63% of bank workers want out of profession, say they are living borrowed lives

As many as 63.4 percent of people working in the banking sector say they are willing to leave it, entirely due to factors like low salaries and unrealistic targets, a new survey by Acreaty Ghana – a human capital consultancy – has revealed.

Dubbed the 2018 Human Resource Banking Survey, it interviewed 1,230 workers from 14 banks and revealed that 70 percent are not satisfied with salaries, while 46.2 percent want their salaries increased above 20 percent.

Those who want out of the industry complained that while salaries are low, they are forced to live a “borrowed life” – always festooned in suits and swanky shoes, which takes a toll on their earnings.

Respondents also complained of bureaucracy in operations, unfair bonus schemes and huge remuneration gaps – while as many as 79 percent described the targets set for them as being unrealistic and unattainable.

The findings also show that 78 percent of the respondents want a more flexible working environment. Most respondents were concerned about their contracts, or contract staff not being made permanent.

When it came to those who want to change jobs but within the same banking sector, 52 percent preferred to move to the Bank of Ghana, 16 percent Ecobank Ghana, 14.2 percent GCB, and 12 and 5.8 percent for Fidelity Bank and Stanbic Bank respectively.

“This employee satisfaction survey was focused on the banks to provide necessary evidence for effective and efficient decisions, not only of human resource focus but also for strategic repositioning of banks and the banking industry in general – particularly in this age of bank meltdowns,” said Samuel Allotey, Director of Human Resource at GRIDCO who chaired the launch of the survey, in Accra.

“Our focus is that these findings make a strong case for organisational policies which promote employee welfare necessary for growth of all departments within the banking sector,” he added.

Commenting on the findings, Acreaty Regional Managing Director for Africa, Elsie Appau, said most banks in the country lack realistic and scientific data to aid their planning processes, noting that if you cannot measure something you cannot set the right targets.

“It is very worrying to have a significant number of workers wanting to leave the sector for other sectors. We had respondents describing their working relations in the banks as “borrowed life”. Their work life is not real or is imaginary, and for me that’s problematic,” Mrs. Appau added.

She said: “Their target-setting or performance targets are way off – sometimes above the expectations or realities of the market. So, that may have some implication on how banks are performing”.

She explained that throughout the survey, she identified a lack of appreciation for the Human Resource (HR) function in organisations.

“One of the questions we have always asked is the relevance of the HR function to the entire development of the organisation, because HR is not just about pushing people to perform but also the impact of that work on you, your family and society at large.

“It could also be a reason we are seeing some of the crises we have today in the sector. So, happiness and people feeling internal fulfilment and satisfaction from doing work must be the basis for any HR planning.”

She went on to say: “Of late, we are seeing a lot of working people who are very unhappy, unhealthy and not committed to what they are doing – and that is the result we see openly as a nation. A lot of people in the country are not happy; they are not patriotic and do not feel any sense of belonging…which is very, very dangerous”.