Vijaya Bank plans to recruit about 1,200 clerical and officer staff every year, the bank's Executive Director, Ms Shubhalakshmi Panse, said.
She said, “We are planning to open around 100 branches every year. Besides, 800 to 900 staff will retire each year. That is a big number for a bank of our size.” This is in line with the trend seen in many other banks. With the average age of employees hovering at around 50, fresh recruitments have seen a surge in recent times.
Outsourcing training
Given that the existing training infrastructure is not geared to take in such huge numbers, banks are beginning to outsource training. Bank of Baroda, for example, has aligned with the Manipal group. Vijaya Bank too is in the process of entering into a tie-up with an institution for training, said Ms Panse. She said, “We need people who are familiar with these systems and those start work on it from day one. These institutions train fresh recruits in basic banking rules and procedures and teach them to use the core banking software. They also teach them soft skills.”
Asked about attrition, Ms Panse said, “All banks face this challenge. When we advertise for clerical or officer vacancies, everybody applies. But by the time someone gets selected for clerical post, he gets an officer role is some other bank. Again as an officer, if I get my preferred place of posting in another bank, I leave the current one. These are generally the reasons for attrition.”
Challenges of lateral hiring
Lateral hiring may be the “in-thing” for banks these days, but it brings its own set of challenges according to Ms Panse. She explained, “When we joined the bank, we had to wait for seven years to become eligible for the next promotion. By the time I came to the executive cadre to become a chief manager, I would have waited twenty years. Today, banks go for lateral recruitment in areas such as treasury, forex or IT where special skills are required. So if you are in Scale I and have completed 2 years in one bank, you can apply for a Scale II post in another. This means that some of these people have 20-25 years of service left when they reach the executive cadre. HR Management is hence going to be the biggest challenge for banks in the next five years. Whichever bank invests heavily today into training and HR management, will reap the benefits.”