Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) has slashed the variable pay of its senior employees following the January-March 2025 quarter, according to Moneycontrol. This makes the third quarter in a row that the IT giant has made this decision.
70% of TCS employees will still be receiving 100% of their variable pay. However, the other 30%, according to the company, have been given a pay based on their performance. The cut in variable pay comes after the company announced a delay in wage hikes for the year in April 2025.
“We have paid out 100% QVA (Quarterly Variable Allowance) to over 70% of the company. For all other grades, the QVA depends on their unit’s business performance. This is in line with our standard practice across quarters,” TCS said in a statement.
Within TCS, the employees are divided into different grades, with trainees given the grade Y. Systems Engineer roles are at C1, but the level goes up to C2, C3 – A&B, C4, C5 and CXOs. Among them, those within the C3B band and higher are designated as senior employees.
According to reports, employees from high-performing sectors like BFSI (banking, financial services, and insurance) have received 100% of their variable pay. However, those within the low-performance areas have been given lower amounts.
In April 2024, TCS even implemented a variable pay scale based on employee attendance in the office. As per the rule, only employees with above 60% of in-office attendance are eligible for variable pay. Those within the 60-75% bracket are given 50% of their variable pay, while employees coming to the office for 75-85% of days are given 75% of their payout. Only employees with an in-office attendance higher than 85% are eligible for their complete variable pay.
While TCS seems focused on its training initiatives and has rolled out over 1.1 lakh promotions recently, the variable pay cuts have seemingly sparked some discontent. Many of the senior employees have pointed out that the company has been slashing variable pay for three quarters, with some even receiving only 20% of their promised payout.