The reason for Anil kumar to take that extreme step is according to various newspaper reports quoting his devastated wife is ubiquitous unbearable work pressure. His wife screaming under agonizing pain, thumping her chest in devastation and extreme shock was seen shouting that her husband has succumbed to unbearable work pressure in the bank. The severity of the shock she has undergone, the mental trauma she has suffered can be gauged from her refusal to believe that her husband is dead.
This Suicide is not an isolated incident in the bank. We are hearing such news from across the country with alarming frequency.
What is the takeaway for the bank as well as for the staff from this from these kind of incidents? He should not have resorted this extreme step no doubt. What thoughts could have passed through his mind just before the suicide? Probably the overwhelmingness of work and no hope of help or guidance would have driven him to this act. Psychologists say that it is invariably the HOPE that keeps a person going. When one does not see hope and the problem is too overwhelming and insurmountable, and there being no help from any quarter a person resorts to this kind of act. Here point to be noted is, it is a single man branch.
There are many such hope less persons/staff in the bank. There may be many Anilkumars in the making. It is high time Bank has to sit up and take notice of the problem.
Single man branch is a bane and a curse in SBI. We serve the multitudes unlike our counterparts in other PSBs or in private banks. We end up in doing mass banking. Added to this is the all pervasive pressure of cross selling which has spread like a cancer. The greed of incentives of cross selling has put enormous pressure on the operatives. This greed has robbed the humane element in all the transactions /interaction of the controllers with the branch level operatives. This greed has made them monstrous and mad. It is time that they realize the harm they are causing to the beleaguered and vulnerable staff.
A SUGGESTION TO RELEASE / FIND SOME TIME FOR THE STAFF:
Close the cash transaction by 2.00pm. When we are moving to alternate channels and digital banking in such a big way, keeping cash counters till 4.30pm is not required. This will release some time for the staff which they can use more gainfully like attending to compliance issues, NPA recovery, scouting new advances etc. I had suggested this long ago in one of my articles in the blog.
APPEAL TO ALL MY COLLEAGUES :
Life is precious, divine and is created by God. No one has any right to cut short it even if it is his own. Please don't do it. If you come to a conclusion that it is difficult to continue anymore in the bank, please leave the bank not this world. If there is no job in SBI that is not the end of the world. There are umpteen number of avenues available elsewhere. Be bold, be realistic, be sensible. You have no right to put your family in destitution for no fault of theirs.
K N Krishnan.
