TCS halts anniversary appraisals over WFO non-compliance

BENGALURU: TCS has put on hold the final anniversary appraisals for some employees due to work-from-office (WFO) non-compliance in previous quarters. TCS’s final anniversary appraisal process follows an annual cycle after the completion of an employee’s work anniversary. An anniversary (one-year completion) email is sent to eligible freshers, and the update is also reflected on the company’s intranet portal, Ultimatix. TCS, however, discontinued final anniversary appraisals for lateral hires in 2022.“Please note your anniversary appraisal process is completed but not processed further by corporate since you are WFO non-compliant till Q2 FY26 (July 2025 to September 2025). If your anniversary is not committed in January 2025 due to WFO non-compliance in Q3, as a consequence, you will be excluded from the FY26 banding cycle and no performance band will be released,” an email reviewed by TOI said. An email sent to TCS did not elicit a response until the time of going to press.The final anniversary appraisal process begins with the formal initiation of the appraisal, after which the supervisor creates the goal sheet for the employee. The employee then submits the goal sheet and discusses the expectations with the appraiser. Performance is evaluated based on parameters met throughout the year, and based on the final evaluation, the banding results are released.TCS employees are expected to work from the office five days a week. The company is the first among India’s major IT firms to act against employees who do not comply with this requirement. Other firms typically require office presence for two or three days a week. TCS has also linked variable compensation to attendance compliance to ensure adherence.TCS has updated its work-from-office (WFO) policy regarding exception requests last year. TOI had reported that TCS’s note to Indian employees specifies that personal emergencies can be cited for up to six days per quarter, without the option to transfer unused days to the following quarter. The company’s communication also addressed space constraints by allowing staff to submit up to 30 exceptions in a single entry. Network-related issues can be cited for five entries simultaneously. TCS has prohibited bulk uploads or backend entries for seeking exceptions to the office attendance requirement.