Wipro breaks ranks with IT peers, gives junior staff 180 days on bench: Where do TCS, Cognizant, Infosys stand?

Wipro has taken a different approach to bench management in India’s IT industry, giving junior and mid-level employees up to six months to find a new billable assignment as rivals tighten deployment timelines, according to a Times of India report.

The revised policy, effective 1 October, allows Wipro employees in Band 2 and below to remain on the bench for as many as 180 calendar days, giving the company more time to redeploy existing talent instead of moving quickly towards separation.

Meanwhile, major IT companies are placing greater emphasis on billable utilisation and faster employee deployment. TCS, for instance, now requires associates to be billed for 225 days a year, effectively limiting bench time to about 35 business days. Cognizant had reduced its bench period from 60 days to 35 days several years ago.

Wipro's 180-day bench policy sets it apart from IT peers

Under Wipro's revised policy, the 180-day period begins when an employee is released from a billable project or returns to India from an onsite assignment without securing another billable role.

The extended period applies only to Band 2 and below. Employees who do not obtain an allocation within 180 days can be separated from the company under the terms of their employment contracts.

For Band 3 and above, Wipro's Extended Bench Leave Programme continues to provide a standard 45-calendar-day bench period. Employees with disabilities are eligible for a 75-day period.

The policy therefore creates a differentiated approach based on Wipro's employee band rather than applying a single bench-time limit across the workforce.

Why Wipro is giving employees more time on the bench

The move comes against a backdrop of cautious hiring across India's technology sector. Wipro did not hire freshers during the June quarter, according to president and CHRO Saurabh Govil.

Last year, Wipro onboarded about 7,500 graduates, taking its workforce to around 2.4 lakh employees.

A longer deployment window could allow Wipro to use its existing workforce more efficiently. Employees without projects can potentially be trained for emerging requirements and subsequently moved into billable roles, reducing the need to recruit and train new employees when demand improves.

Wipro's bench policy comes as hiring remains cautious

Wipro ended the June quarter with 243,044 employees, while IT-services utilisation, excluding trainees, stood at 83.6%.

Wipro also reported large-deal bookings of $1.63 billion during the quarter, suggesting that new work is still coming in even as overall demand remains uneven.

That creates a challenge for IT companies: having people with the right skills available when a project starts, without carrying a large pool of employees who are not generating billable revenue. Wipro's longer bench window gives the company more time to match existing employees with new projects as demand shifts.

The approach also fits with Wipro's decision to keep fresher hiring closely tied to demand. The company did not hire fresh graduates in the June quarter after onboarding about 7,000 to 7,500 graduates in the previous year.

What Wipro's six-month bench window means for employees

For Wipro employees in Band 2 and below, the new policy provides a longer window to find their next project. Instead of having to secure a billable assignment within a few weeks, they now have up to 180 days. That gives Wipro more time to match employees with suitable projects and, where needed, build the skills required for new roles.

The company has also linked the bench process more closely to its capability development plan, or CDP. Employees who repeatedly struggle to clear interviews for similar roles can be put on the programme after three consecutive rejections. A single failed interview does not automatically trigger the process.

The six-month window, however, is not a guarantee of continued employment. Employees in Band 2 and below who remain without a billable allocation for 180 days can be separated under their employment contracts.

The longer period also does not apply across Wipro's workforce. Employees in Band 3 and above continue to have a 45-day bench period, while employees with disabilities are allowed 75 days.