High Scores "Strongly agree" Score Industry Rank Conducts business fairly  96.4  5 High standards of corporate governance  95.9  8 Exciting growth opportunities  84.9  12 Low Scores "Strongly agree" Score Industry Rank Encouraged to take risk in work  65.4  15 Work-life balance  81.4  15 Fair appraisal system  77.2  18 Dream Job "Strongly agree" Score Industry Rank Overseas opportunity  49.0  1 Growth opportunity/career development  37.5  11 Job security/stability  54.8  4 Strengths: Improved brand image and rise in overall satisfaction levels. Company image is rated highly by employees Weaknesses: Fewer people find the training initiatives relevant to their work. Employees also have issues with compensation and the level of empowerment Employee Size 2002-03, 21,861 2003-04, 27,140 2004-05, 40,992

Up there in the top category, India's largest IT company slipped one rank on the HR front while upped its rank on the employee satisfaction scorecard by one. Keeping employee morale and satisfaction levels high in an organization that employs nearly 40,000 people is by itself a mammoth task.

TCS' overall image received high ratings. Nearly 90% of the respondents said that "the company believes in giving back to the society and has a lot of social work initiatives". The company was also able to infuse the right degree of excitement into work. Over 68% of the respondents said that they were very excited by the technology they were working on. This is far higher than for its key competitors in the IT software and services space, Infosys (48%) and Wipro (44%).

The company's HR processes received some sprucing up before it came out with its Rs 5,000 crore IPO in July last year. Its entry into the stock market did wonders to its image. The company climbed 8 ranks as the 'Most Preferred Employer'. TCS had reserved 5,545,260 equity shares for allotment to employees and directors of the company and given the current bull run in the stock market, TCS's high ratings as a preferred employer is expected. At #2 as the 'Dream Company', TCS climbed four places. Over 47% of the respondents at TCS named their own employer as their company of dreams.

Some areas of concern are cross-company compensation (only 10% of them expressed satisfaction on this parameter), training (TCS has slipped after topping this category last year) and empowerment at work. (Ranked #18 on the statement "I have the freedom to make decisions on my own in relation to my work.") Falling levels of empowerment could also lead to disengagement in future.