LTIMindtree asks employees to follow return-to-work mandate or lose leave

livemint.com:

Mint has reviewed the company’s policy. According to the policy named “Rhythm," employees are categorised into three sections - those who have to work from the office five days a week, those who work at client office locations, and those with a hybrid work setup who have to work from an LTIMindtree location for at least two days a week. Employees are mapped into these categories based on the nature of the work and business requirements.

The allocations are not permanent. Employees who are required to work from an office location must be present at the workplace for a minimum of six hours, according to the updated policy notified to employees last month. The management has capped leave deduction to 1.5 days per month.

Mint could not ascertain whether absence from office would result in deduction of paid leave or be considered unpaid leave, in which case salaries would be cut. Continuous cases of non-compliance would lead to stricter disciplinary action, according to the policy. Employees did not appear to be unduly concerned by the latest nudge from the Mumbai-based IT services company.

“It isn’t unfair. If we are required to be in office just twice a week, that too for only six hours a day, there is no harm," an employee in the hybrid category told Mint on condition of anonymity. Another employee said there was no material policy change except that it was now reinforced on paper.

“This move to cancel leave is only for those employees who have compulsively been missing work from the office. To us, there is no such change because we have had our return-to-office mandates clear from before," the second employee said. LTIMindtree had 81,934 employees in the three months ended June 2024.