TCS Limits Bench Time To 35 Days, No More Remote Work, Mandates Office Work For Unassigned Employees

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) has implemented a new deployment policy that limits the bench period the time employees spend without client assignments to just 35 business days per year. The policy came into effect on June 12, 2025, and marks a significant change in how India’s largest IT firm is aligning its internal resources with external market demands.

The policy, shared internally with employees and reviewed by the Times of India, is designed to enhance employee productivity and strengthen the company’s utilisation rate, especially in the face of ongoing global economic pressures and slower IT deal closures.

As per the new rules, TCS associates are now expected to log a minimum of 225 billed business days annually, leaving only limited room for non-billable time. This places TCS among the most aggressive IT companies in India in terms of managing employee availability and output.

Work-from-Office Now Mandatory for Bench Staff

One of the most striking changes in the policy is the end of remote work for bench employees. Those who are not assigned to billable projects must now report to office physically, marking a sharp break from the hybrid work models adopted widely during the pandemic.

This policy appears to be for TCS to improve accountability and make bench employees accountable to participate in its company-required upskilling. The required upskilling applies to everyone who is not on a client project.

Structured Upskilling Is Now Mandatory

TCS has specified structured internal training, certification, and participation in internal projects for employees who are on the bench for the 35-day period. The reasoning is to enable the workforce to be deployment ready at short notice, satisfying client expectations and project requirements that are rapidly changing.

By making employees complete these upskilling requirements, TCS wants to create internal agility to minimize delays on the project availability and resource deployment timelines.

Longer Engagement Over Short Client Assignments

The policy is also to reduce instances of many, short client assignments. TCS is wanting to drive longer and more predictable project assignments to create predictability in project delivery pipeline and minimize churn in project teams.

This comes as global IT clients are tightening budgets, ramping down new projects, and asking existing vendors to add even more value is changing how organizations like TCS approach internal staffing.

Focus on Optimisation, Not Layoffs

With a massive workforce of over 600,000 employees, TCS has historically avoided mass layoffs, preferring to manage resources through internal redeployment and performance-based evaluations. This new policy continues that tradition, focusing on high utilisation without resorting to job cuts.

TCS’s move is reflective of broader trends in the IT industry, where cost-efficiency, skill alignment, and rapid response to market needs are becoming central to strategy. As tech budgets come under scrutiny, Indian IT majors are being forced to streamline operations and extract maximum value from existing talent pools.

The updated deployment model from TCS may set a precedent for other IT service providers navigating the same economic uncertainties where bench time is no longer a passive phase, but an actively managed opportunity for growth and readiness.

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