Placement is one area the meaning of which is not known to the managements at present. The management mantra of ‘Right man at the right place’ remains only on paper and is taught only in Staff Training Centres/Colleges. Personnel are given placements haphazardly, solely at the whims and fancies of those at the helm of affairs. Unfortunately, the managements in various banks have not learnt enough lessons from their past mistakes in this regard. Proximity to those in power and the personal equations based on caste, language, region, religion and the reciprocal favours given/received decide such issues. On the other extreme, those who remain in remote corners or in the loop do not have any kind of access to their top management so as to bring their achievements to their notice, leave alone developing healthy personal relationships with them. This deprives them of their due share in the institution. This is because of bad and unfair transfer policies adopted by most of the banks. As a result, people at a disadvantaged place get stuck there for too long. It is not uncommon to see that people holding orders of transfer from a remote/undeveloped place could not get relieved for want of a substitute. The management asks the affected staff to find a suitable substitute for themselves. Sounds ridiculous, isn’t it? This is another injustice being witnessed for ages. Job rotation is a very sensitive and essential feature of modern business organizations. From the point of view of Behavioural Scientists and Management experts, job rotation is very crucial to provide for the emotional needs of all the personnel and to allow them to learn as many varieties of tasks as possible. If done, it will enhance their pride and sense of self accomplishment. Vigilance department also insists upon job rotation to prevent development of vested interests and perpetration of frauds and other malpractices. But who listens? Job rotation must take place not only within a unit but also across all units – Branches, Zonal Offices, Head Office etc. Not a single person must be retained at one place or one post for more than 3 years. Even before a person completes 2 years in a place/post, another person must be identified and suitably groomed to take his/her seat, after the former completes 3 years. This will ensure that nobody is indispensable in the organization and everybody gets equal opportunity to reach any place and occupy any position, subject to one’s willingness and aptitude. Personnel working at administrative offices (Zonal Office/Head Office/STC etc.) must be deputed to busy branches for at least 45 days in a year, with not less than 15 days at a stretch. This will achieve four objectives. 1. They will be exposed to the ground realities and understand the practical problems faced by the branches in all areas. 2. They will develop a pragmatic outlook while dealing with the branches and the customers. 3. They will not exhibit rude and arrogant behavior and will learn to be polite and courteous to their own colleagues working on the field. 4. Most importantly, they will realize and remember that they will also be posted to branches one day and this makes them behave sensibly and responsibly. TREATING STAFF WITH DUE DIGNITY AND RESPECT Nowadays, all banks talk constantly about customers’ delight. But what about the delight of their own personnel? Have we heard anyone talking about it in the recent times? The staff members shall not be treated like inanimate objects, with no family and social responsibilities. But in reality, staff are treated as disposable diapers at many places. When confronted, bank managements react violently or prefer to remain tight-lipped on this issue. It shall never be forgotten that regardless of the type of leadership, staff in public sector banks have always strived hard and contributed their best to take our banking industry to its present glorious position. Staff of public sector banks are no way inferior to the staff of the private sector banks (old generation or new generation ones) and it has been proved beyond doubt time and again. Even our political masters have publicly acknowledged that only because of the public sector characteristic of major Indian Banks, our economy has withstood the turbulence and turmoil witnessed by the American and European banks. We were not affected by the South East Asian crisis (late 1990s) and the Global recession caused by sub-prime crisis originated from USA during the period 2007-09. Most of the officers in the public sector banks are now performing clerical and sub-staff duties, thereby losing respect in the eyes of the general public. We can see even the branch heads in MMGS III or SMGS IV doing clerical work or counter work every now and then. They have lost their pride of place enjoyed by them, a few decades ago. Even within their families, because of their inability to live up to the expectations and fulfill the demands of other members, they have fallen down from the high pedestal once they were seated on. Managers are unable to concentrate fully on business. Lot of their time is wasted on resolving customer complaints and on house-keeping. True, computerization has addressed many problems of the customers and increased the customer satisfaction. But, the risks and responsibilities and the working hours of the bank officers have kept on increasing each year. New types of frauds are surfacing with each passing day. Many of them could be detected, only after a long delay. Many officers are booked for somebody else’s fault or misdeed after many years. The costly lapse of internal and external inspection and audit officials in this regard is not at all talked about and no punitive action is taken against them. Officer staff are abused, ill-treated and humiliated at various places, on various occasions, on flimsy grounds. This has now become the order of the day and also an inseparable part of the organizational culture. It is difficult to believe that this phenomenon is not brought to the knowledge of the top management of the individual banks or IBA or RBI or Ministry of Finance by anyone. The Trade Unions have also miserably failed to protect the fundamental rights of their members. There is no proper institutional machinery on the lines of Administrative Tribunals for bank officers to redress their grievances lawfully. Against this background, very few officers venture to go to courts to obtain a legal remedy.
Posted on: Fri, 26 Sep 2014 01:36:40 +0000
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