Performance Appraisal In PSU Banks

1.  PERFORAMANCE APPRAISAL

2.  Junior & Senior

3.  Certain Myths About Bank Staff

1.    The basic objective of performance appraisal is not just to distinguish good performers from the poor performers, for the purpose of rewards and recognition. 

2.    But, the noble objective of any performance appraisal can only be to improve the future performance of the officer and to develop his knowledge and skills, eventually paving way for his self realization.

3.    In the goal setting activity, the participative and consultative approach must be adopted at the beginning of the period (usually a calendar year) under reckoning.

4.    The appraiser has a sacred duty towards the appraisee in the sense he (the appraiser) must act fairly, with utmost care and concern for the appraisee.

5.    The errors in rating like error of subjectivity, error of bias and prejudice, error of proximity, error of central tendency, error of rigidity, error of leniency etc. must be eliminated at any cost.

6.    Performance Appraisal must always be accompanied by Performance Interview, Performance Feedback, Performance Counselling and Mentoring.

7.    Identification of the areas where the officer has performed well, the areas where the officer could have performed still better and the areas where his performance was below par/unsatisfactory must be done objectively, with the help of modern scientific tools. 

8.    Highlights of one’s performance in each important dimension must be shared with him/her without any reservation.

9.    Mere communication of the aggregate marks/score at the end of the year will not suffice.

10.  Skill gaps or deficiencies must be identified through potential appraisal and communicated to the appraised person.  Then they must be made up with suitable ‘on the job training’, ‘superior-subordinate coaching’ (on a ‘one to one’ basis), conventional training through classroom lectures, seminars and workshops and ‘simulation studies’.

11.  ‘Psychodrama’ may be employed as a tool to improve the emotional quotient of the appraisee, help him have a realistic self-assessment through introspection, help him develop healthy inter-personal relationship skills and to boost his self-esteem.

12.  It will help him/her to work in a team enthusiastically and share the benefits of his/her successes with the other members of the team.

13.  The various motivational factors must be analyzed and given due weightage.

14.  The social needs of a person can never be overlooked.

15.  Proper attention needs to be paid to the health of the officer and his family members and there shall be no compromise whatsoever on this score.

16.  Similarly, it will be quite unfair to expect that an employee will give his maximum output, even when he is far away from his family and/or native place.

17.  The bank must realize that when it expects the officer to perform well and show results, the officer is also entitled to have reasonable expectations from the bank and it is the duty of the management to fulfill his/her aspirations and demands within a specific time limit.

18.  Finally, an organization shall never aspire to grow at the expense of its own personnel.

Date: 01-07-2013                                                                                                                 pannvalan

‘X’ PLUS ‘Y’ IS GREATER THAN BOTH ‘X’ AND ‘Y’ – DO YOU AGREE?

A person’s true worth must be assessed not basing on his appearance, age etc.  His character comes first.  His knowledge, experience and skills come next.  Then, his aptitude and attitude are to be looked into.  Lastly, special achievements if any must also be taken into account.  Only by doing this, the overall assessment of a person can be said to be fair and complete, in an organizational context.

In Public Sector Banks, total craze and unbridled obsession to pamper and promote juniors are visible everywhere.  Often, it is done at the cost of the seniors.

The reasons adduced by the management are:

1. The present day youngsters are better qualified.
2. They are more tech-savvy than their seniors.
3. They are very agile and more dynamic.
4. They are more goal oriented.
5. They have longer innings left in the organization.

Before going into the extent of truth and substance in these arguments, I shall ask one simple question.

‘Isn’t it true that ‘x’ plus ‘y’ is greater than both ‘x’ and ‘y’, provided both ‘x’ and ‘y’ are positive integers?

Here, ‘x’ means experience and ‘y’ means being young.

Now, let us compare the advantages and disadvantages of promoting seniors and juniors.

Advantages of being a senior

1. Seniors by and large are better experienced and have greater exposure to various dimensions of banking and geographical regions.
2. Their problem solving abilities in different situations and contexts are well documented.
3. They are already well fit into the organizational culture.
4. Their character and conduct are known to the management.
5. They possess more loyalty to the organization, because of their long association with it.
6. They accept greater responsibilities without any hesitation.
7. As they belong to the older generation, they don’t indulge in manipulation and exploitation of the bank, for their personal benefit (there may be negligible exceptions).

Disadvantages of being a senior

1. They have more commitments in personal life.
2. Many of them do not show interest in promotions, after a particular age, say 50 years.
3. They are not as flexible as the management expects them to be, even if they are very honest (Here, ‘flexibility’ means pliability).
4. Since many of the seniors have been bye-passed by many top level managers of the day, the management fears that the seniors cannot be ‘controlled’ by their young bosses easily.

Advantages of being a young person

1. As compared to their seniors, those who joined very recently are young and dynamic.
2. They are better qualified academically.
3. Being raw hands, they can be indoctrinated and moulded as desired by the management.
4. Since they have a long career ahead, they can be groomed to shoulder higher responsibilities in future.
5. They are more tech-savvy.

Disadvantages of being a young person

1. They are raw and inexperienced.  They have to go a long way to learn the practical, statutory, regulatory and legal aspects of banking.
2. Because they are fresh and better qualified, they behave rudely and arrogantly.
3. They have very high and unreasonable expectations.
4. They do not have loyalty to the organization that has invested huge amounts in recruiting, training and developing them.
5. Past statistics stand testimony to the high degree of attrition among the newly recruited persons.

Now, I proceed to demolish the assumptions, myths and calculations of bank managements while selecting, placing, pampering and promoting the youngsters, at the cost of elders.

S No	Assumption/Myth				Reality
About Seniors
1	Seniors are slow, lazy and inefficient and they resist changes.  They do not move with the times and after reaching certain position/level, they become stagnant/obsolete.				This is a sweeping generalization.  While it is true that seniors have greater commitments in their personal life, they have never resisted changes.  Most of the seniors continue to exhibit enthusiasm in adopting new practices and perform well. They not only adapt quickly to any technological and organizational changes, but they themselves have been the vanguard of many changes and innovations.  They are good at using appropriate strategy and reaching the goals, by virtue of their long experience and the varieties of skills acquired by them over a period of time.   In very explosive situations, they are the ones who are sent by the management to defuse the situation and bring it under control.  In case of customer complaints too, they are deputed to the scene of occurrence to pacify the customer, investigate the case and to help the management to take suitable remedial action.
2	They are less tech savvy.				Majority of the seniors have learnt the modern developments in banking and information technology.  They have demonstrated their prowess and succeeded in utilizing their knowledge and skills for the betterment and growth of their organization.  Customers have no complaints with regard to seniors in timely delivery of services and satisfying most of their needs and wants using latest technology.
3	They are less mobile.				This is a big lie.  In fact, they are the ones who are posted to remote and far flung areas, regardless of their age and family commitments.
4	They are inflexible and rigid postured.				It is the management that has taken them for granted.  Because of the existence of the entry and exit barriers in India, the seniors are treated shabbily and unjustly, as they cannot exit the organization easily.  Not yielding to undue pressures from the management shall not be called inflexibility.
5	They are very expensive to the organization.				Salaries and Allowances paid to staff rise with their experience and it is a universally accepted principle.  But excepting mere wages, the money and other resources invested in young staff by the banks are very huge and simply incomparable.
6	They develop vested interests, in course of time.				This is a baseless accusation.  For the mistakes committed by somebody, blame shall not be laid on the entire bloc of seniors.  Alright, what is the guarantee that the youngsters also will not develop vested interests in future?  We see many young employees also abusing their position, to promote their personal interests – business or otherwise.
7	As they move close to their retirement, their contribution comes down gradually.				This is also not true in all the cases.  Many staff members at the fag end of their career continue to show the same degree of enthusiasm that they showed when they were young.   In fact, they produce greater output and shoulder higher responsibilities with absolute ease and total confidence, as they gain more and more wisdom and experience in the bank.
S No	Assumption/Myth		Reality
About Juniors
1	They are young and dynamic.		The very fact that they are young does not mean that they are quick in disposal of papers that come to them.  Similarly, due to lack of deep knowledge in banking, they are slow in taking decisions and owning responsibility for what they do.
2	They are better qualified.		Unfortunately, the qualifications of the newly recruited staff in Clerical and Officer cadres are not at all connected to banking. Many of them having professional qualifications do not have intention to stay long in the bank.  The high degree of attrition among them provides ample evidence to prove this.
3	They are tech savvy.		It is true that they are more tech savvy, because they belong to the present generation.  But, sadly they do not utilize all their computer skills for the organization.  We can see many youngsters speaking on their mobile phones frequently and for long time during business hours, mindless of the work accumulating on their desks and the customers queuing in front of them.  They watch live cricket telecast on their smart phones/tabs during office hours.  They listen to music by putting on head phone and live in some other world, when the pressure of work keeps mounting.  They do not realize the urgency of anything and take things so casually.
4	They are more liberal and forward looking.		Except planning for their own growth, they do not have vision for the future of the organization.  Since they are new to the banking industry itself, it is not their fault.  Whether one is conservative or liberal cannot be judged that easily.  What was considered wrong, immoral and unethical in the past may appear right, fair and acceptable to the present generation.  Therefore, for them, ends justify the means.
5	Their output is greater.		In reality, their output is less, owing to these reasons. They mostly stick to the office hours for working and are not prepared to work on holidays. They avail maximum leave. Their learning process is not yet complete. They prefer posting in urban and metropolitan centres only. They wish to specialize in a few areas of their choice only. They are not strong in their language and communication skills. Their leadership qualities are yet to be tested. Their maturity level is poor and many of them lack inter-personal skills and have adjustment problems too. Because of this reason, they are unable to get along smoothly with their teammates (colleagues and subordinates). They show impatience and quite often skip important steps. They want shortcut solutions for each problem.  They do not want to touch certain jobs which they think are below their dignity and which they dislike. Since they are calculative and convert everything in monetary terms, they reject those jobs that are less rewarding.
5	They are more mobile.		It may sound strange, but it is true.  More than the seniors, these juniors do not want to be posted/transferred to far off places and outside their home state.  They try their best and manage to get posting to a place closer their home.  Moreover, all the remote, rural and semi-urban centres are reserved for seniors only.   Sadly, the managements also accept their line of thinking and oblige them readily.
6	Since they are raw, the management can easily mould them, suiting its expectations and needs.		By virtue of their higher academic qualifications and because of their age, the youngsters exhibit rudeness and arrogance and do not respect the elders, seniors and their immediate superiors.  They keep in direct touch with top management which also tacitly encourages them to bye-pass their superiors.  The youngsters do not have the quality of teamspirit and are so selfish.  They claim credit for that all the successes.  For any failure, they squarely blame their seniors and other colleagues for non-cooperation and inefficiency.
S No		Assumption/Myth		Reality
About Juniors (continued)
7		They are less expensive to the organization.		Excepting mere wages, the money and other resources invested in young staff by the banks today are very huge and simply incomparable.  Since there are large scale retirements (superannuation) in the next 2 years, the management is afraid to lose their services.  The management struggles a lot to retain them and is prepared to go to any length to please them and to pay any price to stop their exit.  That is the stark reality.
8		They do not have any vested interests.		What is the guarantee that the youngsters also will not develop vested interests in future?  Nobody can predict now as to how they will shape up and grow in future. We see many young employees also abusing their position, to promote their personal interests – business or otherwise.
9		They are the future face of the organization.  Therefore, they require full support and blessings of the management.		The management throws its full weight behind them and goes the whole hog in grooming them, at the expense of their seniors. Result?  After receiving all the benefits starting from cornering coveted positions and plum postings to getting frequent trainings (that are out of bounds for the seniors even in their dreams) and quick and regular promotions, they leave the organization for better position elsewhere, within a few years.  Oh, what a betrayal!

Now, what has to be done?

Without seeing one’s age alone, the management must weigh the following aspects carefully, while devising its transfer, training, placement and promotion policy.

1. Academic achievements
2. Professional and technical skills
3. Whether the employee gives his/her best to the organization?
4. Knowledge, clarity of thought and expression and persuasive skills
5. Proficiency in Languages
6. Kinds of Roles and Assignments handled so far
7. Potential for further development
8. Willingness to accept higher responsibilities and shoulder more risks
9. Proven capabilities in leading a team/Managerial Abilities
10. Honesty and Integrity
11. Focus and keenness in Customer Service
12. Marketing Skills and Business development
13. Whether he/she is liked by majority of the people who know him in the organizational context?
14. Whether he/she utilizes the delegated authority judiciously and to the optimum level?
15. Whether he/she avoids taking risks with a view to maintain immaculate record?
16. Multi-Disciplinary Approach versus Specialisation in a single area
17. Service in different geographical regions
18. Espirit de Corps and Superordinate Goals
19. Loyalty to the organization
20. General Character and Conduct
21. Compliance with Statutory, Regulatory and Legal requirements
22. Reporting – Keeping the higher officials posted with latest developments, concerning all important matters, regularly

Any promotion given will be subject to the proviso that after accepting promotion, one must continue in the same organization for a minimum period of 3 years.  Else, he/she will forfeit all the benefits accompanying the promotion given.  For this purpose, one must execute an Indemnity Bond in advance.

In addition, a person who lost his promotion opportunity because of promotion given to another, shall have the right to sue the management as well as the promoted person, if the latter leaves the bank within this mandatory period of 3 years.

Date: 05-06-2013                                                                                                                             pannvalan

CERTAIN MYTHS AND MISCONCEPTIONS ABOUT BANK STAFF

PREFACE

There are certain myths and misconceptions about bank jobs that need to be busted so that the anti-bank staff campaign unleashed by the media, general dissatisfaction of the customers, non-cooperative attitude of the government and the negative opinion of the general public about the banks (especially the public sector banks) and the people working therein will change greatly. In spite of working very hard, bank employees do not evoke sympathy from any quarters as of now. 

Whatever goodwill and respect we had until early 1970s, we lost them because of the arrogance and high handed behavior displayed by the employees of the previous generation and we are reaping the outcome of the sins committed by them.  (Here, I am not blaming everybody).

It has been very difficult to change the negative opinion of the society and regain the goodwill lost.  Yet, a sincere attempt has been made here to change the past and rewrite our destiny.  It is with this objective, this article has been written.

MYTH # 1:  Bank jobs are ‘10 to 5’ jobs

It is now within the knowledge of all sections of the society that bankers are the only one segment of the salaried class who do not have fixed working hours uniformly in the entire country.  In sharp contrast, even a small vegetable shop, roadside restaurant, gas agency, departmental stores, textile showroom, electronic goods shop, a school/college and a medium sized hospital have fixed working hours every day.  The state government and the central government employees, LIC, GIC and its 4 subsidiaries, Railways, BSNL/MTNL and all the public sector undertakings work for fixed hours every day and most of them enjoy 2 holidays every week, as they observe ‘5 day week’.

With the I.T. boom and the huge expansions seen in the infrastructure during the past 15 years, the sheen of the public sector banks has faded away.  The bank jobs lost whatever charm left, after the VRS in 2001.  More than 1 lakh personnel quit and their vacancies were not to be filled in for the next 5 years as was agreed upon, before the first ever VRS in the banking industry in India was approved.  The rapid expansion of the banks network, phenomenal growth in the total banking business and the new arenas entered into by the banks and the bouquets of new products introduced by them were not at all taken into account by the banks while doing manpower planning and no adequate and proper recruitment was made by them, even after 2006.

SBI was the only bank that undertook gradual and massive recruitment during the past 3 or 4 years. Only from 2010, the other banks have started showing some real interest in fresh recruitments to various cadres, after the fact that nearly 40% of the work force in the banking industry will be going out on superannuation during 2012-15 stared on their face suddenly.   This has resulted in unbearable work load at all levels and the other physical and psychological fall outs of the resultant stress are threatening the bankers’ families too.  Cases of bank staff dying while in service are mounting day by day and the average life span of the bankers has started shrinking during the last 10 years.

Bank employees do not have ‘5 day week’ and even the second Saturday of each month is not a holiday for them.  Even though banks are supposed to work for only half a day on each Saturday, in reality, bank employees (especially the officers) work for 8 hours on Saturdays too. 

On other week days, their working hours stretch from 9 hours to 12 hours, on an average.  Even on Sundays and other holidays, road shows and recovery drives are conducted, review meetings are held and certain new product initiatives are launched.  Because of this, apart from the officers themselves, their family members are deprived of the presence of their family head at least once a week.  This is a very serious crime against the society and against all canons of decency and global labour standards.  The Trade Unions exist merely on paper and the leaders do not bother about the pitiable plight of their members.  Though several well decided labour laws are in force in India, no one comes to the rescue of the bank officers.

MYTH # 2:  Bank staff are paid very well

Bank employees and Insurance Company employees were described as ‘High Wage Islands’ by none other than the then Finance Minister Mr. R. Venkataraman in 1982.  It is true that bank staff were paid well, compared to the other sections of the salaried class, until early 1990s.  Especially after big money entered Infrastructure and I.T. sectors in the late 1990s, the compensation paid to the bank staff has become just a pittance.  What was once a lucrative career has now become cheap and ludicrous and it has a very few serious takers.  Whoever joins the banks use them only as the launch pads for their career elsewhere.  Thus, the banks have become temporary parking slots for them.

In the marriage market too, the bank staff have lost their value and the demand for them has gone down substantially, especially after the 6^th Pay Commission Recommendations were implemented at the centre and in several states for their employees.  In several public sector undertakings too, the pay and perks paid to their staff are way above those paid to the bank personnel of comparable cadres/ranks. 

While the 8^th Bipartite Settlement in banking industry was a great disappointment, the 9^th Bipartite Settlement was a greater fiasco.  For securing pension to all those who missed out the offer on earlier occasions, unprecedented compromise was made by all the recognized Trade Unions, while negotiating the wage revision in 2010.  The revised pay of the bank staff that resulted in only a small increase in their gross pay, juxtaposed to the rich bounty received by the government employees on account of the 6^th Pay Commission, made the bank staff an easily deceivable lot with lollipops.

Compared to the financial risks borne by the bank officers and the vindictive nature of bank managements, the compensation received by the bank officers is nothing but a farce.  The bank officers have the most vulnerable section of the society today.

Pension to those who retired from the government service is automatically revised along with each wage revision.  But it is not so for bank pensioners.  Pension once fixed is frozen forever and after 2 decades from the date of retirement, the pensioners get only a paltry sum, not sufficient to meet even their basic needs.  This is evident from the fact that a person who retired as General Manager in early 1990s gets a lower pension than the pension received by a Part Time Sweeper who retired a few months ago.

MYTH # 3:  Besides salaries, bank staff are paid many perquisites, every month

This statement is also wrong.  First, the HRA payable to government employees is more than 3 times the HRA paid to the bank personnel.  In case of Housing Loans and Vehicle Loans, banks follow central government guidelines only.  But in terms of quantum of loan and the rate of interest, we are at a disadvantage.  The government employees do not pay any tax on perquisites, whereas the bank officers do. Moreover, bank staff are subjected to frequent transfers and even the lower level officers (up to MMGS III) are liable for inter-state transfers.  In case of transport and children’s education allowances, we are nowhere near the government staff.

Except residential furniture and some more fringe benefits like interest free festival advance, the perks paid to the government staff are far higher and not available to us.  For retired central government staff, CGHS is in operation. 

MYTH # 4:  Bank staff get many loans at concessional rate of interest

Now, all the government employees get Housing Loans and Vehicle Loans at a cheaper cost.  Therefore, except Clean Overdraft and Festival Advance, bank staff are not in an advantageous position vis-à-vis their counterparts in the government and the profit making public sector undertakings.

Another point is, banks being financial institutions dealing in money and money related products, extend some loans on concessional terms to their employees.  This is very similar to Railways extending many privileges to their staff in the form of frequent free travels or travels on a concessional rate and the Telecom Companies giving their employees free telephone connections and ‘free calls’ up to certain amount, every month.  Many educational institutions have a separate quota for their staff children and tuition fee is also either waived or only a nominal amount is collected from them.  Thus, this is a common commercial practice and there is nothing unusual about it.

MYTH # 5:  After computerization, work load of bank staff has come down

Those who have a fair idea about the bankers’ plight during the last 10 years will agree that the bank officers are forced to sit late almost every day to complete their routine work.  In fact, many of the routine jobs are now standardized and no discretion is given to the branch heads to correct any error that has occurred.  To avoid frauds, most of the functions have been centralized and nothing is left to branch level decision making. 

On many days, even after completing the routine, bank officers stay back very late for finishing the day end jobs.  When there is a network failure or a hardware malfunctioning, the officer personnel are unable to do anything.  They have to remain totally at the mercy of their DIT, hardware vendors, trouble-shooting agencies and BSNL.  Everyone will agree that detecting an error is the most challenging job in any dynamic work environment.  But in a totally computerized bank (especially under CBS), even after detecting the error, the problem-solving does not lie in the hands of the branch heads and sub-managers.  They are totally helpless and bide their time awaiting external help.

Besides the technology related issues, in general, the aggregate business of each bank has gone up by leaps and bounds during the past 15 years and on the other hand, the staff position is dwindling at a rapid pace compounding the misery.  Large scale branch expansion is resorted to, without recruiting sufficient number of staff.  Because of the bad and unattractive compensation package and the absence of conducive and congenial work atmosphere, the banks are finding it difficult to arrest the high degree of attrition.  This has resulted in higher average age of a bank staff and lower efficiency ratio.  This phenomenon is typical to public sector banks only.

All these factors have resulted in manifold increase in the work load of bank officers and the burgeoning demands – that too unreasonable demands – from many customers have worsened the situation.  The bank managements do not bother about the problems and difficulties at the unit level and they want the branch staff to show spectacular results ‘somehow’.  But, no one will come forward to explain what they really mean by ‘somehow’ in this context.

As a result of these, the bank staff are compelled to toil more, sometimes commit unintentional mistakes and punished unjustly for the same.

The mental and physical health of the bank staff get spoiled beyond repair.  They are unable to discharge their duties to their families, friends and relatives and the society. As a consequence, their families develop deep hatred towards their employment and keep on cursing the bank managements, because they (staff families) are the worst affected parties.

MYTH # 6:  Bank staff work in a very congenial work atmosphere

Bank staff today work under severe pressure and face insurmountable challenges.  Day in and day out, they have to face the ire of their bosses and also demanding, complaining and quarrelsome customers. They are unable to look after their own health properly because of lack of time and mental and physical weariness.  Nowadays, we hear about the death of many bank officers and managers while in service at regular intervals and everyone is now fairly accustomed to the shock and agony experienced on account of this tragic phenomenon.  Where will this be heading to?  Is there an answer?

MYTH # 7:  Bank staff are generally arrogant and discourteous

Between 1975 and 2000, this was the case in most of the banks.  But there is a radical change in the temperament and attitude of most of the bank staff now.   By and large, they have learnt to be polite to the customers and their bosses, on account of intense competition in the banking industry and the dilution of the role of Trade Unions during the past 2 decades.  The militancy has fizzled out and paved way for polite and courteous behavior of the bank staff.

But, it is quite unfortunate that the bad impression about the bank staff created by the media (print media in particular) has not fully changed.  That the public opinion is however gradually changing is a consolation.

MYTH # 8:  Bank staff are healthier than their counterparts in other fields

With their salaried income alone, the bank staff cannot afford to buy a 2 bedroom flat in any metro city.  An AGM cannot get adequate housing loan basing on his salaried income alone.  Nor can an officer of a bank get a decent accommodation on rent within his eligibility in urban and metro areas.  Honest officers and single income families suffer the most.  Similarly, for the higher education of their children (professional education), bank staff have to depend on borrowings only.

As regards physical health, enough has been told in the foregoing paragraphs.  But, one more point is to be added.  Very frequent transfers have taken their toll on the physical and financial health of the bank officers.  Precisely for this reason, youngsters choose bank jobs, only if they don’t have any other alternative.

MYTH # 9:  In the Society, the bank staff command very high respect

Bank officials, regardless of their position, were once upon placed in higher echelons of the society along with doctors, engineers, lawyers and chartered accountants.  But, their place in the society today is deplorable and even in the marriage market, bank officers do not have good demand because of their thin pay packets and long and unregulated working hours.

After the advent of I.T. with a bang in the country in the late 1990s, the bank jobs have lost their charm, lustre and respect.  That is the stark reality today.

It is in this context, the entire community of bank officers eagerly looks forward to the 10^th Bipartite Settlement for not only higher monetary compensation, but restoring their past glory and higher social status.

Date: 31-08-2012                                                                                                       pannvalan