Banks put out impressive recruitment figures in their annual reports. But have you ever thought about the attrition rate in these banks? Shocking but true, in some cases, almost half of those who joined had left within a year.
The clerical cadre has been witnessing high attrition, especially in banks with a regional focus. Bank unions say the attrition rate is nearly 30 per cent in both the officer and clerical cadres.
D.N. Prakash, President of Corporation Bank Officers’ Organisation, said that the attrition level in the clerical cadre was as high as 45 per cent in a bank at one point of time.
Ask for the reasons, and you get several of them.
According to Prakash, some banks have branches only in particular geographical locations, unlike big public sector banks such as State Bank that have branches across the country. Some of the South-based banks have less presence in the northern region, but most of the new recruits in these banks are from the North. The banks find it difficult to place the new employees in States of their choice. This is one of the reasons why most of them don’t stick on for more than a year.
P. R. Karanth, Joint Secretary of AIBEA, says that someone who joins bank ‘A’ in the clerical cadre usually gets a good offer from bank ‘B’ in the officer cadre after two-three years. Even if the banks impose any bond during their appointment, they are ready to pay and leave.
To address this, K.S. Bhat, Secretary of the Syndicate Bank Staff Association, said that weightage should be given to those who work in bank ‘A’ while filling vacancies in the officer cadre.
He said a person from clerical cadre had passed IBPS with 167 marks in his bank. But the cut-off for officers’ cadre was 168 marks. But he got an officers job in bank ‘B’, where he matched the cut-off marks.
Some relaxation for the existing staff would have helped his bank to retain him. “In this process, we lost a clerical staffer and a person with two years’ experience,” he said.
Bhat said that in some States a lower division clerk in a government office gets a better salary than a bank clerk. Compared to banks, the workload and risks in some government offices are lower.