Impartiality with Bank Staff? Banks offering benefits worth crores to Customers but not to Staff
Banks across India are offering attractive rewards worth crores of rupees to customers who open salary accounts. Many banks even provide free insurance cover of up to ₹1 crore. There is nothing wrong in this — after all, banks are trying to increase business and bring in more customers by offering these benefits.
But employees say the problem begins when these same benefits are not given to the people who work inside the bank. Most bank employees keep their salary accounts in the bank they work for. So, if a bank is offering insurance of up to ₹1 crore and other special facilities to outside customers, then the staff should also receive the same benefits on their salary accounts. If not, employees feel they should at least be allowed to open their salary accounts in other banks.
For Example: If a customers opens ELITE salary account in Union Bank of India, he gets free insurance cover of upto Rs.1 crore. SBI is also offering free insurance cover of upto Rs. 1 crore for central government employees. Bank of Baroda is also offering free insurance cover upto Rs.50 lakhs to customers for opening salary account in Bank.
The question is clear – if customers are given huge benefits for maintaining salary account with the bank, then why the bank is not providing same benefits to its employees. Alternatively, banks may allow their staff to open salary account with other banks and get the benefits from other banks.
This issue has now caught the attention of employee unions. The All India Union Bank Employees’ Association has written to Union Bank of India’s MD & CEO, Asheesh Pandey, demanding that employees and pensioners be given the same benefits as public salary account holders.
The union said that the bank is running a “LEAP” campaign to attract new salary accounts by offering special perks based on monthly salary credit. These benefits help the bank increase its CASA deposits. However, employees who are working hard at the branch level to make this campaign successful say they are not getting the same facilities, even though their salary accounts are also with the same bank. Many staff members feel that if they are helping the bank grow, they too deserve equal benefits.
