Kerala - Pathanamthitta   

Bank urged to change HR policy

PATHANAMTHITTA: Syndicate Bank Staff Association (SBSA) has called upon the bank management to change its human resources and industrial relations policy, especially at a time when nationalised banks are facing stiff competition from new generation banks.

Speaking to The Hindu, K.S. Bhatt, All-India general secretary of SBSA, affiliated to National Organisation of Bank Workers (NOBW), said that industrial relations of the bank had been deteriorating in recent years.

Mr. Bhatt said that the bank's employees had to deal with heavy workload, reduced manpower, keen competition, and high expectations of customers.

“Hundreds of people have been working for years in temporary posts of attender and sweeper at various branches of the bank. Car drivers are forced to work beyond their working hours without proper compensation,” he said.

Statistics point out that the number of bank branches (excluding extension counters) had gone up to 2,400 by May 2011 from 1,733 in March 2000. But, the number of clerical staff had been reduced to 10,762 in 2010 from 18,799 in 2000, the union leader said.

According to him, the business per employee has increased from Rs.348.64 lakh to Rs.746.84 lakh and profit per employee from Rs.2.05 lakh to Rs.3.18 lakh from 2005 to 2010. Contrary to this, the wages as to percentage to total expenses had decreased from 28.78 to 14.32 during the corresponding period, he added.

‘High attrition'

Even after recruitment of 2,200 clerical staff during 2009-2011, the total clerical staff as on March 31, 2011, was only 10,901. “It shows that the newly recruited staff either failed to join or quit after joining. There is an enormous increase in attrition in the past one year due to erratic posting policy and lack of long-term, scientific, transfer policy. This has resulted in the overburdening of the existing staff,” Mr Bhatt said.

Transfer policy

In order to curtail attrition, Mr Bhatt said the HR department needed to introduce a transparent transfer policy. The SBSA leader has also called upon the bank management to go for campus recruitment.

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