Tata Consultancy Services / AI has replaced humans - TCS will lay off more than 12,000 employees!

Tata Consultancy Services: Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), the giant IT company of the Tata Group, has taken a big and shocking decision, which may affect the jobs of thousands of employees in the coming months. The company has announced that it will cut its global workforce by about 2 percent during the financial year 2026 (April 2025 to March 2026). Currently, TCS employs about 6.13 lakh employees, and according to this, this layoff can affect more than 12,200 employees. This reduction will apply to all the verticals of the company and in the countries where TCS is operating.

CEO statement: "The toughest decision of my career"

TCS CEO K. Krithivasan clarified the reasons behind this decision in a recent interview. He said, "We are moving rapidly towards new technologies, especially artificial intelligence (AI) and changes in operating models. This is changing the way we work, and we have to make our organization more agile and future-ready."

Kritivasan also admitted that the company made every effort to upskill employees and deploy them in new projects, but there were some roles that were not possible to adjust to the new system. He termed this layoff as "the most difficult decision of his career". According to him, this cut will mainly affect mid and senior level employees.

TCS's preparation before layoffs

TCS has clarified that it will provide a comprehensive support package to the affected employees along with a notice period. This includes:

Added severance package: Financial assistance will be provided to the employees.

Health insurance: Affected employees will be provided health insurance.

Outplacement assistance: Employees will be helped to find a new job.

The company also stressed that the main reason for the layoffs is not AI, but the limitations of re-skilling and deployment. TCS says that it is constantly investing in training and skill development for its employees, but not all roles have been able to adapt to the new technological requirements.

New Bench Policy: Increased stress among employees

TCS's recently implemented new bench policy has further increased the concern among the employees. Under this policy, which will come into effect from June 12, 2025:

Each employee will have to complete at least 225 billable days in a year, that is, they will have to work on projects that generate direct revenue for the company.

The period of stay on the bench has now been limited to only 35 days, which was quite long earlier.

This policy has become a cause of concern especially for those employees who remain on the bench waiting for new projects. Experts believe that thousands of employees may also be affected by this policy.

How much impact on Indian employees?

Although TCS did not clarify how many employees in India would be affected by this layoff, India being the company's largest employee base, it is certain that there will be an impact here. Especially mid and senior level experienced professionals, who have been with the company for a long time, may be most affected by this cut.

Future strategy and challenges

This move by TCS is part of the rapidly changing landscape in the global IT industry, where new technologies such as AI and automation are redefining work systems. Although the company has announced a support package for employees, it remains to be seen what impact this layoff will have on employee morale and the company's image.