Key Highlights:
TCS will give suppliers a ₹40,000 bonus per senior candidate hired within 30 days of the offer.
The bonus will be repaid if the hiring falls through in the first six months; the strategy focuses on high-priority verticals such as BFSI, cloud, and cybersecurity.
Key Background:
1. Lateral Hiring Velocity and Effectiveness
TCS is also working on accelerating the lateral recruitment by convincing vendors to onboard experienced individuals at a quicker pace. The ₹40,000 quick joiner incentive will help decrease the average time to join and poach talent before considering other competing offers. It reduces offer dropouts, which are prevalent in the IT hiring industry in India.
2. Retention-Based Recruitment Model
To prevent quality from being sacrificed due to the rush for speed, TCS included a retention clause under which vendors will have to refund the bonus if the new employee quits within six months. The clause aligns vendor incentives with corporate long-term interests and minimizes unwanted attrition that can throw off project schedules and affect client satisfaction.
3. Business Needs and Talent Mobilization
With new multi-million-dollar orders lined up, including a large one with a large UK insurer, TCS needs to convert bench strength into billable assets fast. Timeliness in getting experienced professionals onboard is crucial to servicing client commitments and delivering profitability. Vendors are incentivized to give priority to TCS mandates under the scheme and get right candidates on board in shorter timeframes.
4. Strategic Change in Hiring Priorities
This policy is a larger industry shift: away from bulk hiring of fresher talent and towards targeted lateral recruitment of niche skills. With higher demand in areas like cloud computing, artificial intelligence, and cybersecurity, organizations like TCS are ramping up the push to hire experienced professionals who will be able to deliver day one.
5. Wider Industry Implications
This retaliatory recruitment drive can make other big IT players such as Infosys, Wipro, and HCLTech to do the same. As the war for talent intensifies, tech veterans—particularly 3-10 year experiences—can expect quicker hiring schedules, greater salary negotiation, and better job offers in the following months.
