Comparision of Bank Staff And Central Government Employees

Comparison and Contrast of Central Government Employees and Bank Employees

S No Parameter Central Government Employees Bank Employees

1 Hours and Days of Work

Working Hours per day 7 to 8 hours per day, depending on the department/institution. Sub-staff - 7 hours on week days and 4½ hours on Saturdays;  Clerks - 6½ hours on week days and 4 hours on Saturdays.  For Officers, nowhere it has been stipulated that they have no fixed hours of work; but in reality, Bank Officers are made to work late hours without seeing their watch.   For this, no additional compensation is given.

No. of Days worked per Week 5 Days 6 Days

Working on Sundays & Holidays Very rarely it is demanded.  But, once they are asked to work on a public holiday, they are eligible for payment of overtime wages. For bank officers, it has become a regular phenomenon. Because of this, other family members of the bank officers are the worst sufferers.

Overtime Wages Even officers are paid overtime at 150% of the regular wages, for working beyond the prescribed hours of duty on week days and working on holidays. While award staff are eligible for payment of overtime wages at the applicable rates, officers do not get any overtime wages for working extra hours or for working on Sundays and other Public Holidays.

2 Monthly Wages

Basic Pay Group 'D' posts have been abolished and clubbed along with Group 'C' posts by 6th CPC.  Only 4 Pay Bands  have been created, in addition to Apex Scale and Cabinet Secretary Scale. In banks, apart from Sub-staff and Clerks category of award staff, Officers are divided into 7 pay scales and 4 Grades.  Compared to central government staff, the basic pay of bank employees have steadily been falling since 1996,  if compared with the market trends.   After 7th CPC scales are implemented, the picture may go still horrible.

Grade Pay Grade Pay ranging from Rs.1,800 to Rs.12,000 has been given for the first time in 6th CPC depending on the Pay Band and Scale for the post concerned.  Grade Pay has been termed as 'Fitment Pay' by 6th CPC.  Grade Pay ranks for DA, HRA and all other allowances and superannuation benefits. No Grade Pay is paid to bank staff.

Special Allowance Except for a very small percetage of posts, special allowance/pay is not paid to central government employees. Special Pay is limited to certain posts in Sub-staff and Clerks.  For Officers, no Special Pay is payable.

Fixed Personal Pay No such facility is there, because they have stagnation-free running scale throughout their career span. FPP for staff who reached the maximum is paid.  As its name itself suggests, this amount remains frozen for the entire settlment period.

Stagnation Increments No stagnation.  Continuous running scale is in existence. People reach stagnation even within 20 years of service, after which a limited number of stagnation increments equal to the last increment drawn are given once in 2 years for Sub-staff and once in 3 years for Clerks and Officers up to MMGS III.

Dearness Allowance Dearness Allowance for the central government staff is calculated by using the following formula.  Dearness Allowance = (Average of AICPIN for the past 12 months – 115.76)*100/115.76 (ignoring fractions) and inflation neutralization at 100% at all levels. D.A. is linked to AICPI - IW (1960=100) and it is revised every quarter, basing on the average index of the preceding quarter.  As per 9th BPS, index above 2836 points (at which merger of DA with Basic Pay was done last time) is considered.  And this change is considered per slab comprising of 4 piints, duly omitting fraction of slabs (less than 4 points).

H.R.A. 10% to 30% depending on the place of work, according to the population as per the latest census. 7% to 10% for award staff and 6.5% to 8.5% for Officers depending on the place of work, classified according to its population, as per the latest census.

Monthly Conveyance/Transport Allowance Monthly Transport Allowance varies from place to place and the Grade Pay also determines the quantum of this allowance.  The Transport Allowance varies from Rs.300 to Rs.3,200.  It may please be noted that the Transport Allowance attracts full D.A. So, the Transport Allowance with D.A. thereon as on date varies from Rs.600 to Rs.6,400 per month.  As we all know, Transport Allowance up to Rs.800 per month is exempt from income tax. Bank officers not owning any vehicle are paid a fixed monthly allowance of Rs.250 to Rs.600 on declaration basis.  Those who own vehicles are reimbursed the cost of petrol, the quantity of which differs from place to place and from one grade to another. Across the banks also, this quantity varies  from 30 litres to 75 litres of petrol per month, depending on the grade and scale of the officer.  They are not taxable up to Rs.800 per month.  For award staff, fixed conveyance allowance of Rs.225 or Rs.275 per month is paid, as part of their monthly salary.  It is not taxable, as it is within the exemption limit of Rs.800 per month.  In a few banks, award staff get 15  to 25 litres of petrol every month.

Children Education Allowance Rs.1,500 per child per month, for 2 children is paid with effect from 01-01-2014. No such allowance is paid.  However, some banks pay a nominal amount of Rs.1,000 to Rs.5,000 per child per year, depending on the class of study.

Hostel Subsidy Rs.4,500 per child, per month for 2 children is paid with effect from 01-01-2014. No such allowance is paid.

3 Wage Revision

Periodicity of Wage Revision Every 10 years Every 5 years

Quantum of Hike in Basic Pay 200% to 279% (20% to 28% per year on an average) 40% to 45% (8% to 9% per year on an average)

Quantum of hike in monthly gross pay Nearly 100% increase in gross pay.  It means an average increase of 10% per year is achieved. 12% to 15% (less than 3% per year)

Minimum service required for pension Pension to be paid at 50% of the average emoluments/last pay drawn (whichever is more beneficial) without linking it to 33 years of qualifying service for grant of full pension. Last 10 months average pay is adopted.  Moreover, for receiving full pension 33 years of service is necessary.  However, for people taking VRS, after 28 years of service, an additional 5 years will be notionally added.

4 Fringe Benefits & Perquisites

Subsidised Loans Government employees get interest bearing loans for the purpose of buying a Vehicle and Purchase/Construction of a House/Flat, subject to availability of funds.  However, they receive an interest subsidy of 2% on their Housing and Vehicle Loans availed from PSBs. Bank staff get loans like Vehicle Loans, Housing Loans, Loans against NSCs/LIC Policies etc. on concessional rate of interest.  In addition, they may also be given Gold Loans and Clean Overdrafts at lower rate of interest. Deposit Loans given to bank staff carry lower margin at 10% and lower rate of interest (concession not exceeding 1%).

Festival Advance There is a ceiling of Rs.4,500 on festival advance. Many banks give festival advance equal to one basic pay or one month's gross pay.

Higher Interest on Deposits No such facility is available. Serving and retired staff of banks receive 1% additional interest on their deposits with the bank in which they are employed.

Newspaper Not allowed Bank staff get reimbursement from Rs.75 to Rs.250 per month towards subscription to newspapers.

Residential Furniture In case of official quarters allotted, some basic furniture and fixtures are provided. All bank officers get furniture provided by their bank at their residence, depending on their grade/scale.

Residential Telephone Residential phone is provided only to Class 'A' officers. Residential phone is provided to only designated managers, with a ceiling fixed on number of free calls per month.

Mobile Phone No such facility is available. Many banks give a fixed amount every month towards mobile phone charges.

5 Other Monetary Benefits

Bonus In some departments like Railways, BSNL and other PSUs, bonus/ex gratia is payable, without reference to the Payment of Bonus Act, 1965. Only Part Time Sweepers are eligible to get bonus.  They also after reaching Rs.10,000 salary per month, lose their eligiblity.

6 Residential Accommodation

Quarters In all major towns and cities, Government Quarters is allotted to all regardless of one's grade, subject to availability. Banks have their quarters at a few places only and that too in very limited numbers.

Leased Accommodation This facility is not available. Leased accommodation is provided only to officers.  But, except in SBI group, in all other banks, the permissible rentals are far below the market rates.  Hence, bank officers are forced to pay the differential from their sources.   For bank officers posted to far off places, leased accommodation is the bare minimum facility extended by banks.

7 Wage Revision

Periodicity of Wage Revision Every 10 years Every 5 years

Quantum of Hike in Basic Pay 200% to 279% 40% to 50% (8% to 9% per year)

Quantum of hike in monthly gross pay Nearly 100% increase in gross pay.  It means an average increase of 10% per year is achieved. 12% to 20% (less than 4% per year)

8 Automatic merger of 50% of D.A. with Basic Pay Whenever the D.A. exceeds 50%, the D.A. up to 50% is merged with Basic Pay and is paid as Dearness Pay, as an interim measure, pending full wage revision as per schedule.  Needless to say, this Dearness Pay is eligible for computation of further D.A, HRA, Transport Allowance, Leave Encashment, Gratuity, Commutation of Pension, Regular Pension and Family Pension. No such provision exists for bank employees.

9 Automatic revision of allowances whenever the D.A. payable crosses 50% Children's Education Allowance and Hostel Subsidy and many other allowances go up by 25%, whenever the D.A. touches 50%. There is no such provision for bank employees.

10 Income Tax

Tax on Perquisites Perquisites paid to Government staff (Central/State) are not taxable. All payments made to bank staff except in the nature of reimbursement are taxable.  The perquisite value of leased accommodation and residential furniture provided by the bank are taxable.  Similarly, the perquisite value of loans given on concessional rate of interest is taxable.  However, several state High Courts have passed injunction against these provisions and 'Status Quo' continues as on date.

Encashment of Leave Leave encashed while in service is taxable.  But, leave encashed at the time of retirement is totally tax free. Leave encashed while in service is taxable.  But, leave encashed at the time of retirement beyond the limit of Rs.3 lakhs is taxable at the applicable rate.

11 Work Load and Work Pressure

Nature of Work Work is not tight and is not full of continuous pressure.  Hence, a little bit of relaxation now and then is possible. Without any break, work pressure is there till one leaves office in the evening/night.

Risk & Responsibility While risk is very minimum, responsibility is well within bearable limits. There are unlimited risks of various types.  Besides, the responsibilty and workload are also simply uncomparable with any other sector.

Dignity of Labour Government employees enjoy dignity of labour and since the government is the monopoly in majority of the areas, there is virtual 'take it or leave it' type of attitude and arrogance in the minds of government staff. Because of intense competition and multiple watchdogs like RBI, Ombudsman, Consumer Forums and Courts, bank staff feel the heat always and are subjected to constant abuse and threat from various quarters.

Accountability Accountability is very limited. Accountability is vague and not properly defined for most of the job positions, except sub-staff.  Therefore, officers feel they have infinite accountability cast on them.

Business Targets Government employees do not get individual business targets.  But, for their department as a whole, there may be annual targets allotted for which only the people at the top are held responsible. All Unit managers are assigned targets under so many parameters and their individual performance is evaluated in terms of achievement of these targets and sadly, in the objectives and goals setting, they do not have any role whatsoever and targets are arbitrarily fixed without any scientific basis.

12 Transfers

No. of Transfers Number of transfers is very less in one's entire career. Bank Officers receive transfers every 3 years or so and in their entire career spanning more than 30 years, they get not less than 10 transfers.

Transferable area (geographical region) Lower level personnel do not get transferred and if at all they are disturbed, they will be posted within their home district only.  Except officers in all India cadre, all other officers are posted within the same state. Award staff are transferred only once in 10 years and that too only locally or rarely within the same district.  Bank officers regardless of their grade and scale are posted outside one's home state and linguistic region too.

Joining Time Joining time varies from 10 days to 15 days, depending on the distance between two places and type of journey performed. For award staff,  only 1 day joining time is permitted for local transfers involving change of place within the same place/town.  For all other transfers involving posting outside one's current place of work, award staff get 6 days joining time and officers get 7 days, excluding the period spent on journey.

13 Leave Provisions

National/Public Holidays 3 in a year for departments/institutions following 5 day week.  However for departments/institutions following 6 day week, they will have 14 public holidays in a year.  Besides, for the latter category, second Saturday in every month is a holiday. About 16 to 23 in a year.

Restricted Holidays 8 in a year. No such provision is there.

Casual Leave 12 days in a year. 12 days in a year.

Accumulation of Privilege Leave Up to 300 days permitted. Permitted only up to 240 days.

Maternity Leave Up to 180 days per child (max: 2 children) is allowed. Up to 180 days per child (max: 2 children) is allowed.

Paternity Leave 15 days per child, before or after delivery is allowed.  Even for child adoption, paternity leave can be sanctioned. No such provision is there.

14 Health

Medical Aid Since government employees are covered by CGHS, they do not receive separate Medical Aid in cash. Rs.5,100 for Officers up to MMGS III and Rs.6,320 for Officers from SMGS IV and above.

Medical Facilities Government employees  and pensioners are covered by Central Government Health Scheme (CGHS).  Under CGHS, small hospitals like 'Primary Health Centres' for out patient treatment and basic diagnostic services have been established by the government.  Many departments like Railways etc. have established a full fledged Hospital for their employees.  The central government is in the process of introducing a health insurance for its employees and pernsioners.  The coverage amount proposed is Rs.5 lakhs and the policy will be a floater policy covering the employee/pensioner, his dependent children and his parents.  Even pre-existing illness is sought to be covered from day one.  Similarly, new born babies are also sought to be covered from the time of their birth.  Each state government has introduced a specially designed health insurance for their employees and this differs from one state to another. Banks reimburse medical expenses to the extent of 100% for self and 75% for dependants with item-wise ceiling as on date.  Since no advance is given, staff have to first mobilise personal resources and spend and then claim from their bank management.  There is no provision for cashless treatment except in case of very few hospitals in big cities, who have tied with the respective banks.   While most of the hospitalisation expenses for 'in patient treatment' are covered, a few domiciliary treatment cases are also covered.  Though broad guidelines have been issued by IBA in this regard, while implementing the scheme, there are noticeable differences among all member banks.

Health Insurance Scheme The central government is in the process of introducing a health insurance for its employees and pernsioners.  The coverage amount proposed is Rs.5 lakhs and the policy will be a floater policy covering the employee/pensioner, his dependent children and his parents.  Even pre-existing illness is sought to be covered from day one.  It is expected that even 'out patient treatment' will be covered by the new scheme.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 The central government is in the process of introducing a health insurance for its employees and pernsioners.  The coverage amount proposed is Rs.5 lakhs and the policy will be a floater policy covering the employee/pensioner, his dependent children and his parents.  Even pre-existing illness is sought to be covered. The IBA and UFBU  are in talks regarding introduction of a suitable health insurance employees (only for those in service, it is learnt).  No final decision has been taken as yet.  The proposed health insurance scheme is in lieu of the existing medical expenses reimbursement scheme.  Further details of the proposed scheme are awaited.

Physical Safety Central government employees very rarely face any threats to their physical safety.  Those who challenge the mafia gangs and the contracts who swindle crores of public money only face threats.  But, such cases will be less than 1 out of 1000. Bank employees particularly officers and managers in advances section and also part of inspection and recovery teams are facing threat to their safety.  There are many cases of verbal abuse, manhandling and even fatal attacks reported in the recent past.

Group Personal Accident Insurance Group Insurance facility is provided for amount ranging from Rs.1.80 lakhs to Rs.7.20 lakhs depending on the post occupied. GSLI facility with contributions from individual statt members are in operation.  The amount of coverage differs from bank to bank.

15 H.R. Issues

Family Life and Social Life Not affected, the employees have adequate time to spare for their families and their close relatives and friends. Bank Officers have lost almost their personal life.  This has affected their other amily members alsoo.

Hygiene & Health Satisfactory. Bankers undergo a lot of stress associated with their work and most of the bank officers have hyper-tension, diabetes, neurological disorders and poor eye-sight.  Average longevity of bank officers has gradually come down and a number of officers are dying while in service.  Many of them die within a few years after their retirement.

Organisational Culture & Climate Mostly very good. Discriminatory and disgusting environment prevails in most of the public sector banks and in some old generation private sector banks too.

H.R. Policies They have stagnation free time scales, Modified Assured Career Progression Scheme (MAPS), limited number of transfers etc.  They the H.R. policies are not professional and scientific, they are far better than in public sector banks.  They have got well laid down grievances redressal mechanism and Central Administrative Tribunals are there for wronged/aggrieved officers. Modern scientific H.R. policies like 'Right Man at the Right Place; 'Unity of Command', 'Span of Control', '360 degree Appraisal', 'Assured Career Progression' etc. are only in theory and these principles are taught only in Staff Training Institutes, but never practiced. Those who talk about them are treated as aliens and hated.

16 Pension

Rate of Pension and Minimum service required for pension "Pension to be paid at 50% of the average emoluments/last pay drawn (whichever is more beneficial) without linking it to 33 years of qualifying service for grant of full pension.   Minimum qualifying service is reduced to 20 years of pensionable service.

" Last 10 months average pay is adopted.  Moreover, for receiving full pension 33 years of service is necessary.  However, for people taking VRS, after 28 years of service, an additional 5 years will be notionally added.

Pension Revision Automatically revised at the time of each pay commission report is received and accepted. No such provision as of now

Pension Commutation % Pension can be commuted up to 40% of the Basic Pension. Pension can be commuted only up to 33.33% of the Basic Pension.

Additional quantum of pension Additional quantum of pension is paid on the pensioner attaining the age of (a) 80 years - 20% of Basic Pension  (b) 85 years - 30% of Basic Pension (c) 90 years - 40% of Basic Pension (d) 95 years - 50% of Basic Pension and (e) 100 years - 100% of Basic Pension. No such provision exists for bank pensioners.  Pension once fixed remains the same.

Restoration of full pension After 15 years from the date of commutation, full pension will be restored. After 15 years from the date of commutation, full pension will be restored.

Family Pension If the employee dies while in service after completing 7 years of pensionable service, 100% of ordinary pension till the notional date of retirement of the deceased staff, had he survived is paid as family pension.  If the employee dies after retirement, 50% of the last drawn pay of the deceased staff or twice the ordinary rate of family pension or the pension granted to the deceased person at the time of his retirement whichever is less is paid.  This enhanced amount of family pension is paid for 7 years or till the 67 years of the deceased staff had he been alive and thereafter, family pension is paid at the normal rate of 30%. If the employee dies while in service (after completing 7 years of pensionable service), 50% of last drawn pay of the deceased staff or twice the ordinary rate of family pension whichever is less is paid. If the employee dies after retirement but before attaining the age of 65 years, 50% of the last drawn pay of the deceased staff or twice the ordinary rate of family pension whichever is less is paid for 7 years or till the 65 years of the deceased staff had he been alive whichever is earlier. Thereafter, family pension is paid at the normal rate of 30% of the last drawn pay of the deceased person.

17 Gratuity

Date of effect of enhanced gratuity For central government employees, the enhanced gratuity of Rs.10 lakhs was made payable effective from 01-01-2006. For bank staf and others, this enhancement was allowed only from the date of notification in the gazette i.e. 24-05-2010.

18 Employment on Compassionate Grounds

Employment to a family on compassionate grounds is in vogue. Employment to a family member on compassionate grounds is almost non-existing.  Only 'Ex Gratia' payment is made in cash.

19 Special Privileges

Preference for admission in Kendriya Vidyalaya Schools for staff children Children of central/state government employees enjoy topmost preference for admission into Kendriya Vidyalayas.  Quite strangely, even transfers within a district or a nearby district within the same state is counted as a transfer for deciding the 'transferability' factor for this purpose. Children of bank employees are placed just one notch above the general public. Therefore, bank officers who are transferred to places outside their home state and linguistic region suffer a lot.

Gazetted Rank Gazetted Officers of central/state governments have special privilege in getting accommodation in government guest houses.  They have special powers to attest various documents for different purposes. These privileges are not available to bank officers.

Allotment of Residential Phones Government officers get preferential allotment for residential phones, by BSNL. Bank Officers do not enjoy this privilege.

20 Social Status

Doing others work Leave alone doing the work of other departments and other government institutions and other sections of the society, government employees will not touch even the job of a person sitting beside him/her in the same office. Banks have unnecessarily taken upon themselves the responsibility of doing all others' work in the society, simply because of the reason, such jobs involve financial transactions.  This is done due to intense competition, for a pittance of commission, without carrying out any 'cost-benefit analysis' on scientific lines.  Banks are unable to retrieve themselves from this self-imposed complication/punishment.

Respect in the society Government staff enjoy good respect in the society.  They are able to get so many things done easily, at so many places, without resorting to dishonest and unethical means. Except the prospective borrowers, no other person in the society respects bank staff today.  Bank officers have become the soft targets for everyone and verbal abuse and physical attacks of bank officers have been on the rise, with each passing day.  Salaried persons working in all other sectors and industires also do not have any empathy nor sympathy for bank officers.  The government and the media also nurture have some misconceptions about bank staff and because of them, they have deep-seated prejudice and hatred towards bank staff.

21 What does the future hold for them? Future is very bright, with all the successive governments pampering the government employees  to the hilt. With the implementation of 7th CPC recommendations from 2016, the central government employees are very excited about their future prospects. Bank employees are a thoroughly dejected lot today and they do not expet any change for the better in the near future.  With the threat of further privatisation and mergers looming large, public sector bank employees feel that the future is bleak for them.  To add to their woes, those in power (MOF/RBI/IBA) themselves spread several canards and lies about banking industry's health and question the bank staff's operational efficiency and behaviour.

22 What shall be the strategies to be adopted in future, to improve their lot? Nothing specific to say. Bank staff must demand a separate pay commission for them.  Else, they must persuade the government of India to bring bank employees also, under the jurisdiction of Central Pay Commissions.  Bank staff must start 'image building exercises' on a grand scale, through various ways.  They must educate their customers and the general public about the myths, misconceptions, misgivings, fallacies and untruths about bank staff in general and must strive hard to steer clear all of them within a specific time frame, say the next 2 years.  If they fail to do these, they are bound to perish.  Even God cannot save them.

Date: 20-04-2014 pannvalan