The Hindu Business Line : Old pvt banks no longer immune to `job hopping'

Getting a "bank job" often marked a turning point in the lives of many families, for the last couple of decades in India. It represented "settling down in life."

A bank job was seen as the passport to safety and security in an uncertain world. Naturally, once you got into a bank job, you stayed with it till retirement.

That's history.

Bankers, even those at lower levels, are moving places. And it is happening across banks.

Old private banks that were relatively insulated from this phenomenon till recently are now facing this new challenge. Banks such as Lakshmi Vilas Bank, Karur Vysya Bank and City Union Bank among others have been seeing more exits in their middle and lower cadre than what they saw a couple of years ago.

This is clearly seen from the increased number of job interviews being conducted by these banks.

Local bank officials said they were losing people to new generation banks such as ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, UTI Bank, among others.

Small towns' potential

The frenetic pace of growth of these banks and the broader economy, besides the discovering of rural and semi urban market potential has seen a scramble for available talent.

Says Mr Ganesh Chella, CEO, Totus Consulting, an HR Consulting firm, "New generation banks have hitherto been metro-centric. Now they are seeing the potential in 600-700 other smaller towns.

When you want to go there, they end up picking up manpower from local and regionally strong banks where there is reasonably good talent."

For employees too, there are many motivators to shift. Difference in pay scales is one major factor.

Those who move get a hike of between 30 per cent and 40 per cent, concedes Mr N. Kamakodi, Executive Director, City Union Bank. There are other reasons too.

`Instant gratification'

Mr E. Balaji, Chief Operating Officer, Ma Foi Consultants Ltd, an HR services company, provides the philosophical perspective for this phenomenon. He says, "Many recent entrants in these banks are those looking for instant gratification.

They are people in a hurry and driven by a different worldview. The days of waiting and climbing the ladder slowly are over."

He adds, "For some, it is important to work for a recognized brand.

In a social setting, it makes a difference. When you say you are working for a prominent bank, people have a recall."

Mr Kamakodi argues that attrition is not a new phenomenon.

He says, "In the case of clerical cadre, a chunk will resign within 2-3 months of joining after finding that this was not the job they expected. They may decide to go for higher studies, or other opportunities such as software, etc.

Another chunk will resign after putting in a service of 3 years or so, gaining experience. This group would go to new private banks with higher salary.

If they cross this period and choose to stay in the same bank, they will get promoted as officers and a chunk will resign after 2-3 years experience as officers - once again to go to new private banks. Once they cross this stage and become managers, the resignation rate reduces very much as they will be taken as officers only by new generation banks.

Those who are desperate for money and ready to go one stage lower only will move."

(To be continued)

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