After merger, Bank of Baroda looks at changing work culture of Dena, Vijaya

• The merged entity of Bank of Baroda is now drawing up a branch rationalization plan
• Employees of Dena and Vijaya were given the option to either opt for a VRS or join the merged bank

MUMBAI: As Bank of Baroda (BoB) starts aligning the businesses of erstwhile Dena Bank and Vijaya Bank with itself following the merger, it is also looking to instil a new work culture and make its management more accessible to employees.

Two senior employees from erstwhile Dena Bank and Vijaya Bank said on condition of anonymity that the BoB management has assured them that they will not be discriminated against by existing employees. One of them said employees were happy to see BoB managing director and chief executive P.S. Jayakumar personally interacting with them at head offices and branches.

“This is very different from how we have worked, where access to our chiefs was not very easy. For instance, Jayakumar came on a sudden visit to the Dena Bank head office in Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC) quite late in the evening and spoke to employees," the person cited above said.

This person said the merged entity is drawing up a branch rationalization plan. “At places in Andheri (Mumbai), where all three banks have branches in close proximity, it is being discussed that only one will be retained and it will be moved to the branch premises with the best facilities," he said.

As part of the alignment, BoB had sent out notices to employees at administrative offices of these two banks that their working hours will change from 10am-5pm to 9am-4pm from 1 May, 2019. “Presently, working hours of administrative offices of Bank of Baroda are 9am to 4pm while that of erstwhile Vijaya Bank and erstwhile Dena Bank are 10am to 5pm. Consequent to amalgamation, it is imperative to bring uniformity in working hours of administrative offices across the bank to ensure smooth integration of the amalgamated entity," the notice had said.

According to the second person cited above, employees of these two banks were given the option to either opt for a voluntary retirement (VRS) and retire on 31 March, 2019 or join the merged bank. He said that around 260 employees from Dena Bank chose to retire instead of joining BoB. It could not be immediately ascertained as to how many employees from Vijaya Bank used this option. “These employees who opted for VRS are mostly people who had less than five years to retirement," he said.

A BoB spokesperson said that in its efforts to comfort the employees of erstwhile Vijaya Bank and erstwhile Dena Bank, the bank management has constantly been in touch with employees of the amalgamated bank through various methods.

These, the spokesperson said, include letters, town hall meetings at various cities addressing their queries, and uploading frequently asked questions (FAQs) on all the banks’ websites and intranet. “A centralized dedicated employees’ query redressal system has been put in place for replying to queries of employees, in addition to other measures," the spokesperson added.

In April 2017, State Bank of India (SBI) merged five of its subsidiaries—State Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur (SBBJ), State Bank of Mysore (SBM), State Bank of Travancore (SBT), State Bank of Hyderabad (SBH) and State Bank of Patiala (SBP)—and Bharatiya Mahila Bank (BMB) with itself. This process, which made SBI one of the world’s top 50 large banks in terms of assets, saw 4,000 employees from SBI and the associate banks opting for voluntary retirement.

Meanwhile, PTI reported last month that BoB will undertake an evaluation of its board and has invited bids from consulting firms by early May.