TCS to use vacant office space for laboratories and R&D facilities
As TCS reduces the office-going workforce to 25 per cent by 2025, TCS looks to use the vacant real estate space to house its laboratories and Research and Development (R&D) facilities, besides using it as modern-day workplaces for its employees.
The company has 4.5 lakh employees, will have a hybrid model and it means people will work remotely and virtually as well as in a office environment, said V Ramakrishnan, Chief Financial Officer of TCS.
According to a recent Business Today report, real estate will continue to be relevant for TCS, he said. “We are saying that in few years’ time we believe that not more than 25 per cent of a person’s time has to be spent in offices or not more than 25 per cent of people will be required in office at a particular time. It does not mean that somebody does not have to go to the office, everyone will go to the office but not for the same length of timeframe. They will be able to work remotely and virtually,” he said.
“The facilities will also serve as modern day workplaces for our associates, and also house our laboratories and Research and Development facilities. So there will be requirement of offices,” he added.
According to recent media reports, TCS has sought approval to build two new IT parks of 5 million square feet and lease another 1 million square feet, despite announcing a massive work-from-home plan.
It was TCS which quickly implemented working-from-home plan for its employees with the onset of COVID-19 pandemic and It has already successfully implemented their Secure Borderless Workspaces (SBWS), which enabled lakhs of employees to start working from home, within days of the lockdown in March. This massive shift from a centralized, tightly controlled delivery mechanism to a distributed delivery mechanism was praise-worthy, and this ensured no disruption of their work.
With the success of the SBWS model, TCS was also among the first to announce the 25×25 work model, through which only 25 per cent of its employees will need to work from office by 2025.
Ramakrishnan said that TCS would return to pre-COVID level of growth by end of the year. “From a medium to long term we are very confident of the strength of our business model. We have recovered a part of the de-growth, but we have to do more. In the long-term, the strength of our business model and investments and the compelling factors will continue to guide us through,” he said.
