Tech trouble for bank staff

Statesman News Service

MALDA, May 13: Many senior employees of State Bank of India, Malda, are submitting their resignations fearing transfer in the name of promotion. These employees are also finding it difficult to adapt to the new banking system implemented by the management, said Mr Subrata Dasgupta, secretary of SBI Staff Association, Malda. “Employees, especially those over 50 years of age, are finding it difficult to adapt to the Core Banking Solution (CBS), a software for banking transaction via Internet. As a result, they are preferring to quit their services,” Mr Dasgupta, said. He added that six such employees have already left the bank here. As a result of lack of computer knowledge of the employees, long queue of customers and altercation between staff and the customers are a common sight at the SBI main branch here. Since the employees are not adapted to the new technology, they fail to meet the demands of the customers. “With the introduction of the new technology, the customers expect better services. However, we fail to satisfy them owing to shortage of staff. More than 14 employees have resigned over the past few months,” Mr Subhajit Saha, chief manager of the Malda SBI, said. Mr Saha added that they have informed the authorities concerned about the shortage of staff at the bank. He admitted that the employees are finding it difficult to maintain records of drafts and bankers’ cheques and getting frustrated after detection of huge errors at the end of the day. “We have planned to inform the management about the bitter experiences and erratic nature of data entry system for drafts and bankers’ cheques,” Mr Saha, added. At the Malda SBI main branch, the worker strength was 75. It has now reduced to 33. The bank management is planning to appoint young staff on contract basis to meet the requirements of the customers. “We are dealing with both computers and manual records after introduction of the CBS. It is a tough task for us,” a senior employee of the bank, said.