BETTER WORK-LIFE BALANCE SURVEY IN THE BANKING SECTOR OF BANGLADESH
BANK OVERVIEW
SONALI BANK LTD
Sonali Bank was established in 1972 under the Bangladesh Banks (Nationalization) Order, through the amalgamation and nationalization of the branches of National Bank of Pakistan, Bank of Bhowalpur and Premier Bank branches located in East Pakistan until the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War. When it was established, Sonali Bank had a paid up capital of 30 million taka. In 2001, its authorized and paid up capital were Tk 10 billion and Tk 3.272 billion respectively. The bank’s reserve funds were To 60 million in 1979 and To 2.050 billion on 30 June 2000.
BANK ASIA LTD
Bank Asia Limited is a scheduled commercial bank in the private sector established under the Banking Company Act 1991 and incorporated in Bangladesh as a public limited company under the Companies Act 1994 to carry out banking business in Bangladesh. Bank Asia Limited acquired the business of Bank of Nova Scotia, Dhaka in the year 2001 and at the beginning of the year 2002 the Bank also acquired the Bangladesh Operation of Muslim Commercial Bank Limited (MCBL), a bank incorporated in Pakistan, having two branches at Dhaka and Chittagong with one booth at Dhaka. Bank Asia at present carrying its banking activities through thirty six branches including ATM, Locker, SMS, Internet Banking, SME & Foreign Exchange services in the country.
EASTERN BANK LTD
Eastern Bank Limited (EBL) is one of the modern, fully online and technologically superior private commercial Banks in Bangladesh. Eastern Bank markets a wide range of depository, loan & card products. These products include different types of Savings & Current Accounts, Personal Loans, Auto Loan, Debit Card, Pre-paid Cards, Internet Banking, Treasury, Syndication, Corporate Banking and SME Banking services through a network of branches & centers countrywide. Tracing its origin back to 1992, EBL is serving the individual and corporate clientele alike with remarkable success offering innovative banking services since then.
CITY BANK LTD
City Bank is one of the oldest private Commercial Banks operating in Bangladesh. It is a top bank among the oldest five Commercial Banks in the country which started their operations in 1983. The Bank started its journey on 27th March 1983 through opening its first branch at B. B. Avenue Branch in the capital, Dhaka city. It was the visionary entrepreneurship of around 13 local businessmen who braved the immense uncertainties and risks with courage and zeal that made the establishment & forward march of the bank possible. Those sponsor directors commenced the journey with only Taka 3.4 core worth of Capital, which now is a respectable Taka 330.77 core as capital & reserve.
IBBL
Bangladesh is one of the largest Muslim countries in the world. The people of this country are deeply committed to Islamic way of life as enshrined in the Holy Qur’an and the Sunni. Naturally, it remains a deep cry in their hearts to fashion and design their economic lives in accordance with the precepts of Islam. The establishment of Islamic Bank Bangladesh Limited on March 13, 1983, is the true reflection of this inner urge of its people, which started functioning with effect from March 30, 1983. This Bank is the first of its kind in Southeast Asia.
3.1 Better Work-Life Balance Survey
The survey was developed as part of a research project, called the Work and Family Project – Pilot Program, which involved conducting pilot programs with ten workplaces to evaluate the effectiveness of their work-life balance policies. The project was a collaboration between the then Department of Industrial Relations (DIR) and the University of Queensland with an Australian Research Council funding grant and funding from DIR. The Better Work-Life Balance Survey (or BWLB Survey for short) was developed as a self-assessment measure to evaluate the work-life balance policies of workplaces. Between 2002 and 2004 ten Queensland organizations participated in the project and around 3,000 employees in both rural and urban areas in Queensland completed the survey.
The Better Work Life Balance Survey aims to measure how effectively organizations accommodate work life balance, by assessing employee’s awareness of work life balance policies and their comfort levels in using these policies.
Effective work life balance and flexible work policies are imperative to business for many reasons, including:
- improved employee relations
- improved staff retention rates
- reduced absenteeism and sick leave
- improved staff morale, engagement and satisfaction
- greater staff loyalty and commitment
- improved productivity
The Better Work Life Balance Survey can help your organization improve and promote work life balance in the workplace by:
- identifying areas of policy development and implementation where change may be required (e.g. improve awareness; change workplace culture)
- monitoring the effectiveness of organizational changes by re-administering the survey after changes have been made
- responding to the changing needs of your employees and ensuring employees are aware of existing and changed policies by re-administering the survey periodically
3.2 Aspects of analysis
The design of the BWLB Survey is structured around the three basics an organization needs to have in place to effectively accommodate employees’ work-life balance:
1. It must have institutionalized work-life balance policies;
2. Its employees must be aware of the existence of these policies; and
3. Employees must be able to fairly and appropriately access these policies.
Based on these three main themes, the survey items examine:
1. Current organizational policies (in the form of a separate survey for the employer);
2. Dissemination and awareness of policy information; and
3. Prevailing workplace culture with regards to work-life balance issues. In addition, the survey examines how important work-life balance policies are to employees.
The survey examines four types of policies:
– leave arrangements (e.g. careers leave, purchased leave);
– Policies relevant to parenting and pregnancy (e.g. parental leave, breastfeeding facilities);
– Flexible work arrangements (e.g. job sharing, flexi-time); and
– Additional work provisions (e.g. counseling services, health programs).
3.3 Method
The survey can be conducted in just about any workplace and is designed to be completed by both employers and employees. It is provided in a Microsoft Excel format and requires Microsoft Excel to view and use. The survey is available in electronic and in hardcopy format, however, all data needs to be entered into the electronic version of the survey to enable information to be analyzed and interpreted. The Better Work Life Balance Survey Manual provides detailed information on how to conduct the survey.
ANALYSIS
4.1 ASPECT BASIS ANALYSIS OF EACH BANK
Here showing the importance of the policies of organization from each possible aspect of each bank both the perspective from organization & employee/employer.
SONALI BANK
From the table we can easily understand that this bank providing some facilities for the employees like careers leave, opportunity leave, study leave, career break & pooling of leave entitlements. This bank offer better facilities for the mother of the child by providing the paid maternity leave, opportunity to reenter the existing job after leave, safety at workplace & staggered return to job after pregnancy. In the flexible work arrangements section the performance of the bank is very poor they don’t provide any type of the facilities according to the flexibility of the work. The employee feel worthy if they provide the employee oriented service in the workplace because it is his/her second home so they expect much more flexibility to work according to their capacity. In the additional work provisions the bank gives limited facilities to its employees like telephone for personal use, health programs and equal access to promotion, training & development. But it is very much flexible & easy to give incentive to them by providing these facilities & give a boost in the productivity of the bank.
Overall satisfaction of employee/employer is not close to up to the level.
BANK ASIA LTD
From the table we can easily understand that this bank providing some facilities for the employees like careers leave, study/training leave, bereavement leave & pooling of leave entitlements. Bur the bank doesn’t provide other facilities relating to the leave arrangements of which he give emphasizes on the cultural/religious leave as a important one. This bank offer better facilities for the mother of the child by providing the paid maternity leave, opportunity to reenter the existing job after leave, safety at workplace & staggered return to job after pregnancy. But this bank didn’t provide any other facilities to the mother & her partners because fathers also have some responsibilities for the child & mother so he have to take some time off for the family related matters. Moreover it is very much important to bring child in the workplace & keep them in the childcare but the employer didn’t provide any type of this facility for this reasons women are sometimes losing their momentum because of the extra pressure from the family. In the flexible work arrangements section the performance of the bank is very poor they don’t provide any type of the facilities according to the flexibility of the work. The employee feel worthy if they provide the employee oriented service in the workplace because it is his/her second home so they expect much more flexibility to work according to their capacity. In the additional work provisions the bank gives limited facilities to its employees like telephone for personal use, health programs and equal access to promotion, training & development but they don’t provide the other necessary facilities stated in the table. The employee is feeling if the bank has the program for the employee like relocation or placement assistance because it is very much needed for the employee to cope up with the new environment in case of the transfer or newly appointed from other location.
Overall satisfaction of employee/employer is close to up to the level.
EASTERN BANK LTD
In case of Eastern Bank Ltd it is clear that they are giving Study/Training leave, cultural/ religious leave, pooling of leave entitlements & bereavement leave so there are some facilities are given to the employees working in the organization. But they don’t provide other benefits expected by the employee like careers leave, career break so it is very much attention grabber things to the management of the organization. In the parenting & pregnancy policies the bank has some distinctive features for the employees. It has gave paid maternity leave, opportunity to return to same job after maternity/paternity & adoption leave, pre-natal leave & safety at work during pregnancy to its employees. The given facilities to the employees is feel enough to them & other facilities which aren’t given to employees aren’t get importance in the view of the employees of the organization. In this bank they have 1 clause achieve for flexibility requirement in the workplace which is job sharing which is very much important for the employee to retain their normal work process. This bank also inflexible in terms of the various job related terms & conditions. From the employee viewpoint job sharing, cap on overtime, time off in lieu, roistered days off & self-roistered and/or staggered start & finish times get attention for their perspective. In the additional work provisions this bank gives poor facility for their employee because they provide the facilities like telephone for personal use, health programs & equal access to promotion, training & development. Among the other facilities which aren’t given to the employee two facilities are get importance like referral services for employees’ personal needs, counseling services for employees because of some reasons.
Overall satisfaction of employee/employer is up to the level. It can be easy to give incentive to them by providing these facilities & give a boost in the productivity of the bank.
CITY BANK LTD
From the table we can easily understand that this bank providing some facilities for the employees like study/training leave, bereavement leave, pooling of leave entitlements to its employees but other facilities entitled to the leave arrangements don’t give to the employees of their organizations. But among the facilities not given to them some facilities are prefer by the employees of the bank. Those are – careers leave, 48/52 pay averaging for purchasing additional annual leave, cultural/religious leave. In case of parenting & pregnancy policies the bank provide some basic facilities like paid maternity leave, opportunity to return to same job after maternity/paternity & adoption leave, pre-natal leave, staggered return to work after pregnancy. But this bank don’t provide any type of childcare or other necessary facilities for their betterment & they haven’t safety in the workplace so it is the most vulnerable position for the mothers who have children under 6 because these mother can’t match their feeding for their children. In terms of the flexibility this bank perform poorly according to the duties & responsibilities to the employees of the organization because it don’t provide any type of the clause stated in the table containing flexible work arrangements. In the analysis of additional work provisions this bank gives poor facility for their employee because they provide the facilities like telephone for personal use, health programs and equal access to promotion, training & development. Among the other facilities which aren’t given to the employee 3 facilities are get importance like telephone for personal use, health programs and equal access to promotion, training & development because of some reasons.
Overall satisfaction of employee/employer is close to up to the level.
IBBL
From the table we can easily understand that this bank providing some facilities for the employees like study/training leave, career breaks, cultural leave. But they do not give bereavement leave & pooling of leave entitlements. This bank offer better facilities for the mother of the child by providing the paid maternity leave, opportunity to reenter the existing job after leave, safety at workplace & staggered return to job after pregnancy. In the flexible work arrangements section the performance of the bank is very poor they don’t provide any type of the facilities according to the flexibility of the work. But this bank don’t provide any type of childcare or other necessary facilities for their betterment & they haven’t safety in the workplace so it is the most vulnerable position for the mothers who have children under 6 because these mother can’t match their feeding for their children. In terms of the flexibility this bank perform poorly according to the duties & responsibilities to the employees of the organization because it don’t provide any type of the clause stated in the table containing flexible work arrangements. The employee feel worthy if they provide the employee oriented service in the workplace because it is his/her second home so they expect much more flexibility to work according to their capacity. In the additional work provisions the bank gives limited facilities to its employees like telephone for personal use, health programs and equal access to promotion, training & development. But it is very much flexible & easy to give incentive to them by providing these facilities & give a boost in the productivity of the bank.
Overall satisfaction of employee/employer is no satisfactory.
4.2 COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS AMONG BANKS
Here showing the comparative analysis among the banks showing their importance of the policies of organization from each possible aspect of each bank both the perspective from organization & employee/employer.
From the chart analysis it is indicating that Sonali bank being a state owned bank giving working satisfaction is satisfactory level. On the other hand, rest of the 4 banks is moving around the state owned bank in their performance of work level satisfaction.
LEAVE ARRANGEMENTS:
In terms of leave arrangements EBL is playing satisfactory level of performance. On the other hand, IBBL is the weakest participant in providing leave facilities.
PARENTING & PREGNANCY POLICIES:
In terms of leave arrangements all banks are playing same level of satisfaction.
FLEXIBLE WORK ARRANGEMENTS:
In terms of leave arrangements EBL is playing satisfactory level of performance. On the other hand, SONALI bank is the weakest participant in providing leave facilities.
ADDITIONAL WORK ARRANGEMENTS:
In terms of leave arrangements EBL is playing satisfactory level of performance. On the other hand, SONALI bank is the weakest participant in providing leave facilities.
FORMALITY OF POLICIES:
From the answers taken from the responders in the survey it is obvious that one common thing is discovered in front of me it is – no bank has formal work-life balance policy in the written form. But another interview taken from them it is clear that they have unstructured but corporate culture based informal policies for the work-life balance policies. But it is one of the major debacles that no bank has the formal policies regarding the work-life balance policies & the employees even don’t know how they can be benefitted by the organization they are worked for. Moreover because of the not having of the formal written work-life balance policies employees can’t maintain their life according to the corporate culture & they can’t prepare themselves with previous idea about the work-life balance.
EXPERIENCE IN ORGANIZATION:
In terms of leave arrangements IBBL is playing satisfactory level of performance. On the other hand, EBL is the weakest participant in providing leave facilities.
But after all aspects basis analysis it can be stated that In the eyes of the employee Eastern Bank Ltd is a ultimate bank which provide better service among selected five banks to the employee because the employee are much more satisfied in the Eastern Bank Ltd than other 4 banks in the score & percentage of the total score given to highest possible marks.
| ASPECTS | IBBL | CITY BANK LTD | SONALI BANK LTD | BANK ASIA LTD | EBL |
| Leave arrangements | 18 | 19 | 22 | 20 | 17 |
| Policies relevant to parenting and pregnancy | 24 | 24 | 24 | 24 | 24 |
| Flexible work arrangements | 9 | 24 | 13 | 14 | 15 |
| Additional work provisions | 17 | 19 | 18 | 19 | 19 |
| Formality of policies | 7 | 5 | 6 | 5 | 5 |
| Personal experience at the organization | 60 | 61 | 66 | 63 | 68 |
| TOTAL | 135 | 140 | 148 | 149 | 152 |
RECOMMANDATIONS
After analyzing the questionnaire filled by the employees of the 5 different levels of 5 different banks some loopholes are get attention of me as a fault of creating the better work-life balance policy in the organization. So I have some recommendation for the banks as an aggregate manner. Recommendations are:
· Banks should write down complete work-life balance policies for the employees.
· Banks should treat all the employees in different way but creating equitable balance of treatment.
· Employers have to think of the mental expectation of the employees to reduce the gap between the employer & employee.
· Banks should introduce new department for the employee relations which can be named employee welfare division.
· Banks can facilitate the employees how to cope up with the complex world to keep free from the anxiety & tension in their mind.
· Banks should provide better facilities to keep the employee happy to achieve the better productivity from the employees.
· Banks can create workshop to work-life policy manual with inclusion of the all levels of management & general employees.
· When regulatory organizations check the banks performance they can add one more thing to check the human development ratio in the banking sector to evaluate the actual development performance of the banks in terms of human also.
CONCLUSION
After analyzing the answers given by the employees of the various banks it is very much clear that people are much more sacrificed their family life for the betterment in the work life. Even most of the employees are unknown about the facilities or their rights what should be getting from the organization where they worked. Another important thing is that companies are very much unknown about the workers expectation & need because of the complex system in the corporate world. Only few facilities are known of the basic work-life balance policies. Even they haven’t any written policy for the work-life balance maintenance. Employers have to give proper attention to the employees expectation & need because banking job is the people oriented job where a employee can uplift the image of the bank to the customers on the other hand he/she can downsize the whole business by not doing proper things.
REFERENCES
I. Asubonteng, P., McCleary, K.J. and Swan, J.E. (1996), ” Better Work Life survey”, Journal of HRM, Vol. 10, No. 6, pp. 62-81.
II. Brysland, A. And Curry, A. (2001), “BETTER WORK LIFE”, Vol.11, No.6, pp. 389-401.
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