As reported in an update dated January 13, 2026, Tata Consultancy Services tightened enforcement of its work-from-office rules, with some employees seeing anniversary appraisals put on hold due to attendance non-compliance in earlier quarters. The reporting says appraisal reviews may have been completed at operational levels but were not cleared by corporate, effectively freezing outcomes for affected employees. TCS did not respond to queries cited in the report. In one move, attendance stopped being a background metric and became an active lever in compensation and recognition, which is why this story matters far beyond one company.
The workplace impact is not just anger, it is confusion that curdles into cynicism. People can accept strict rules when they feel the rules are honest. What breaks them is when performance feels secondary to presence. High performers begin to wonder if output is theatre and compliance is the real currency. Managers feel trapped between corporate policy and team reality, and this is where "quiet exceptions" breed: informal deals, selective enforcement, and favoritism whispers. Once that begins, you lose the only thing that makes hybrid sustainable: the belief that rules are applied with integrity and that people are judged by contribution, not just location pings.
Compliance-wise, tying appraisal outcomes to attendance data demands serious governance maturity. If attendance tracking is used for pay outcomes, HR must ensure due process, consistent exceptions, and a defensible logic that can survive internal grievances and external scrutiny. It also intensifies privacy responsibility: attendance and location data is employee personal data, and policy enforcement should not expand collection beyond what is necessary or keep it accessible to too many people. Treat this like a regulated system change: document the policy basis, define appeals, train managers on non-retaliatory enforcement, and ensure the "why" is credible enough that employees do not experience it as punishment disguised as culture.
@IndiaToday
When "being seen" starts deciding raises, what kind of culture are you quietly training people to perform?
If employees comply but stop trusting you, what does winning enforcement actually cost the business?
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7The workplace impact is not just anger, it is confusion that curdles into cynicism. People can accept strict rules when they feel the rules are honest. What breaks them is when performance feels secondary to presence. High performers begin to wonder if output is theatre and compliance is the real currency. Managers feel trapped between corporate policy and team reality, and this is where "quiet exceptions" breed: informal deals, selective enforcement, and favoritism whispers. Once that begins, you lose the only thing that makes hybrid sustainable: the belief that rules are applied with integrity and that people are judged by contribution, not just location pings.
Compliance-wise, tying appraisal outcomes to attendance data demands serious governance maturity. If attendance tracking is used for pay outcomes, HR must ensure due process, consistent exceptions, and a defensible logic that can survive internal grievances and external scrutiny. It also intensifies privacy responsibility: attendance and location data is employee personal data, and policy enforcement should not expand collection beyond what is necessary or keep it accessible to too many people. Treat this like a regulated system change: document the policy basis, define appeals, train managers on non-retaliatory enforcement, and ensure the "why" is credible enough that employees do not experience it as punishment disguised as culture.
@IndiaToday
When "being seen" starts deciding raises, what kind of culture are you quietly training people to perform?
If employees comply but stop trusting you, what does winning enforcement actually cost the business?
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