MUMBAI, (PTI): IT services major TCS said reverting to remote work is not the solution to deal with the incidents of sexual harassment and education is the best tool to tackle such issues at work.
TCS chairman N Chandrasekaran made these remarks while replying to shareholder queries on this aspect. In FY24, the number of sexual harassment cases filed by staffers in FY24 stood at 110 against 49 in the year-ago period.
Chandrasekaran said that education is the best solution to reduce such incidents, and stressed that the number of incidents is not so high when compared with the company’s 6-lakh strong employee base.
The total number of sexual harassment complaints reported by TCS employees during the financial year 2023-24 were 110, compared to 49 in the previous year. However, the IT giant’s annual report states that the 2023-24 figures include ones reported globally by employees and for 2022-23, the information is for Indian operations, excluding non-wholly owned subsidiaries.
TCS has 601,546 employees of around 152 nationalities with women making up 35.6% of the employee base, the article read. The chairman said at an annual general meeting on Friday that for a company as large as TCS, “this number of cases is expected to happen,” in a response to a shareholder’s question.
The shareholder asked if remote working could solve the problem, questioning why TCS is hesitant on remote working.
“We are not trying to create jobs for people, we are trying to create careers for people,” replied Chandrasekharan. “In order to continue this being a very strong institution, we need to ensure that we invest in people at the same time people also build their careers with a company like us,” he added, emphasizing the importance of reinforcing education to create a healthy working atmosphere and culture.
Addressing the pay gap in the median salary of Rs. 14.8 lakh for men versus Rs. 10.4 lakh for women, he said, “If there is a difference within a particular (salary) band it is because within that particular (salary) band there may be a difference in experience and level, etc,” adding that the company also wants to increase the composition of women employees, including in senior managerial roles from the current 36 per cent.
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