Bank of Baroda Work Culture Under Fire as Officers Cite Harassment and Stress

The issue burst into public view last week after a woman Chief Manager in Ernakulam left home leaving behind a suicide note, blaming work pressure and harassment. She was later rescued near a riverside before taking the extreme step, but the incident shocked the banking community and exposed the intensity of stress faced by officers. The Bank Employees Federation of India (BEFI) organised a protest outside the BoB Regional Office in Ernakulam on 22 September, calling for an end to what it termed “anti-worker practices and policies” by the management. Union leaders warned that without corrective measures, more employees could be driven to despair.

The All India Bank of Baroda Officers’ Association (AIBOBOA), Ernakulam Zone, has also written to the bank’s zonal management, urging immediate steps to restore a respectful workplace. In the letter, zonal secretary L.B.N. Prabhu noted that while BoB champions “Respect” as a core organisational value, officers often face humiliation in meetings and are burdened with “inhuman levels of pressure” from steep and unrealistic targets. The association cautioned that ignoring these grievances would demotivate staff and cause lasting damage to the bank’s credibility.

The crisis in Ernakulam is not an isolated case. On 19 September, 37-year-old Ishwar Chander Jha, a Senior Manager (Credit) in Ranchi, died by suicide. Unions linked his death to extreme work stress after he and a colleague were reportedly kept in a review meeting at the regional office until 10 p.m., despite corporate guidelines limiting such reviews to the 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. window. Earlier this month, in West Bengal’s Burdwan region, employees lodged a formal complaint against the Regional Manager and Deputy Regional Manager, accusing them of harassment and abusive behaviour, including remarks such as “go commit suicide.”

Concerns over workplace practices are also surfacing in other regions. In Mumbai North, officers have flagged misuse of WhatsApp for after-hours instructions, constant monitoring, and pressure to meet targets disconnected from ground realities. In August, an RTI reply revealed that BoB has no official guidelines regulating late-night video conferences, raising questions about employee safety and work-life balance. Officers’ unions have since demanded immediate restrictions on such practices, warning that long hours and unsafe late travel expose staff to health risks and road accidents.

According to unions, underlying many of these problems is the issue of acute staff shortage. Branches across the country are reportedly running with limited personnel, forcing officers to manage multiple roles while still being pushed to meet higher business goals. Unions argue that without fresh recruitment and proper assessment of human resource requirements, pressure on existing staff will only worsen. The demand for a five-day banking week, raised repeatedly by public sector bank employees as a measure to reduce stress, remains pending with the Ministry of Finance.

Leaders of officers’ organisations have emphasised that the wellbeing of employees cannot be treated as secondary in the push for profitability. A demoralised and overstressed workforce, they point out, will inevitably affect customer service and business growth. “Sustainable progress of our organisation is possible only when respect, empathy, and balance are practiced at all levels,” AIBOBOA’s Ernakulam unit stated in its letter.

The rising number of stress-related incidents in Bank of Baroda reflects a broader shift in work culture across public sector banks. Unions say aggressive monitoring, disregard for work-life balance, and target-driven policies are eroding the dignity of officers and creating an atmosphere of fear rather than motivation. For a bank of BoB’s size and stature, they argue, the challenge now is not only to meet business objectives but also to restore faith among its own employees.

Unless the bank addresses these issues with urgency, officers warn, it risks not only further tragedies but also lasting damage to its institutional image and its ability to deliver on its public mandate.