TCS: Moonlighting is an Ethical Issue

At the recent earnings call, TCS called moonlighting an ethical issue and said that it does not reflect the core values of the company. Milind Lakkad, global head of human resources at TCS, said that the company has a long-term commitment towards its employees and vice versa. “Moonlighting, we believe, is an ethical issue. It is against our TCS core values and culture,” he added, saying that he is sharing his opinion from the TCS perspective, not the IT industry as a whole. 

The Indian IT industry is going through mixed emotions on the entire moonlighting issue. While a few companies are fairly progressive with the idea, many Indian IT companies are strongly opposed to it. 

Read: Indian IT takes Moonlighting Seriously

This is not the first time TCS has said this about moonlighting. At a media event, N Ganapathy Subramanian, the COO at TCS, opined similar views. He said that moonlighting was an ethical issue and that the IT industry will likely lose out in the long term. “On a lighter note, yesterday was a full moon, and the members of TCS, including me, were on the lawn enjoying the view,” quipped Subramanian. 

Clearly, TCS is somewhat sceptical about moonlighting. It is highly unlikely to entertain moonlighting anytime soon as its attrition is at an all-time high at 21.5 per cent, compared to the previous year, where it stood at 11.9 per cent. 

Unlike Wipro, TCS has not taken any action against employees who are moonlighting so far. Further, TCS chief Rajesh Gopinathan clarified that it is encoded in their employment contract that their employees are not allowed to work for any other organisation. “We have been communicating to them, and they know it reasonably well,” said Lakkad. 

TCS embraces hybrid work culture 

“All the seniors are coming to the office and we are rostering all our remaining staff. One-third of our staff come to the office at least three times a week,” said Lakkad.
In the coming months, the company looks to increase the days for work from the office. “Every day, I see a lot of pictures and videos about how people are happy coming back to work. I am very excited about that,” said Lakkad.