Wikipedia: TCS profile needs neutral review
By Bala Shah

Wikipedia is one of the top 10 websites accessed by Indians.  Apart from being a rich source of research and educational material,   it can be credited as one of the greatest achievements of idealistic, global volunteer effort. Wikipedia is among the top 5 sites in the world and is read by 325 million visitors every month.

So it is not surprising that every company tries its best to spin its ‘facts’ on Wikipedia.  In fact, many of the Fortune 500 companies keep double checking, updating and ‘correcting’ their Wikipedia profile.

What is real attrition rate among the IT/BPO companies in India?  No one really knows the attrition rates for most companies as many firms treat this as commercial in confidence as it has the ability to affect the reputation of a company.  Can any Indian tech company claim to have the lowest attrition rate in India?  Nope, for the simple reason that not all Indian IT and BPO companies publicly release these facts.

Now check out the Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) profile in Wikipedia.  Wikipedia has published the following about TCS

“
Tata Consultancy Services Limited (TCS) (BSE: 532540) is a software services and consulting company headquartered in Mumbai, India. TCS is the largest provider of information technology and business process outsourcing services in India.

TCS is a subsidiary of one of India's largest and oldest conglomerates, the Tata Group, which has interests in areas such as energy, telecommunications, financial services, manufacturing, chemicals, engineering, materials, government and healthcare.

TCS is considered one of the largest private sector employers in India with a core strength in excess of 160,000 individuals. TCS has one of the lowest attrition rates in the Indian IT industry
“

Why does Wikipedia say TCS has the lowest attrition rate in India?  Because Wikipedia thought a TCS press release boasting about its lowest attrition rate was credible enough to be presented as fact. TCS has about 140 thousand employees, about 20 thousand less than in its Wikipedia profile.

And what are the facts as reported by mainstream Indian media?  Moneymint reported in Dec 30, 2009 that: “The story at one of the biggest IT employer in India, TCS is very bad. The attrition rate is at 21% and employees who are quitting are being asked to hold on with their papers for a day or two in order to maintain a decent monthly attrition figures. HRs in such firms are already in soup and it is an uphill task for them from here on.”

Respected national newspaper The Hindu took TCS at its word when it quoted the TCS HR head: “Mr. Mukherjee said TCS had an attrition rate of 11.5 per cent during the last 12 months but, at the same time, its retention rate was the highest in the industry. The company had a workforce of about 1.41 lakh.”

Wikipedia has now woken up to what it suspects is planted or at the very least overly positive information.  In Feb, 2010, Wikipedia put up the following disclaimer about TCS: “A major contributor to this article appears to have a close connection with its subject. It may require cleanup to comply with Wikipedia's content policies, particularly neutral point of view. Please discuss further on the talk page.”

(Anapoorna, thanks for the story idea and tip)