High pressure environment in banking industry!, ETHRWorld

Over 51 percent of RMs say that they’ve experienced the fear of getting fired due to not meeting sales targets.

The banking sector operates under a high-pressure environment where most employees face significant stress due to continuous changes in technology, organisational structures and labour market dynamics.

These factors, while reshaping jobs, impact both working conditions and employee health. Given the importance of human resources as the driving force behind organisational success, particularly in the banking industry, managing stress has become essential to maintaining employee wellbeing and performance.

In this regard, a recent survey of 1,655 Bank Relationship Managers (RMs) across India, around key trends in sales pressure and basic knowledge gaps, by 1 Finance Magazine has revealed interesting insights:

• 84.3 percent of Bank RMs rated the extent of sales pressure exerted on them to sell financial products to be 3 or more (on a scale of 5, 5 being the highest),
• 57.56 percent of RMs agree that they’re told to mis-sell financial products,
• 51.52 percent of RMs say that they’ve experienced the fear of getting fired due to not meeting sales targets and,
• 26.83 percent of RMs were at some point in their career put on a performance improvement plan.

Kanan Bahl, Chief Editor, 1 Finance Magazine, said, “Bank RMs are being made to sell products they do not themselves understand. This ultimately makes them render poor quality advice to customers. The end user is at a loss.”Small finance banks stand out with the highest job satisfaction!

Source: 1 Finance

As per the survey, small finance banks stand out with the highest job satisfaction, as 75 percent of their employees rated their satisfaction at 4 or above.

In contrast, large private sector banks have the lowest levels of satisfaction, with only 33.56 percent of respondents giving a rating of 4 or higher.

Medium and small private sector banks show moderate levels of satisfaction, with 46.53 percent and 43.79 percent of employees, respectively, rating their satisfaction at 4 or above. Public sector banks fall somewhere in the middle, with 40.74 percent of respondents indicating higher satisfaction levels.

“We need a barrier entry for Bank RMs. Both the securities and banking regulators should work cohesively to introduce similar norms, such as minimum experience, NISM certification and educational requirements, as are there for brokers and advisors in the industry,” Bahl added.

Also, 73.17 percent of respondents have never been on a PIP; such a high number ideally indicates a robust and competent human resource, but given the figures regarding mis-selling, unrealistic targets and job satisfaction, little can be said about robustness and competence of the workforce.

Additionally, 61.74 percent of…