The Hindu Business Line : Stability plank is big negative

``At least 10 to 15 per cent of the new recruits in the recent past are from BPO cos. They are ready to sacrifice up to 50 per cent of their earnings to be out of the night shift. Money is not everything.''

Coimbatore/Chennai

Look at the staff numbers across banks over the last five years and they tell a tale of their own. The number of employees in new private banks are growing rapidly (despite significant resort to outsourcing).

Employment in public sector banks has actually dropped a bit, while it has gone down marginally in old private banks.

Do old private banks have a problem attracting talent because of their conservative image and community/regional linkages? There's a firm "no" from old banks that bristle at the very suggestion. They say they have introduced new HR initiatives, incentives and accelerated cadre promotions, besides adopting aggressive recruitment drives across the country.

At the same time, "The problem of attrition cannot be shooed away," concedes Mr R.M. Nayak, CEO of Lakshmi Vilas Bank.

He adds, "The best way to address the issue is to have transparent HR policies that aim at recognising differential performance, commitment and rewards based on competencies rather than reliance on past performance alone."

Mr E. Balaji, Chief Operating Officer, Ma Foi Consultants Ltd, an HR services company, says, "People are not worried about job security now. Banks have to realise they are now in a buyers market. Earlier they were in a sellers market. There is going to be more competition and consolidation in the future. Banks need to worry whether they have the "engine" for addressing staffing issues."

Changing strategy

Mr Ganesh Chella, CEO, Totus Consulting, an HR consulting company, says old banks will now have to undertake a change in management exercise.

They will need to introduce employee appraisals, incentives, differentiate talent and have performance-linked pay.

He advises, "They need to make employees aware of both the opportunities and risks. At the same time you can't do something radical and rock the boat. You have to help them come to terms with the new reality. They have to engage with the unions on a long-term basis."

Mr K. Ramkumar, Senior General Manager, HR, ICICI group, who gets about half a million applications and recruited about 20,000 people for the bank this year, says, "Stop looking into the rear-view mirror. Look at the road ahead."

He says, "Jobs are quadrupling. There is competition to take the best talent to Retail, Telecom, ITES and financial services. These sectors will take away 2 million people. Worry whether you will be able to attract the talent. Start investing in training."

Aggressive approach

One final piece of advice from Mr Balaji, Ma Foi, who says, "Employer branding is important. They need to be aggressive on new client acquisition.

"Only then can you appeal to potential employees. And don't use the job stability plank — that is a no-no. Doing that makes employees feel that the organisation is not dynamic and conveys a status quo image."

However, the flow of manpower has not been one way. There have been many entering the banking sector from the presumably more hot IT & ITES sectors.

According to Mr N. Kamakodi, Executive Director, City Union Bank, "At least 10 to 15 per cent of the new recruits in the recent past are from BPO companies. They are ready to sacrifice up to 50 per cent of their earnings to be out of the night shift. Money is not everything."

Says Mr Balaji, "There are a number of issues in work-life balance for bankers when staff work till 9 or 10 p.m. regularly. It is an individual's call on what to compromise on. Not all is bad with the old banks or all good with the new banks."

Amen.

(Concluded)

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