Page 18 - ie2 August 2019

EXPERTEYE

pointed even by RBI seniors, thus adding based on stress levels by the National popular picture of hotshot traders en-
to the misery of branch managers. Institute for Occupational Safety and gaged in frenetic bouts of deal-making
According to the American Institute Health (US-based federal agency respon- are becoming unattractive after the glob-
of Stress, the four main causes of stress sible for conducting research and making al financial crisis, to hire the best and the
are workload (46 percent), people issues recommendations for the prevention of brightest for a career in banking. This is
(28 percent), juggling work/personal lives work-related injury and illness), bank true in India also, both for job availability
(20 percent), and lack of job security (6 tellers are at 28th place. and preference.
percent). This general observation in the In a study titled ‘Work-Related Stress The Institute of Banking Personnel
USA may not be fully applicable to the in the Banking Sector: A Review of In- Selection is an autonomous body that
banking sector in India. But it is well un- cidence, Correlated Factors, and Major conducts recruitment tests for clerks and
derstood that the banking sector is still Consequences’ published in the interna- officers of PSBs, RRBs and a few oth-
workforce-intensive and depends hugely tional journal Frontiers in Psychology, the er public sector financial institutions in
on people skills for success notwithstand- factors in today’s banking activities were India. The number of candidates it re-
ing technological progress and procedur- listed as ‘demanding targets, fierce com- cruits and supplies to the banking system
al rigour. But unfortunately, neither at petition, fewer available jobs, a constant is a rough indication of the headcount
the time of induction nor in subsequent demand to increase qualifications, inten- growth in the banking industry and the
grooming, HR handling skills are priori- sified and overloaded tasks, and increased number of applications shortlisted is an
tised as much as banking domain exper- control and pressure on workers,’ – all of indication of the job-seekers’ perception.
tise. For example, in the professional Cer- which could increase the occupational Sadly, both are not encouraging, though
tified Associate examination conducted stress risk. This research states that de- the banking system was considered as one
by the industry body, Indian Institute of regulation of labour markets, emerging of the top job creators in the country till
Banking & Finance, only one out of eight technologies, and new types of jobs have recently. The number of candidates who
modules deals with HR management in significantly reshaped working lives, thus were tested by IBPS during 2016-17 was
banks and is one of the 11 electives one impacting both banks and the working 1.07 crore (highest in IBPS history) and
can choose or reject from. The objective population’s health. In this new manage- it declined to 69 lakh during 2018-19, i.e.
of the examination – ‘CAIIB aims at pro- ment model, bank employees have expe- in three years, as per the website of IBPS.
viding advanced knowledge necessary for rienced a full redefinition of their tasks, The number of candidates who appeared
better decision making covering Treasury becoming bank sellers rather than bank for the common recruitment of clerks
Management, Risk Management, Balance employees. Five studies were conducted declined from 19.62 lakh to 14.15 laks
Sheet Management, Credit Management, in Europe, nine in Asia (including India), between 2017-18 and 2018-19, while the
International Banking, Economic Anal- four in America, and two in Africa. All similar number for probationary officers
ysis, etc’ – does not even mention the studies in this review show that work- and specialist officers declined from
lowly skills of handling people. Dealing place stress is a critical banking sector 16.55 lakh to 11.69 lakh and from 2.01
with often contradictory expectations issue with potentially negative effects on lakh to 1.57 lakh respectively.
of different stakeholders such as owners, workers’ and organisations’ psychological As reported by a financial newspaper,
colleagues, seniors, customers, regulators, and physical health. These observations traditional labour-intensive jobs like pass-
and society at large is one of the main are majorly true for Indian bank manag- book updating, cash deposit and with-
challenges for bank managers and most ers also; globalisation has brought these drawal, funds transfer (earlier through
are not trained to handle that well. That issues to our doorsteps. massive demand drafts), most deposit-re-
leads to frustration, reduced productiv- lated work like fixed deposits and account
ity, and a general negative vibe on the Who wants to work in a bank? servicing, KYC verifications, and salary
banking career itself. The prestigious UK magazine, The Bank- uploads are digitally done, increasing job
In an analysis on `Level of Stress in er, in its February 2019 issue, mentions redundancies. Both the private-sector
Workplace’ conducted by ASSOCHAM, that attracting talent in the wake of the banks and PSBs are trying robotics to han-
banking was in the top 10 sectors of stress financial crisis is proving a challenge, in dle front office routines, centralised back
workplaces along with other sectors like the editor’s article, ominously titled ‘Who office operations to hasten turnarounds,
retail and card franchise companies to de- wants to work in a bank?’ he observes that self-service mode for customer interac-
liver on deadlines. Though banknetIndia usual jobs of hard-pressed cashiers taking tions – all reducing the need for manual
reported this years ago, it could be still be cheques and paying cash, those fielding workers. With this, the number of vacan-
true. In the ranking of 130 occupations calls from the call centre, and even the cies itself is declining. For example, purely

18 l INDIAN ENGINEERING EXPORTS l AUGUST 2019