TCS bench policy exploitative, distressing, says IT employees union

The Nascent Information Technology Employees Senate (NITES) has sent a letter to the labour and employment ministry highlighting the alleged distressing and exploitative practices being carried out by Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) under its recently enforced bench policy.

India's largest IT services provider's bench policy, enforced last month, states that employees can remain on the bench — or without any project allocation — for a maximum of 35 days a year, beyond which they risk career degrowth or even termination.

"While on the surface it presents itself as a resource optimisation and engagement strategy, a closer and humane reading reveals that it institutionalises a culture of fear, pressure, and psychological burden on employees who are between projects. These are not non-performing employees, but skilled professionals who find themselves temporarily without allocation, often due to shifting business priorities, client project changes, or internal inefficiencies that are beyond their control. Instead of support, they are met with suspicion, coercion, and threats," NITES president Harpreet Singh Saluja wrote in the letter.

TCS has a workforce of about 613,000 people as of 30 June.

NITES further said that TCS' bench policy "enforces an environment of constant surveillance and control," thus treating employees as liabilities. "Their availability is expected around the clock, with zero flexibility. Even a short period of unavailability is met with veiled threats, warnings, or HR inquiries," it said.

TCS says that employees must be in projects for at least 225 days a year, failing which management action will be taken.

"If they fail to find an allocation, the burden is again placed on them, not the organisation. There is no accountability for the failure of internal systems, only punishment for employees," Saluja said.

TCS CEO K Krithivasan had defended the company's policy last week, stating that employees are expected to take responsibility for their careers. "While HR supports project placement, we also expect associates to proactively seek new assignments after completing existing ones. What you are seeing now is simply a more structured version of what has long been in practice. We aim to minimise bench time."