Senior bankers have recently garnered attention for negative reasons, including abusing and insulting their subordinates, using expletives, and intimidating them for not meeting business targets. The issue gained widespread attention when two videos went viral, showing officers from Bandhan Bank and Canara Bank berating their junior staff for their perceived underperformance. Initially, these incidents surfaced on social media before being picked up by mainstream media outlets.
What did the videos show?
One video, which surfaced in April 2024, depicted an online meeting where a Bandhan Bank officer named Kunal Bhardwaj harshly reprimanded an employee for failing to meet monthly targets.
An officer of the state-run Canara Bank took his reprimand of a junior to an even more extreme level. In a video surfaced in May 2024, Lokapati Swain was seen threatening his subordinates due to their failure to meet recovery targets. He said, “If you do not participate in recovery efforts, even on holidays, because you want time after work to travel with your family, then to hell with your family. What should I do? The bank has employed you for work, not for traveling with your family. I don’t care about your family because I don’t care about my own family either. My concern is Canara Bank,” he stated emphatically.
Following the media uproar caused by these videos, both banks issued statements condemning such behavior and assured that corrective actions would be taken.
These incidents were not isolated within the banking sector. In June 2023, HDFC Bank suspended an officer in Kolkata for allegedly displaying unruly behavior towards colleagues during an internal meeting. A video that circulated on Twitter captured the officer shouting at junior colleagues for not selling enough banking and insurance products.
What cause seniors shout?
With intensifying competition, there is increasing pressure on bankers to meet their business targets. This pressure, which was historically more prevalent among private lenders, has now begun to affect state-run banks as well. In fact, industry sources have revealed that incidents of using foul language and openly abusing employees in public sector banks (PSBs) are seldom reported.
The pressure to meet targets and outcompete rivals originates from top management and cascades down to lower-level employees. Public Sector Banks (PSBs) are under significant strain as they lag behind their private counterparts in growth and have been steadily losing market share for years.
A report by Acuite Ratings reveals that the market shares of Public Sector Banks (PSBs) and foreign banks have shrunk from 78 percent and 5.7 percent to 69 percent and 4 percent, respectively, as private banks capture a larger portion of the market. Private lenders have proven more efficient in deposit mobilization, achieving over 85 percent in FY17. Additionally, new or incremental deposit mobilization stands at nearly 80 percent for private banks compared to just 35 percent for the overall banking sector.
In FY24, private banks reported a higher net profit growth compared to their public sector counterparts. A report by Care Ratings indicates that the share of PSBs in total credit decreased from 63.7 percent at the end of March 2020 to 58 percent by the end of December 2023. This ongoing increase in pressure on employees to generate business appears to be contributing to an increasingly toxic work culture in banks.
The pressure to meet targets often results in instances of forced selling or misselling of products. In May 2023, the Reserve Bank of India held a meeting with the board of directors of all Public Sector Banks (PSBs) and private banks to address issues related to governance and ethics. Additionally, due to concerns over the increasing cases of misselling, the finance ministry has instructed the heads of PSBs to establish robust mechanisms to prevent unethical practices, such as the improper selling of insurance policies to customers.
Manpower shortage could also be a contributing factor.
State-run banks are grappling with a dwindling workforce. According to a study by the Indian Institute of Banking and Finance, the percentage of employees at Public Sector Banks (PSBs) has significantly declined from 73 percent in 2012-13 to 46 percent in 2021-22. This situation has further deteriorated since then. By March 2023, the employee base of private sector banks was at 745,000, only a few thousand fewer than that of PSBs.
Underperformance or non-performance in banks is not solely about failing to meet business targets. In state-run banks, employees are frequently transferred to remote locations where they encounter language barriers and different work cultures. However, these factors are not taken into account in their performance evaluations.
Toxicity should not me accepted
No matter the reason, nothing justifies toxic behavior in the workplace. “Abusive culture is not accepted in banks, whatever the reason may be. The management should engage with officers’ associations to address such issues and find solutions,” said CH Venkatachalam, general secretary of the All-India Bank Employees Association (AIBEA). Employee unions can play a crucial role in preventing the deterioration of work culture in banks.
A troubling aspect is that in banking institutions, victims often refrain from lodging formal complaints due to concerns about facing retribution during promotions and performance assessments. This reluctance contributes to the persistence of such cases. Regardless of the underlying reasons, this toxic culture must come to an end.
Conclusion
The banking sector faces escalating challenges including toxic work environments driven by intense competition, target pressures, and a dwindling workforce. Urgent action is needed from management and regulatory bodies to foster a culture of respect, ethics, and accountability, ensuring a healthier and more productive workplace for all employees.
(Source – Moneycontrol)
