Because of these reasons, the need for efficient bank employees has doubled and is expected to grow furthermore in coming years. [break]
Both the retention and hiring of staffers has turned out to be a major issue, as a result of which banks today are having to make heavy investments in screening the right kind of staff.
The scenario gets even worse when banks show unwillingness to spend money on training and education of staff for fear of losing them to their competitors at the end of the day.
Most of the banks informed that the problem relating to human resource management arises when banks have to fill lower level positions by hiring trainees and management trainees.
According to Amit Sharma, human resource manager at Laxmi bank, the trend of shrinking talent and lack of practical knowledge and skills amongst starters turns out to be a major problem in choosing the right person.
Besides, when it comes to sector wise management of human resources, problems have also arisen when it comes to appointing branch managers, relationship managers and lending unit personnel.
“There has been an increase in the number of people wanting to join the banking sector, but the problem is there are very few who can actually contribute to it,” Sharma said, adding that the trend of poaching workers among banks and lack of succession planning in managing senior level officials are other problems banks are bound to face when it comes to human resource management.
When banks try to pull in employees from other banks, they face problems while dealing with the newly hired ones as such job hoppers do not seem to have basic management skills such as crisis management and come from different organizational culture, and at the same time lack sufficient work experiences.
“There are people who have moved to three banks in a period of two years. Hiring such human resource will give no profitable outcome to the banks,” Sharma told myrepublica.com.
While many banks are pulling in employees from other banks, some administer the ´short-supply´ by managing their internal staff, giving them enough scope for growth and engaging them in various advantageous activities.
“We believe that getting employees is not just enough for a bank. It is utmost important that human resources are informed about organizational values, are given enough room for growth by engaging them in various development trainings,” says Bina Rana, head, human resource at Standard Chartered Bank Nepal Limited.
A proper human resources plan outlining a promotion, transfer and hiring roadmap should be chalked out by bank managements in a bid to address the issue, Rana stressed, adding that it´s high time the business colleges expanded their scope toward producing manpower that have greater practical knowledge.
According to Rana, poaching in the banking industry is connected with shortage of trained professionals in the industry and is likely to continue in days to come.
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