Experts at a workshop on Thursday feared a shortage of talented HR in the country's banks and financial institutions (FIs) due to the ‘employee turnover’, a new phenomenon that recently emerged in the sector.
To overcome the problem, many of them highlighted the need for inclusion of some prudent guidelines, like counselling system, in the human resource policy of banks to check the current staff turnover that results in consistent departure of skilled and experienced staff.
Bangladesh Institute of Bank Management (BIBM) organised the workshop on 'Employee Turnover in Banking Sector of Bangladesh: An Economic Analysis' at its conference room, where researchers presented their paper jointly for further discussion.
"Employee turnover in banks and financial institutions has become a great challenge to policymakers and management, even in the most developed economies," said Professor Dr. Shah Md. Ahsan Habib, director of BIBM, while presenting his paper.
According to Mr Habib, who co-authored the paper with 5 other academics and researchers, nowadays there is an apparent competition among the country's banks to attract performing bankers to get better services and accrue higher profits.
Employees should be rewarded for their performance or valued accordingly, the researchers said in their paper.
They identified low salary, poor benefits, lack of recognition, career opportunities and working environment as some of the reasons behind departure of skilled staff.
To check departure of skilled and experienced staff, speakers at the workshop emphasised the need for hiring right people at the entry level, setting right compensation and benefits, paying attention to employees' personal needs, social interaction, and a rewarding work environment.
"You have to switch over to corporate management practices from kitchen management," said Bangladesh Bank's former deputy governor Khondkar Ibrahim Khaled, who attended the programme as chief guest.
He highlighted the need for developing a cultural atmosphere within an organisation for ensuring better performance.
"Staff retention is a problem, unless you give due attention to them. If you care for them, they will care for you," said Mr Khaled, who is also the Dr. Muzaffer Ahmed Chair Professor of the BIBM.
"You have to recruit the right person with professional aptitude, not the best one," he added.
Terming banks as one of the most important vehicles of all economic activities, Pubali Bank former CEO and managing director Helal Ahmed Chowdhury urged the participants to address governance issues in banking practices.
He also called for a prudent recruitment policy to recruit appropriate people. "We have recruited a good number of officers, but could not retain them due to lack of proper remuneration and other facilities," he added.
According to the researchers, the most common reason for high employment turnover rate is salary scale, as employees are usually in search of jobs that pay well.
Unequal and substandard wage structure also accounts for the phenomenon. Working condition and employees' relationships are also identified as the main reasons of leaving or joining an organisation.
Presided over by BIBM Director General Dr. Toufic Ahmed Choudhury, the workshop was addressed, among others, by Mercantile Bank CEO and Managing Director M Ehsanul Haque, and BIBM Gangopadhaya Chair Professor SA Chowdhury.
A good number of bankers, academics and researchers attended the workshop.
mzrbd@yahoo.com
Prudent guidelines a sine qua non to dev HR in banks
FE Report | Published: February 21, 2015 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2026 06:01:00
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