The battle to retain banking talent in a post-pandemic world

The last two years of the pandemic have reshaped the world of work, and banking hasn’t been spared either. Attrition has soared as talented employees in the banking sector explore new pastures in e-commerce companies, startups and the IT sector.

At the Mint Annual Banking Conclave in Mumbai, top executives from the banking and recruitment sectors brainstormed on flexible work, attrition and diversity, and how they are adapting to the changes sweeping the employment landscape.

Rajkamal Vempati, head of human resources at Axis Bank said that even in a regulated industry like banking, the pandemic changed the social fabric of the workplace.

“The social fabric changed during the pandemic; flexibility became a norm when barriers of workplace, or what is a workplace, changed even for a regulated industry. The stigma of flexibility moved away,” she said in the conclave.

Much of the banking industry’s workforce has returned to offices, but lenders are trying out different ways to offer flexibility and hybrid work options to attract talent from all quarters.

Banks should state transparently which roles are exclusively work-from-office and which ones can be flexible, said Vishal Kukreja, head of human resources at RBL Bank.

“We have a younger workforce who want to come to office as they feel more connected and get trained and engaged better. Then, there is also the younger workforce who want that flexibility,” said Kukreja. “So, the best way is to create a transparent model where the banks make it clear that there are certain profiles which will need work from office and the younger workforce can select,” he added.

Kukreja suggested that companies need to change these flexibility options with the “right amount of benefits” which could be an amalgamation of mental, financial, emotional benefits.

The banking sector has seen its worst attrition among the sales and marketing and ground-level staff, given that these skill sets are valued by non-banking financial companies, insurance and microfinance sectors as well. However, Upasana Agarwal, national practice director at recruitment firm ABC Consultants said the frenzy may ease in the coming quarters.

“Some (areas) are seeing 100% attrition, but this quarter, the attrition will settle down. Fear of a global recession, a slowdown in demand and layoffs in certain sectors like e-commerce will lead to it,” Agarwal said.

She said in certain bank departments, attrition is as high as 40-50%. She highlighted that AI, data analytics, and risk expertise in cyber to operations were in demand, along with legal resolution professionals.

Panellists also noted that banks were pushing for diversity and have to respond more to a new-age workforce that is more aware of ESG, and companies have to up their diversity quotient.

Chetan Savla, chief human resources officer, Kotak Mahindra Bank outlined the main points that attract job-seekers towards banks.

“How deep is the diversity hub in the leadership scale? Is the office infrastructure catering to the people with special needs? Policies which help women who can work part time? Can we provide roles suitable for them,” asked Savla about some of the parameters gaining traction.

Vempati of Axis Bank highlighted that once, when her firm put out openings for 50 roles, 60,000 applied during the pandemic.

She insisted that companies need to work around different hiring formats and overcome biases during selection if they want to see a diverse workplace.