The signs of longer hours of work, stress as a result of handling customers whose numbers seem to be only multiplying, as well as dealing with mounds of currency is evident on their faces.
Yet, most of the workforce in the banking sector ever since demonetisation of Rs. 500 and Rs. 1,000 has been striving to rise to the occasion. They are the face of the bank, providing information on the regulations, pacifying customers, and often at the receiving end for decisions over which they have little control.
Managing people has never been easy, but what makes it more challenging now is for a few years now the focus of the banking industry has been to reduce footfalls by aggressively promoting alternative channels such as ATM and net banking. Thus, for many who joined banks in the last few years, the surge in the customers coming to the branch is a new experience.
With little option left than handle the situation as best as possible, till the few weeks the crisis like scenario is expected to last, the employees have conditioned themselves quickly. “On a few days, we have gone home at 11 p.m., only to start work again after a few hours of rest,” says a manager at an State Bank of India branch in Gachibowli area, with a smile.
It is indeed challenging, AIBEA general secretary (AP and Telangana) B.S. Ramababu says, hastening to clarify that it is not about managing people. It is about the herculean task of replacing a bulk of the notes in circulation. This calls for coordination at various levels, and everything boils down to the availability of sufficient cash, he adds.
Bankers have been working overtime, a mandatory two hours daily, besides on weekend and holidays. After cash transactions close at 6 p.m., they remain until the cash is tallied. Hyderabad has 1,000 branches of public sector, private, and cooperative banks. He estimates the number of employees to be around 5,000. Across Telangana, there are about 4,500 branches and the headcount would be over 25,000.
The work pressure is resulting in errors too. BEFI leader P. Venkataramaiah says there have been instances of even seasoned cashiers reporting short cash and thus incurring losses.
The efforts, however, are unlikely to go unrecognised, at least for those in public sector banks. Sources say the PSBs have agreed to pay Rs. 2,000 to Rs. 3,000 to officers for working on holidays and a overtime of 200 per cent to those in the clerical cadre. Some banks, including SBI, Bank of India, and Corporation Bank, have roped in retired staffers.
United Forum of Bank Unions Convenor (TS and AP) V.V.S.R. Sarma sums up: “The government has taken a decision. It is a service requirement that we cannot ignore.”
