This is how what’s app ruined a banker’s life

Reporting on what’s app on daily basis in different groups is sheer mental torture. I feel deprived of my personal space.

– A Branch Manager

Remember the days when you used to go back home and spend your evening and quality time with family and friends. Remember the concept of ‘Working hours’!

Well, these are all things of  the past now. Thanks to the progress of the digital age with development of what’s app we are actually being made available to work 24 by 7.

What started as a means of entertainment and fun with family and friends has now become a constant tool of surveillance and reporting. Indeed,  the development of applications like what’s app has ricocheted against the common banker in so many ways.

Almost all of us are a member of at least 4-5 banking groups where daily reporting takes place . And if you are a branch manager then, unfortunately, you are forced to be an active member of numerous “official”  what’s app groups.

While it is informative and entertaining to have a group of colleagues on what’s app who share their daily experiences and also provide valuable information regarding operations at work to each other, the picture turns ridiculously ugly when it is used as an official platform for monitoring by executives.

Let’s see an example of how what’s app ruined the life of a fellow banker :

Mr Manoj worked hard from 10 to 7 in his branch located somewhere in Gujarat. He has been made a member of a number of groups for marketing, daily reporting, special campaigns, third party products and god knows what not. Since most of these groups also have senior executives as members, Mr Manoj has to follow the professional etiquette and jump on the bandwagon to “official reporting ” at the end of every working day. Everyday, he is being asked to report on every parameter of his allotted targets and completion of the same in different groups. Very often the “reporting” is given a feedback by the higher authorities, which generally reflects the dissatisfied tone of the higher ups.

Every other day Mr Manoj has to face humiliation and threats of being transferred to a unfavorable location. And game of reporting continues to midnight everyday, and starts from 7 in the morning. Manoj has started losing his precious personal time.

What’s app has wrecked a havoc and has become a tool of suffering for Manoj. He is often being given” instructed” on what’s app to do things that are against the bank’s guidelines,  that too often with a threatening tone. Manoj’s life has become miserable with this constant nagging and the humiliation of not being able to meet his targets on digital platform in front of other colleagues .

depressed-banker-fix

It is disheartening how our high authorities take undue advantage of  technology that is meant for personal use. Till date, no bank has issued any instruction or circular regarding institutionalization of the what’s app groups, and yet instructions given in what’s app are treated as binding upon the employee.

No employer has any right to invade the personal space of their employees by calling upon them to report or work during the non-working hours. What’s app is presently meant to be used in the personal capacity of individuals, and it should continue to be so.

Whats app reporting should not be encouraged by the higher authorities of the bank as well , it is only a medium of connecting with people , not a tool for allotting targets and harassing employees to ensure compliance. Allotting work on what’s app , followed by continuous badgering after work hours and on non working days need to be put to an end by assertiveness of the all the bankers together.

The day what’s app groups are institutionalized by the banks, shall mark the doom for a common banker. We should act to stop this increasing trend before it makes banking a 24×7 job.

Jaago Banker Jaago!

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