Bank of Baroda Fiasco Exposes Deadline Pressure on Bank Employees

The recent suspension of Bank of Baroda's mobile application, Bob World, by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has revealed underlying discrepancies in the banking sector, with mounting pressure on bank employees to meet deadlines taking centre stage.

The suspension of the Bob World was in backdrop of the investigative report of Reporter’s Collective published in Aljazeera, which revealed that the number of Bob World users were fake. Moreover the startling development revealed that bogus mobile numbers were added in bulk by employees to meet their Bob World targets.

Subsequently, on October 10, the RBI suspended Bob World, mobile application of Bank of Baroda due to certain material supervisory concerns observed in the manner of onboarding of their customers.

Social media platforms, notably X (formerly Twitter), have become a medium for bank employees to express concerns regarding work pressure, with a focus on meeting targets that have raised questions about the banking industry.

X user Joker Banker said, “trips are being offered to staff for selling SBI LIFE.”

The screenshots shared by the user clearly mention the number of SBI LIFE to be mandatorily activated within a fixed span of time.

Image: WhatsApp Screenshot on SBI LIFE Mandatory Activation

Replying to the above screenshot, another handle, SBI Employee said, “Whatever loan you take, if u r not eligible for @SBILife, @TheOfficialSBI staff are forced to insure spouse/mother or anyone irrelevant to loan product to be secured due to huge Third Party Products (TPP) targets. Upselling or mis-selling is encouraged deliberately.”

These social media reactions shed light on the concerning work environment within India’s largest public sector bank, the State Bank of India (SBI).

Bob World Controversy Unearths Deadline Pressure
It exposes the simmering concerns of target pressure after which the banking fraternity is found echoing it on social media.

Image: Screenshots of Bob World Targets.
Image Credit: X

Above pictures depict the intensified effort of Bank of Baroda to achieve region wise targets of 1000, 500 and also targets per branch.

The We Bankers Association, the trade union of bank employees, slammed the unruly functioning of the top management of Bank of Baroda for not addressing concern of toxic work culture and pressure of achieving targets.

In a tweet it said, “The letter from AIBOBOA is explicit and self exposing the BOB WORLD MESS. They say if there is smoke that means fire is blazing somewhere. Mania Of Top Management will drown Banks. #UnrealisticTargetPressure #ToxicWorkCulture needs to be abolished immediately.”

The above tweet was against the official letter of the All India Bank of Baroda Officers’ Association that dictated its members to abstain from writing on the Bob World issue in public domain and on social media platforms.

Shortage of Employees
As per banking experts, the recent incident of Bank of Baroda and mounting pressure on bank employees to achieve deadlines is a result of shortage of employees in PSBs.

A senior officer of the SBI on the condition of anonymity told Kanal, “PSBs are working under massive shortage of employees and thus failing to serve the common people. And as a result of it, the current workforce is under pressure to meet deadlines that leads to incidents like that of the Bob World wherein unscrupulous methods are roped in to meet the targets.”

The massive decline of employees in the public sector banks was recently reported by Kanal based on data from the RBI.

Incidents of Work Pressure
In the recent past, employees of the PSBs witnessed pressure to work harder to meet targets, including to work on holidays and weekends.

Indian Bank in March 2023 issued a circular directing its employees to work till late in the evening so as to achieve the targets given.

On similar lines, in January, more than 2000 employees of Bank of Maharashtra protested against the workload and pressure they faced from the management.

The We Bankers Association also alleged that banks via communication channels called employees to work on holidays and weekends.

Amid public outrage over work pressure faced by bank employees to achieve targets, the demand for a five-day workweek is resurfacing. Trade unions and bank employees are raising these concerns on social media platforms, igniting a broader conversation about the industry's future.