The country's banking sector is reportedly facing a new problem called 'employee turnover'. This means frequent job switchover by skilled and experienced staff within the banking sector and also beyond it. The issue was discussed at a workshop held at the Bangladesh Institute of Bank Management (BIBM) late last week. A number of leading bankers recognised the departure of the skilled and experienced bankers as a major challenge to the sector and its policymakers and management personnel.
However, what is satisfying is that bankers and management personnel do know the reasons that are prompting the migration of the skilled staff from one bank to another or even to organisations outside the banking arena. The factor they listed in the course of their deliberations at the workshop included 'inadequate' compensation package and other facilities and poor work environment arising out of poor corporate management and inappropriate staff recruitment policy.
But as far as remuneration is concerned, it should have been attractive since as many as 53 scheduled banks, including 39 private and nine foreign ones, are now operating in the country. Some private and foreign banks do offer attractive compensation package to the newly recruited officials but others appear to behave miserly in this particular area. The banks belonging to the latter group do usually experience frequent departure of mid-and senior-level officials. What has been more frustrating for junior-and mid-level bank officials is the very wide and unfair gap between their compensation packages and those paid to their top officials.
Then again, there exists a great degree of inequality in the salary structures of private and public sector bank officials, particularly in the case of those occupying the senior positions. The government has been mulling over paying better compensation packages to the public sector bank officials. But it is yet to come out with a concrete decision. There is no denying that bank officials during most working days are required to work beyond their scheduled period of time. That is why they deserve better pay and other facilities.
On the other side, it is also plausible that a good number of banks are not following the right recruitment and compensation package-related policies. They tend to spend less on manpower. The management of such banks may not also be caring about the individual needs of their employees. All these are human resource (HR) management-related problems. Unattractive compensation package, coupled with inadequate attention from management, do thus often give rise to deep frustrations among a section of bank officials. Such personnel always remain in the lookout for better-paying jobs in other banks or organisations beyond the banking arena.
There is no denying that thousands of job-seekers do respond to recruitment notices published by the banks. The response is nothing unique in a country where every third person is either unemployed or under-employed. The abundant supply of manpower, thus, should normally enable the banks to choose the right kind of people for the jobs they offer. But it is not unlikely that making this choice involves at times a daunting challenge to the banks. This is largely because of the poor quality of education that is imparted to students at different tiers of education. However, banks, on their part, should not be oblivious of the need for offering better compensation package and working environment to the personnel they hire on the basis of merit and quality. The top bankers deserve compensation commensurate with their functions and responsibilities. But the official at the lower and middle rungs of the ladder do also deserve a befitting attention, in terms of compensation package and other benefits.
HR problems in banking sector
FE Team | Published: February 25, 2015 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2026 06:01:00
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