Know The Life Of New Employees At Banks

A job in a bank is probably the most preferred as well as a promising white collar career in India. It is a common perception that the job of a banker is a very relaxed, low stress job. It is in fact the opposite. A banker has loads of responsibilities coupled with accountability of handling finances of other people. A banker is accountable for every penny that comes in or goes out from their bank.

Here are Shruti Verghese and Anjani Kumar, new recruits talking about their daily routine as new bankers and how they manage to maintain work-life balance. Get to know the real life of a banker in India.

Shruthi Verghese, Kotak Mahindra Bank

After completing an MBA from Osmania University, Hyderabad. I cleared IBPS exams in my third attempt. In January 2022, I joined my first job as an Accountant in Kotak Mahindra Bank, Punjagutta branch, Hyderabad. I report to a senior accountant who has over 15 years of experience. Currently in the third month of my probation period, I believe I have managed to maintain a good work ethic along with a healthy work-life routine. Here’s how my typical work day looks like.

5:30 am - Wake up routine includes praying and thanking God for his blessings.

6:00 am - A quick jog in the park nearby where I also meditate and workout for about an hour.

7:00 am - Return from the park, clean the room, freshen up and prepare breakfast and lunch.

9:00 am - Eat breakfast and catch up on morning news.

9:30 am - Leave for work. I take my own bike and the bank is close by so it takes 15 minutes to reach. I usually leave home early to escape daily traffic.

10 am to 2 pm - I reach the office around 10am. Start by having a glance at previous day work, checking updates, interacting with the customers, reviewing the information related to finance and preparing accounting reports accordingly. Reporting the work I did to the senior accountant of the bank. Re-working or modifying the statements according to the feedback given by the senior accountant.

2 pm to 2:30 pm - Lunch break.

2:30 pm to 4 pm - Resume the same work and it continues until 4 pm.

4 pm to 11 pm - My work day ends at 4pm, so post that I am free. Once I am back home, I either take rest or go out to meet friends, shop or go to the market to get groceries etc. On weekdays in the evening, I simply watch TV or surf the internet, cook dinner, do the dishes and call it a day by 10:30 to 11pm after preparing for the next day.

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Anjani Kumar, Bank of Baroda

I became a Probationary Officer (PO) after successfully completing my PG Diploma in Banking and Finance. I am doing my probation under the supervision of the Branch Manager at New Delhi’s Saket branch. Probation period is basically the training period wherein a new bank joinee is taught every important thing related to banking and how a bank works. After the successful completion of the probation period, the joinee gets the confirmation letter followed by his first posting anywhere in India. What is the life of a banker? You’ll find the answer in my routine below.

6:00 am - Wake up and exercise for about 30 minutes at the nearby park.

7:00 am - Return and have a quick breakfast while mentall planning my work, performance and learnings in the bank that I had the previous day.

7:30 am - Get ready for work and prepare for the day ahead.

8:15 am - Delhi is a very busy metro bustling with people and bumper to bumper traffic. It takes me about one and a half hours to reach my workplace by Delhi Metro train and then by shared auto.

9:45 am - I reach office by this time and just take a few minutes to settle in and prepare myself for the day's work.

10 am to 2 pm - These are the peak hours with customers coming to deposit cash, get their passbooks updated, loan queries, KYC updation, withdrawals etc. I used to do all these under the supervision of the designated staff so that I may learn each and every banking activity that takes place in a bank.

2 pm to 2:30 pm - Lunch time with the colleagues at the bank’s canteen.

2:30 pm to 4 pm - Working hours resume and the same work continues till 4pm. The official banking hours closes at 4 pm.

4 pm to 4:30 pm - Inspection of my day’s work by the branch manager and feedback from him. Also, jotting down the pending work (if any).

4:30 pm to 6 pm - Travel back home and reaching there by 6.

6: pm to 10:30 pm - This is my unwinding time. After reaching home and evening tea, I watch TV, surf the internet, speak to my mom, dad and friends etc. Since I live by myself I cook dinner and go for a short walk around 10 pm. By 10:30 it lights out before another day begins.

After going through Shruti and Anjani’s routine, one may develop a perception that the job of a banker is a stress-free and relaxed appointment with but this is not at all true. A banker has to deal with various types of customers who at times, can be very furious and angry or rigid for something. For instance, a senior citizen can come to the bank with not only his passbook but his entire family’s and ask you to get all of them updated manually. These days, almost all banks have passbook updating machines installed in the branches. The moment you ask him to do it by himself, he will be angry at you, might start abusing you and question your designation and credibility. He can even go to the manager to complain about you. Many times, people whose loans do not get approved by the bank, keep on coming everyday requesting to get their loans approved. They are not willing to understand why their loan request got disapproved. Few of them can also threaten you of dire consequences etc. A lot of people do not like standing in a queue and citing that they are very old customers of the bank, always want their work to be done on priority which can’t be accepted every time.

So, such things keep happening in almost every bank everyday and a banker has to deal with all these with utmost sincerity and according to the rules ensuring that the furious customers are dealt with carefully. Being meek, doing the right thing silently and making the customers understand things in a helpful way are the keys to dealing with such voice-raising customers.

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