SBI staff seek hike in remuneration

Kolkata, Aug. 13 State Bank of India, it appears, will continue to struggle with the problem of staff shortage unless the remuneration of its employees is significantly stepped up.

According to the State Bank of India Staff Association, Bengal Circle, more than 13,500 employees of the bank retired in 2008-09, and though the bank recruited 33,000 people during the year, an estimated 40 per cent of the new recruits left on account of the poor pay packets.

The bank’s business is growing and with it the expectations of its customers about service quality. To render satisfactory customer service, the bank will need a motivated workforce. But the association apprehends it will not be possible to attract good people and thus build a motivated workforce at the current levels of remuneration. The problem will assume critical proportions in the next four years when a large chunk of the existing employees retire.

Contrary to the general perception, the remuneration of bank employees is poor vis-À-vis that of Central and State Government employees. As a spokesman for the association points out, the total remuneration of a clerk based in a metro and working in the lowest grade in SBI is Rs 7,919 per month, which is to rise to Rs 9,300 per month as per the Indian Banks’ Association’s recent offer of a 17.5 per cent wage hike. This compares poorly with the remuneration of a lower division clerk in the West Bengal Government, whose starting monthly income is Rs 11,880 and that of an upper division clerk in the Central Government, Rs 17,150.

A probationary officer in SBI starts with a salary of Rs 19,181 per month and in other banks Rs 16,146, says the spokesman. Side by side, under the State’s School Service Commission, a teacher with a Master’s degree starts at a monthly salary of Rs 21,000, a teacher with an Honours degree with Rs 19,000, and a teacher with a just pass degree at Rs 16,800. A West Bengal Civil Service Grade ‘A’ Officer starts with a salary of Rs 27,810, he adds.