Bank of Baroda mulling to shift 50% staff to WFH structure in 4-5 years

Amid the still ongoing global pandemic impact, state-owned Bank of Baroda (BoB) is considering a proposal to divide its workforce in a manner that about half of them work from branches and the rest from home, over the next four to five years.

“I think it is quite possible that over the next four to five years, BoB is looking at having a workforce, only 50% of which may be full-time employed in branches and the balance would be working from home (WFH)," Sanjiv Chadha, chief executive, Bank of Baroda said at Indian Banks’ Association’s (IBA) human resources (HR) conclave..

According to Chadha, about 80% of the staff is deployed in the front offices and since customers are not necessarily coming to branches, the policy of having so many employees in such roles will change. The bank could also divide its employees into three categories of people who need to work in the branches, people who are in back-office remotely and those who can work in a hybrid manner.

“This also gives an opportunity to access talent which was not possible previously. It might be possible to even employ fruitful people who have retired but have much to contribute to the bank," said Chadha, adding that the bank could also look at other categories of workers who are taking sabbatical and might want to work for a few hours.

The bank had earlier said it wants to leverage COVID-19 disruption to transform the bank. “This transformation will be focused on driving operational efficiencies, addressing changing profiles and behaviour of our customers and targeting new opportunities," it said earlier.

BoB was planning to appoint a consultant to develop the WFH policy, including standard operating procedures (SOPs), selection process of WFH staff, technological feasibility. Many sectors were forced to adopt remote working models during COVID but not many in the banking sector were able to exercise the option, mostly due to security risks around financial data. Even after WFH policies are in place for banks, it will be more beneficial for non-customer-facing roles.