will continue to hire depending on business demands. “As we continuously pivot to meet new client demands, our focus is to unlock our people’s potential and help them achieve their professional and personal aspirations,” she says.