Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) has tightened enforcement of its work-from-office policy by putting final anniversary appraisals on hold for employees
who failed to meet its mandatory five-day office attendance requirement in earlier quarters. According to information reviewed by The Times of India, the decision impacts employees whose appraisal processes were completed at the managerial level but have not received corporate approval due to non-compliance with work-from-office norms. The move primarily affects fresher cohorts, as TCS discontinued final anniversary appraisals for lateral hires in 2022. Internal communications indicate that employees who did not meet attendance requirements up to Q2 of FY26 (July–September 2025) have had their appraisals frozen. The company has also warned that continued non-compliance in subsequent quarters could result in exclusion from the FY26 banding cycle altogether, meaning no performance band or appraisal outcome for the year. At TCS, anniversary appraisals follow a structured annual process linked to an employee’s work anniversary. Once initiated, managers create goal sheets that are reviewed and finalised by employees before performance is assessed and banding results are released. Under the revised enforcement, attendance compliance has become a critical prerequisite for the completion of this cycle. TCS has adopted one of the strictest return-to-office mandates among India’s top IT services firms, requiring employees to work from the office five days a week. Unlike many peers that continue to follow hybrid models, the company has now explicitly linked physical attendance to performance evaluations and variable pay. To support the policy, TCS has formalised a limited exception framework. Employees can claim up to six days per quarter for personal emergencies, with no carry-forward of unused days. Operational challenges such as space or network issues can also be logged through structured exception requests. However, the company has ruled out bulk uploads or backend adjustments, signalling zero tolerance for attendance-related loopholes.
