Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), India’s largest IT services company, has tweaked its appraisal system to include points for days when employees work from the office, Business Today has learned.
An email sent to managers and team leads in the company read: “Hi All, I request all the appraisers to assign the below RTO (Return To Office) goal immediately to all your team members.”
The email further read, “Goal – Return to office; Target – Average 3 days a week from the nearest TCS office.”
A TCS spokesperson responded to Business Today’s queries and said, “Our appraisals are designed to be a feedback and improvement mechanism for our associates and cover the entire range of expectations including work performance, collaborative working, learning, professional conduct, and other relevant areas.”
It is worth noting that N Ganapathy Subramaniam, Chief Operating Officer, and Executive Director of TCS, had previously told Business Today that the company would be adopting a 25/25/25 model for the mode of working.
As per the 25/25/25 model, by 2025, all employees would only have to spend 25 per cent of their time in the office. And, at a given point in time, only 25 per cent of employees need to be physically present at TCS offices.
This latest initiative by the company is getting mixed responses from HR experts Business Today spoke to.
Aditya Narayan Mishra, Managing Director and CEO of CIEL HR Services, is of the opinion that adding Work From Office points in the appraisal system might not help in correctly assessing an employee’s performance.
“The performance of an employee should be measured solely on the results they produce, irrespective of whether they are working from office or remotely. There could be employees who work from office but are not meeting their targets, awarding them appraisal points for just working from office will not help them improve their performance,” he noted.
Mishra further pointed out that companies are finding it difficult to bring employees back to work after the pandemic and are using creative incentives to get them to work physically from office spaces.
“Employers are struggling to bring their employees back to the office post-COVID. They are trying out new ways to motivate the employees to work from the office. Measures like providing additional support and resources, such as mental health support and flexible scheduling, to help employees adjust to returning to the office, and gradually increasing the number of employees in the office over time are being taken,” he said.