How does TCS select its consultants?
At the entry level, TCS carefully selects its consultants from premier technical and management institutes and from various professional backgrounds. Selection is a planned operation involving aptitude tests / psychometric tests / group discussions and interviews.

TCS also recruits experienced professionals laterally.

What is the need for service agreement?
On joining TCS entrants are required to sign service and confidentiality agreements, in which they accept to stay with TCS for the two years following their initial year of training. TCS invests significantly in training and adding value to the individual and it is only fair that it protects its investment in some manner. The confidentiality agreement is aimed at providing protection to the individual property rights of TCS and its clients.

Why are entrants required to sign overseas agreements?
The experience and skills acquired by consultants abroad are fruitfully used in enriching the knowledge of their counterparts in India, and are also applied in projects for Indian clients. TCS feels it is crucial to utilize this knowledge and experience. It is, therefore, in the interest of the country and of TCS that overseas deputation agreements are drawn up with its people, for ensuring reasonable continuity to enable effective knowledge transfer.

How location of work is determined?
The location of work is determined by the following considerations:

• Location of the client and the skills required by the client organization
• Redeployment of resources across branches to meet workload balancing and skill requirements
• Location rotation of people to widen their horizons and professional outlook, and to provide opportunities to work as module leaders, project leaders, etc.

What are the features of TCS 'Health Insurance Scheme' (HIS)?
All TCS employees and their families are covered under the New India Assurance Health Insurance Scheme. The scheme provided for TCS employees is more extensive than any other health insurance scheme provided by New India. TCS has, from time to time, got New India to enlarge its scheme and enhance its benefits.

One such enhancement has been done is the introduction of the Cashless HIS scheme.

Does TCS make its recruits sign a 'bond'?
TCS does not make any TCSer sign a 'bond' per se. However, there is a standard service agreement , mentioned earlier that is more like a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the individual and the organization. As you are probably aware, TCS invests approximately 6 per cent of its annual revenues in the training and development of its employees. In value terms, that works out to upwards of Rs. 200 crore a year. In addition to this formal training, there are a host of professional development and continuing education courses provided to TCSers to groom them into world-class professionals.

It is only fair that a service agreement is entered into to ensure that both TCS and TCSers optimally leverage and mutually benefit from these inputs for at least two to three years. We would like our employees to be our partners in growth. We at TCS follow the '4E' approach for individual development - exposure, experience, expertise and excellence - and the agreement acts as a potent instrument in aligning the TCSer's career with the 4E model.

What are my chances of going abroad?
For the first 18 months we acclimatize you to the organization and consulting as a profession through our domestic projects. After this, depending on project requirements, you get a chance to prove your mettle in overseas projects. It is generally been observed that a TCSer gets to go abroad within 36 months of joining the organization. However, if your skill and performance is of a high order, you may get a chance to catch an early flight abroad.

Is there a practice of job rotation within projects?
Yes, because we believe in shaping your career while ensuring that your skills are maximized. Consequently, you get exposed to different industry and service practices, technologies and software platforms. TCS follows a systemic job rotation process.

TCS salaries are considered to be low. Why?
The salary levels on offer are wrongly perceived such, perhaps when seen with a peripheral view. Compensation packages at TCS are designed scientifically, after taking into account current market trends. They are, in fact, enriched because they have both short and long-term components. The following elements are considered while designing a salary package:

• Long term benefits such as provident fund, superannuation fund etc. These are given due importance and factored into the overall package.
• Being a good corporate citizen, TCS honors the tax liabilities of TCSers. It does not disguise remuneration with clever tax-evasion tactics.
• We follow the economic value-added structure for remuneration. EVA is a performance-based incentive model that links remuneration directly with the value created by a TCSer for the organization. So EVA helps place a TCSer's remuneration literally in his or her own hands.
• Additionally, each compensation package has a number of welfare schemes that are not obvious in the initial offer.
• TCS package does not attempt to factor in cost of training or travel etc. like some companies do to inflate the final figure.

Bearing the above factors in mind, it becomes clear that a TCSer's salary, contingent to performance, is on par with the best in the industry.

Is it true that TCS offers only maintenance projects?
No. The TCS portfolio has a healthy distribution, from high-end consulting to maintenance projects. Employees get opportunities to work on a wide variety of jobs. Furthermore, our job rotation system ensures that employees don't get typecast or slotted into any kind of job permanently.

Why doesn't TCS offer ESOPs?
Fundamentally, because TCS is a privately held division of TATA Sons. Its shares are not publicly held or listed on any stock exchange in India or abroad. Secondly, as the experiences of other companies have shown, ESOPs, as an incentive scheme, have not been very rewarding.

Instead, to provide incentives and reward performance, we have the EVA model, which ensures that you are rewarded in consonance with the value you create for the organization.

Does TCS allow its employees to take sabbaticals?
Yes. Deserving employees are granted sabbaticals, with the understanding that their newly acquired knowledge will add value to the company.

Has the global slowdown affected TCS?
In this day and age, when technology and networking has crunched distances and melted boundaries, no business entity can remain totally insulated from the global environment. However, due to our global presence, dynamic business strategies, wide assignment portfolio, long standing client relationships and credibility, we are confidant of achieving significant business growth year after year and move ahead to realize our vision of being Global Top 10 by 2010.

Is TCS still recruiting?
Yes, and the recruitment process is driven by business needs. Based on our needs and projections, we continue to be the largest recruiters of IT professionals in Asia.