|
Performance Linked Pay
Package Will Further Divide Bank Employees
Government has put stress on salary
packages of employees of public sector banks to have performance linked
variable component from next financial year. They could not ensure
performance in central and state government departments but bent upon
linking wage revision of bankers with performance knowing very well that it
is still banks where work flows smoothly compared to other departments of
government.
Government should first define performance, explain how to measure
performance of various segment of officers and non officers, how to
ascertain degree of customer service extended by a bank employee, how to
correlate deposit mobilized by an officer with non performing assets (NPA)
created by him before advocating performance based pay hike or incentive (PLI)
to be introduced in public sector banks. There are numerous officers in
banking industry who by paying bribe to government departments could
mobilize handsome deposit to become performer but who endangered crores of
rupees of banks by lending huge money to ineligible borrowers or to fake
borrowers or who were found to be indulged in fraudulent activities.
Bitter truth is that an officer in general is treated star performers by an
executive is later charge sheeted by another set of executive when exposure
of irregularities created by so called star performers takes place or when
top executive sitting at the top post do not like the said star performer.
There is already promotion policy in vogue in all banks which promises
promotions based on performances. But the ground reality is that promotions
are never given based on performances. Those who are flatterers, who are
yes-man of bosses, who earn through bribe and share with bosses, who please
bosses with cash and gifts are normally given better marks in Interview and
selected for promotion. Similarly top officials are tactful enough to use
good officers to clean the malady created and accumulated by their yes-men
and justify the promotion given by them to a bad performer at the cost of
good performer. If a honest and sincere survey is conducted on bank
officers, the outcome will definitely reveal the large scale annoyance of
bank officers with their top management and exposes injustices in promotion
process. One cannot deny that promotions said to be performance linked in
banking is absolutely whimsical and in no way related to work done by any
officer.
In a bank it is very difficult to ascertain and measure work done by an
employee and make it comparable with others. Different employees in
different departments in banks at different branches and different
administrative offices require different skill and unique level of handling.
Every one is not competent to handle auditing work and similarly every
officer is not tactful and efficient enough to handle a branch as Branch
head. There are some officers who can be good faculty member in a training
college but fail completely when they are posted in a branch and instructed
to perform routine work in a branch.
Secondly, position, potential and work nature of a branch differs from
village to village and from town to town. Quality of work at administrative
offices is entirely a different story because administrative offices need no
service to customer but only service and flattery to bosses. In brief each
branch and each officer has a different characteristic and need unique
treatment, different set of knowledge level and absolutely unique behavior.
I am unable to understand how bank management will justifiably quantify the
work done by different segment of workers. It is rather bank management who
can easily make or mar the career of any officer or a branch manager just by
posting him at normal or critical branch, or by increasing or reducing
manpower compared to normally required strength of manpower for a particular
branch. Manpower provided to different branches is not uniform and more or
less depends on the whims and fancies of higher bosses. An officer in good
book of a boss can get surplus manpower whereas another officer when posted
at same branch will be deprived of even normal strength of manpower.
There are many banks where even appraisal reports are not in vogue for
assessing the work of award staff. Even for officer’s appraisal report is
designed in such a manner that he or she is rated in different state in
different way depending upon the likes and dislikes of the assessor. Even if
appraisal reports on performance is written by his immediate boss, it has
got no relevance in case of posting or promotion of an officer considered by
the management from time to time. It is in banks that even guidelines for
officers issued by government of India regarding Rural posting or North East
posting related incentive is misused by the management to punish or isolate
an officer who is not serving personal interest of the Boss.
If management wants to give performance linked incentive to any officer of
their choice they will extend all cooperative hands and on the contrary they
may pull back some good assisting workers from a branch to belittle good
work done by a an officer who is though good performer but not in good book
of his assessor. A man is not good or bad only because he is good or bad,
but it largely depends on how the assessor or the judge perceives his
performance. Attractive suit length in a cloth shop is liked by one but may
be disliked by other.
Availability of suitable infrastructure and the potential of the area have
greater role to play in performance of an officer. Similarly position of all
branches is not same. There are branches, which are fraud ridden requiring
skill in legal matter. There are branches where bad advances are huge and
need focused attention on recovery of advances. On the contrary there are
some new potential branches where in a year business rises to what 10 years
old branch could not achieve in another town. Some branches are fifty years
old having multifarious jobs and some are new requiring no special skill,
some are situated in Naxal affected areas and some others are in business
wise potential area. After all what will be the criteria for judging the
performance of a bank employee which will be uniformly applicable and
acceptable to all is a million dollar question.
It is seen in banks that charge sheeted officers are promoted based on caste
or religion or closeness to bosses or based on recommendation of some God
fathers or based on bribe he or she offers to top management in lieu of
promotion he secures. There is no guarantee that the performance-linked
incentive as contemplated by government of India will be used for real
growth of banks.
As long as banks are unable to decide the framework and uniformly acceptable
yardstick to measure the performance qualifying for incentive, mere
introduction of such PLI in banks will undoubtedly create more conflicts,
confusion and give rise to reign of injustice as perpetuated through
promotions and posting by greedy and corrupt bank management in general, I
do not talk of a negligible portion of exceptional good officials sitting at
the top. Please excuse me. In general any power invested with Indian bosses
produces nothing but gives rise to more and more corrupt practices and do
not help in creating an environment conducive for real elevation of really
good workers and real growth of banks. When incentive in form of promotion
is not awarded judiciously, it is difficult to understand that the
management will justifiably distribute Performance linked Incentives.
Danendra Jain
Ganaraj Choumuhani Agartala
9th December 2009
|
