They must pay female staff for working overtime in case of emergency

Two female officials of a state-owned bank are seen at a branch of the bank in the capital recently. Bangladesh Bank on Tuesday asked the scheduled banks to improve working conditions for their female staff.

The central bank on Tuesday asked the scheduled banks to improve working conditions for their female staff, ensuring that they are not held back at the office after 6pm, and if, for any emergency, they are detained beyond the usual office hours they must be paid overtime allowance. The BB asked the banks not to force the female staff to stay after closing the daily work of the branches at 6pm under any circumstances, considering their security. The banks have to issue internal circular in this regard as soon as possible, according to the central bank directives. A BB official told New Age on Tuesday that the central bank had taken the decisions at a quarterly meeting of the bankers held on April 30 at the BB headquarters in the capital. The BB sent the minutes of the bankers’ meeting to managing directors and chief executive officers of all banks on Tuesday attaching the directives about the female staff to ensure their security and protect them against gender harassment, he said. After receiving the minutes of the bankers’ meeting, the managements of the banks have to issue internal circular to implement the directives. The banks have to pay overtime allowances to their female staff if any one of them has to stay back at the branch due to special necessity of the bank after 6pm, the BB directives said. The central bank found allegations that female officials of the banks were facing gender harassment as managements of the banks detained them till 7pm to 8pm after closing the daily work of the branches, often without any valid reasons, the BB official said. The female staff of the banks suffer from a lack of security when they go home in the evening due to their overtime duty, he pointed out. The central bank in its directives also advised the banks to close their branches at 6pm to save the electricity which would also give relief to the male staff from unnecessary overtime duty. The BB officials warned that the central bank would take punitive measures against the banks if they put extra pressure on their female officials. The central bank also asked the banks to recruit more female staff by developing the work environment for women, according to the directives. The banks have been asked to take measures to appoint at least one female staff as deputy managing director. The BB also asked the banks not to impose extra pressure on their officials to collect deposits from the clients. The clients are deprived of getting adequate services from the banks as the officers are busy to collect deposits to increase the banks’ profit, the BB minutes of the bankers’ meeting said. Unhealthy competition among the banks has increased in recent times with proliferation of new banks in the private sector and there has been a rat race among banks to collect more deposits from the clients by imposing extra-burden on their officials. The BB asked the banks not to give excess target to their officials to collect deposits, the central bank officials said.