What are some weird rules that TCS has for their employees?

• 9 hours work shift.

Like most other service based IT companies, TCS has a mandate for its employees to clock nine hours inside the ODC. This accounts for time excluding lunch. Excluding lunch and small breaks which you require in between, you need to sit in front of your computer for 9 hours each day. The weird thing is, TCS is concerned about the time its employees spend in front of the computer. There is no mandate in completing the assigned tasks. Its like, if you complete your work for the day in 6 hours, you still have to remain idle for the next three hours; sometimes you would be assigned other people's task too. But in case you do not complete your work in time, nobody will bother you as long as you complete minimum 9 hours. This policy is really weird. I think that if I am delivering my assgined tasks on time, it shouldn't matter if I am clocking 6 hours or 9.

• 90 days Notice Period.

TCS seems to have a fascination towards the number 9. 9 hours of work, 90 days notice. If you put your resignation letter, you are still required to serve for another 90 days in TCS. Some managers are kind and let you buy out early but 90% managers take it to their ego and won't let go off the employee. This policy in turn forces many employees to lose out on exciting offers because not every company will wait for you for 90 days.

• Random Project Allocation.

For the RMGs who are responsible for allocating you to a project, it doesn't matter if you know Java or Machine Learning or whether you're from Computer Science background or Mechanical Engineering. RMGs randomly tag you to any random project irrespective of your skill set or engineering background. Many coding enthusiasts, as a result, are tagged to support projects where there is nothing to learn while people who have no coding expertise and very little knowledge about technology are tagged to development projects and they literally shiver in fear since they don't know how to code.

• HR policy.

HRs are completely biased towards the Manager. HRs are supposed to help employees but not in TCS. If you need a transfer for whatever reason may it be, TCS won't provide it. The only way to get a transfer is to generate fake medical certificates so as to facilitate the transfer. If you request them to change your project or help you to get a release from the project, they ignite a fire between the manager and the employee instead.

• Dress Code.

If only TCS stressed on their employee benefits as much as they did on their employee dress code. The dress code exists only in Indian service based companies. You are required to wear formals from Monday to Thursday; but why? How does your dress code has anything to do with your productivity? On the other hand, I see companies which do not have such absurd policies make more productive employees. We are not in schools that we need to be tied with a defined dress code.

• Random ratings during appraisal cycle.

The TCS management doesn't care about its employees and that's a known fact. The rating that you get decides your increment but most employees receive unsatisfactory ratings. You can work hard all the year, finish all tasks given to you yet you end up receiving a C band, the lowest rating. Also, many employees who just sit back and hardly does any work but has a good rapport with the manager ends up getting a A band.

• Leave Policy.

The problem is not with the number of leaves that gets credited to your account but with the number of leaves that you can actually avail. You might have leaves in your balance but still your manager or lead won't approve of it. There are projects which still makes you work or be available on calls on the days you are on leave. You ask for a sick leave, it doesn't get approved. You need a week long vacation to spend time with family, it won't get approved. But the injustice is only with the junior employees. The senior ones go on leave for weeks without any approvals or applying for it. But when it comes to juniors, they don't get a day's leave even if its urgent.

• Meagre salary hikes.

Salary is one of the main reasons why an employee works for a company. And TCS has one of the worst hike policies. Even though they make crores of profit each quarter and lead the industry in terms of market cap, the rewards it gives to its employees is negligible. The annual hikes range between 2 to 6% only. People having worked for 10 years at TCS end up with a gross CTC of 8 lakh rupees only. That is way too below the market standards.