In a recent report, Reserve Bank of India red flagged high attrition rate of around 25 per cent in private sector banks and identified it as a significant operational risk because it might disrupt customer service operations of the bank concerned. In this backdrop, it is imperative to analyse why employees, especially those at the base level, leave the banks even when the job market outside is not very upbeat. After all, the banks do offer a reasonably good salary besides a reputation associated with bank jobs. Few of these reasons are outlined here.

Dissatisfaction with job content: when young employees join the bank after a rigorous selection process, they aspire for a job role which would do justice to their educational background or skillset and satiate them intellectually. Unfortunately, it does not happen, especially, when the joining is at a branch level. There are several instances in which this employee is almost treated as an ‘errand person’ and is asked to do sundry jobs. In a few cases, bank employees were asked to take screen-shot of the visitors’ register, maintained at the gate of the society, to show as a proof of their visit, when they could not meet the customer.

Further, new employees are often taken for customer visits by the seniors so as to give them some exposure. This is fine, but at times the seniors expect the new employees to not only drive them to the destinations but also carry the necessary papers, etc., as the ‘boss’ likes to walk empty-handed.

No wonder, that an officer of a premier private bank with four years of service who visited me for some bank work requested me to guide her for a scale one officer job in a public sector bank, which she was willing to join even on a lower salary.

The pressure exerted by seniors: unrealistic target-setting like opening five SB accounts or five FD or any investment scheme accounts per day are set, and then pressure is exerted on employees to achieve the same. The basic fact many seniors tend to ignore is there is not much to boast about by way of product differentiation among various banks. All are vying for the same slice of pie and in such a scenario, bringing new business every day is difficult.

A new practice (even in public sector banks) is that the employees are not supposed to leave the workplace unless the in-charge has left. There is a sort of competition for sitting beyond office hours among branches.

The new employees, who are mostly single when they join, do need time for their personal work like cooking, washing clothes etc. They feel frustrated when they are delayed beyond office hours and many times, without any work. This is how issues like work-life balance come up for discussion among new employees.

Poor communication style of seniors: Once, I had gone to a private sector bank for some work. The officer attending to me was a mid-level officer and his phone was on, as he was attending an online review meeting along with attending his desk work. I have been part of many such meets on everyday basis during my career, but the tone and language used in this meeting was shocking, to say the least. It was more like a meet to humiliate people in their peer group rather than a review meet. I recall that a few years back, a video of such a meet had become viral and the bank concerned had to take action against the erring employee.

Conceptual knowledge

Low priority to enhancing the knowledge and skills of employees: a deeper conversation with any new employee will reveal they hardly have any conceptual knowledge and understanding of banking. They are just trained to carry out day-to-day operations. Due to this, they do not develop a sense of pride for their jobs. Very few understand the role they are playing in running the banking system.

Career progression: Promotions in most of private sector banks are mostly performance based which is highly subjective as compared to written exams and interviews in public sector banks. Many employees of the former feel that they may not get justice in the prevailing career progression system and hence, decide to look elsewhere.

The question is how to check the attrition trend. It is well-understood that some kind of follow-up by seniors is required to run any organisation, but there is a need to distinguish between pressurising and follow-up. When each tier does it the wrong way, it is the employee at the base level who suffers most and that explains the higher attrition rates at lower levels. Perhaps, there is no system in the industry which penalises managers if the people reporting to him/her are found exiting the organisation in large numbers. Can such a system be thought of?

Organisation culture needs to be oriented towards hand-holding, guiding and nurturing the juniors and inculcate in them a sense of belonging to the bank. At the same time, it needs to be reinforced at all levels, that every employee, irrespective of their position in the hierarchy, is a resource which needs to be handled with care.

The writer is former General Manager, NABARD. Views are personal

Published on January 13, 2025