Standard Chartered Bank Standard Chartered Bank is the largest international bank in Bangladesh with 26 Branches spread across

the country. Standard Chartered has a workforce of over 1300 people. They boast an impressive record, being the only bank to never shut down over the 100years of banking in Bangladesh. Standard Chartered Bank is a pioneer in Consumer Banking in Bangladesh. Standard Chartered was formed through the merger of Grindlays bank and American Express Bank in Bangladesh. This organization provides both Consumer Banking and Wholesale Banking, while providing services from Personal & Corporate Banking to Institutional Banking, etc. They were the first international bank extend credit lines in Bangladesh. Standard Chartered is a dynamic and innovative organization, adapting to changes in technology and also taking advantage of it. Throughout their years of service in Bangladesh they have received numerous awards and distinctions and also contributed towards society as well. Corporate social responsibility is upheld very well within Standard Chartered. As any organization Standard Chartered deals with several behaviors displayed by their employees, which affect their productivity. Many of these behaviors are quite common among companies and can be should be deal with in a suitable manner. Some of the behaviors endured by Standard Chartered are:

1. Absenteeism Absenteeism occurs when employees fail to report to work. Absenteeism causes disruption and also incurs high costs for an organization. If employees are not present to do their work it reduces efficiency, leaves jobs undone and leads to reduced profits. Absenteeism causes disruption in the work flow as certain employees are not present to carry out a certain task. For Standard Chartered, absenteeism will not only cause a disruption in workflow but can also cause a fall in the quality of banking service, since fewer employees are present to maintain it. The bank may also lose clients who prefer to work with a certain employee only. In other words customer relationships will be negatively affected. Absenteeism could be avoided by: 1. Ensuring employees have a high level of job satisfaction. Satisfied employees tend to avoid being absent. This can be achieved by creating a favorable work environment, empowering employees, etc. 2. Providing bonuses for employees who are not absent the entire year. Providing a monetary reward for employees often proves to be the most effective one. 3. Providing other benefits for not being absent the whole year, such as free gym membership.

However, many employees who have stressful duties might need to be absent in order to concentrate, focus and be alert. For example, employees who write up the yearly budgets need to be well rested and

focused in order to do their job correctly. If these employees do not receive time off, they may underperform and this could deteriorate the quality of service.

2. Being late for work When employees are late for work there are several negative effects for an organization. Firstly employees waste time and this causes loss in productivity which could lead to reduced profits. Employees also end up disrupting other employees, asking them for help. Being late also disrupts the work flow. Employees also distract other employees when they walk in late and begin explaining the reason for being late. It is also a potential to create conflicts among employees. Standard Chartered can avoid this by doing the following: 1. Providing those who come on time with some benefits. For example, serving breakfast for those who are on time. 2. Enforce strict rules about coming to work on time. 3. Having group meeting first thing in the morning so that employees tend to come on time. However, many employees could argue that the blame should be given to Standard Chartered and not the employees. The location of the office could make it increasingly difficult for some employees to be on time. Thus, they may blame Standard Chartered for not providing transport services to those who have difficulty reaching the office. Also, small benefits such as breakfast may not be enough to encourage employees to be on time.

Distraction in the workplace is a very common problem. It occurs quite often at Standard Chartered Bank. External noise from tools, mobile equipment, and processes can be distracting in work environments. In work situations where loud or constant noise is unavoidable, hearing protection devices can eliminate or decrease unwanted and distracting noise. In other work environments even sounds which are not so loud can be quite distracting. Constant ringing of phones, conversations, and loud noises from fax machines, copiers, and printers can distract workers from their tasks. Depending on the level or duration of the noise, it can contribute to workplace stress. Electronic devices such as cell phones, IPODS, and PDAs can be the source of serious distractions in work environments. Co-workers and bosses are also major sources of distraction, as well as personal plans that can creep into employees' workday lives, for example, planning a wedding or looking for a new home. It hampers the regular and normal activities of the bank. Some employees are often distracted the most by social networking sites such as Twitter, Facebook etc. This is one of the major causes of distractions in the workplace today. Distraction can be avoided in the work place by implementing the following: 1. There should be a strict rule instructing employees to put their cell phones on silent mode and to avoid personal calls and also discourage the use of mobile internet.

. Distraction in the workplace

2. Standing up when someone approaches is an effective way to reduce time wasting as it prevents the other person from sitting down and may avoid endless unhelpful discussions. 3. Managers should encourage employees to develop a firm resolve that he/she needs to work now. 4. Managers should also encourage employees to break the procrastination habit. 5. Each day employees should personally set several goals and be confident to fulfill their goal. 6. Try to be relaxed. 7. Reduce the amount of using social networking

4. Being Demotivated Motivation is very important for the employees. Sometime they get bored and fed up with the hard and fast rules or any other reason related with their personal and official life. In Standard Chartered Bank the authority gives great importance to the employee s motivation. They try their best to motivate the employee as much as possible. They reward successful employees and managers. They also put a renewed focus on attracting and supporting prospective employees with disabilities. In India the bank partnered with a non-governmental organization (NGO) to improve job prospects for people with disabilities. The bank maintains global standards to ensure the health and safety of all individuals. For example, a personal emergency evacuation plan is agreed for every employee with his/her manager. The most important thing that the bank focuses on initiatives steps to support employees with family responsibilities, and new maternity and paternity leave policies. They give importance to work in a group and try to engage the employee in official or extracurricular activities. Ways through which employees can be motivated are: 1. Expand networks every single day. 2. Choose books, blogs, magazines, movies, and TV that uplift employees spirit and give them a positive outlook. 3. Positive reinforcement / high expectation. 4. Effective discipline and punishment 5. Treating people fairly 6. Satisfying employees needs 7. Setting work related goals 8. Restructuring job. 9. Empowering employees

5. Dissatisfaction over pay: Being dissatisfied over pay/ salaries is a common issue that can wreak havoc in an organization. It can cause terrible problems among employees or workers if this issue is not taken care of. It is a problem that is seen in almost all organizations and Standard Chartered is no exception. Dissatisfaction over pay can promote hostile attitude towards the management. Lacks of motivation, dysfunctional stress are

common outcomes from this dissatisfaction over pay. It varies among the needs and social/ family background among different people that makes their attitude towards a certain sum of money so uneven. The consequences of employees being dissatisfied over pay can be serious for any organization. If an employee is dissatisfied with pay they may be demotivated and this may negatively affect his or her ability to perform. The company may also lose employees to other firms providing higher pay. To avoid this sort of problematic situation, Standard Chartered Bank can do the following: y Offer lucrative compensation packages, the most useful one is the performance related pay. It is also followed by other banks, but Standard Chartered Bank remains since the commissions they pay are more or at least same as the other banks which are more lucrative (like Citibank, UCB, HSBC, Agrani Bank etc).Due to huge goodwill and recognition of Standard Chartered Bank, employees are happy if their salaries and commission at least match those that are being offered at the rival banks. Standard Chartered Bank has an effective HR department that always takes in consideration of the pay-related problems faced by the employees, and takes action as quickly as possible.

This method of performance related pay and strengthening of HR department has significantly reduced the turnover, absenteeism has decreased drastically and the performance and job satisfaction has sky rocketed after it was introduced. So, we can say that the performance has improved among the employees of Standard Chartered Bank who views them as their greatest asset. So, performance related pay and employee-friendly coordination with the HR department does the trick in dissatisfaction over pay which was once a common problem in Standard Chartered Bank. These strategies played a huge part in making Standard Chartered Bank what they are today.

6. Taking long breaks: Another behavior identified is taking longer breaks than they are supposed to. This causes a loss in productivity, as the employees spend part of their working hours taking breaks without covering up for the lost time. Most of the employees are engaged in this type of behavior even in Standard Chartered Bank. There are lots of reasons like, if the employees feel too stressed, fatigued or unwilling to jump into work as soon as they are done with taking breaks. There are consequences like facing financial penalty for taking extended breaks. The situation usually results from customer dissatisfaction since there are few less counters available for service. Standard Chartered bank is always concerned over the convenience of their customers, so if the customers are not properly taken care of, there is a chance they might not continue to be the client or have a bad impression about Standard Chartered Bank. And this might blemish the hard earned goodwill of Standard Chartered Bank. So, it s the organization that suffers.

Standard Chartered Bank is very strict about their service quality, even one hint of dissatisfaction from the clients is hard for them to tolerate. That is, apart from the financial penalties, strict monitoring by the branch managers is also enforced. Even though financial penalties for extended breaks are always on the rule book, lack of implementation and monitoring has given the employees take time off longer than necessary. But the managers from also keep in mind what the employee does if he/she is taking longer breaks than necessary, there are valid excuses like if some of their family member is sick or he/she is not at the best of his/her physical state, if the employee has to use the washroom since there is nothing someone can do when nature calls or if the employee is too stressed out. Apart from these valid reasons, if somebody is found to be taking extended breaks unnecessarily, he/she is entitled for some financial penalization. Further continuation might result in suspension or demotion. After the strict of this punishment, hardly any employees are found taking extended breaks without any valid reasons. After the break is over, everybody is back in their respective positions and the clients also have nothing to complain about the unavailability of the attendants at the counters. All it needed was a proper implementation of the rules and everything is in just the way they want.

7. Avoiding conflicts among workers Conflict among workers within an organization has always been a major issue and employees of Standard Chartered Bank cannot be left out of this. There can be conflicts among employees who are working at the same level, have the same position in the organization and work with the same productivity but there is a substantial amount of difference in their pay level. This factor might create jealousy among employees resulting to a rise in conflicts among the employees. The consequences of conflict among the employees can be severe for the organization. Due to such conflicts employees tend to give less importance to their work and more importance to their internal conflict. Therefore they are unable to satisfy the clients of the organization resulting to a fall in the overall productivity of the organization. Therefore to avoid such conflicts within the organization the top level managers of Standard Chartered Bank will have to make sure that the pay level of the employees is fair. Moreover the managers can provide certain incentives for all the employees which can reduce gaps between them. i.e. - Transportation facility.

8. Avoiding corrupted practices Corruption can disrupt the whole working system of an organization. Corrupted practices do not have a high impact in the private organizations; these practices are mostly done in the government organizations. For example an employee takes bribe from a client of the organization to do his or her work as early as possible ignoring the work of the clients which the employee was supposed handle first. These practices are usually done by the employees may be because they are unhappy with their salary.

If the employee is always benefited from the corruption practice then he might get used to it. Hence he might not follow the formal working structure to complete his job and rely on the corrupted practices. This will badly affect the employee s productivity and consequently resulting to customer dissatisfaction. This will surely hamper the organization s reputation and the ultimate result will be loss of customers for the organization. To control these kinds of corrupted practices the managers of Standard Chartered Bank will have to continuously monitor their employees and their working process. Moreover the top level managers can improve their pay scale to make sure that the employees are not involved in any kind of corruption and are loyal to their profession and the organization.

9. Feeling comfortable in the workplace An employee s performance can be directly affected by his/her work environment. Being a dynamic international bank Standard Chartered upholds a standard for maintaining a good work environment. In order for an employee to be able to perform well in the office, the workplace must be a hygienic and safe place to work. A dirty and unsafe environment will hamper an employee s ability to work. Coworkers can also play a big part in setting the work environment. If the behaviors of coworkers are not professional it will make it very difficult for an employee to perform and also make it difficult for employees to work together. Standard Chartered upholds this with their Human Resources department. Maintaining a proper work environment is essential to ensure employees perform their best. A proper work environment should consist of: 1. 2. 3. 4. A code of conduct for employees to follow A clean, neat and organized workplace A safe and secure office Comfortable working conditions, for example, have comfortable desk chairs which prevent back pain. 5. Policies and rules that protect employees, for example, sexual harassment policy.

10. Feeling unappreciated

An employee often goes through a stage when he or she feels as though their work is no valued enough at the organization. There is no distinct reason as to why this happens. It can range from personal problems to negligence by managers and etc. When an employee goes through this, they may begin to doubt their abilities and underperform. They may also start thinking about leaving the organization as they feel like their work is no longer valued at the organization. In order to prevent this from occurring managers should take the necessary actions: 1. Evaluate employee s work often 2. Provide employees with as much feedback as possible 3. Empower employees