Work life imbalance of remittance employees at bank a

UNIVERSITY OF ECONOMICS HO CHI MINH CITY International School of Business Nguyen Thi Phuong Oanh WORK-LIFE IMBALANCE OF REMITTANCE EMPLOYEES AT BANK A MASTER OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION SUPERVISOR: Dr Nguyen Phong Nguyen Ho Chi Minh City - 2017 TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF FIGURES LIST OF TABLES EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 1 BACKGROUND 1.1 Company Background 1.2 Description of Remittance team 1.3 Symptoms 1.3.1 Long working hours .4 1.3.2 Increased health problems 1.3.3 Decreased productivity 1.4 Initial cause-effect map PROBLEM IDENTIFICATION 12 2.1 Situation analysis 12 CENTRAL PROBLEM VALIDATION 14 3.1 Central problem definition 14 3.2 Central problem existence 14 3.3 Central problem importance 16 SOLUTIONS AND ACTION PLANS 22 5.1 Individual aspects 22 5.2 Organizational aspects 23 CONCLUSION 25 SUPPORTING INFORMATION 26 7.1 Interview guide 26 7.2 Transcripts 28 7.3 Questionnaire on Work-life imbalance 40 REFERENCES 47 LIST OF FIGURES Figure Structure of Remittance team Figure Working hours of Remittance team Figure Productivity of Remittance team Figure Initial cause-effect map Figure Updated cause-effect map Figure Level of fatigue related workplace problems vs overtime level Figure Priority factors choosing a job Figure Second updated cause-effect map Figure Final cause-effect map LIST OF TABLES Table Number of employees at grade A health results versus amount of employees from 2015 to 2017 Table Rate of employees sick leaving over years (2015-2017) Table Interview guide questions of group Table Interview guide questions of group LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS Rem – Remittance WLB – Work-life balance EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Each organization has its own problems Depending on the seriousness of the problems, the performance or even the survival of the organizations in this highly competitive environment will be determined In problem solving, identify the real problem – the central problem is the most important step The right problem needed to be determined to propose the right solutions Mistakes in determining the real problem may result in unnecessary wastes of resources Therefore, this study focused on a specific of a department to have a deep look of one problem Starting with the symptoms as long working hours, increased health problems and low productivity, the author managed to identify the central problem by root case analysis method Then, based on literature reviews and surveys, it was recognized that Work-life imbalance is the central problem of this organization Work-life imbalance is an attractive topic to discuss on both business and academic research Malgorzata Kluczyk (1) demonstrated that “work-life imbalance is a central issue affecting wellbeing, as family and work are the most important elements of everyone’s life” The value of this study is through analysis of the problems and the importance of it to suggest the best solutions for bank A practice It is useful for not only this bank manager but also all employees to find the right way at their workplace 1|Page BACKGROUND 1.1 Company Background For over 20 years since its initial branch in Vietnam in 1995, bank A has nearly 200 employees up to now Among the flourish of banking industry, bank A is facing with many competitors such as HSBC, Standard Chartered and a large number of domestic banks Vision and mission Its mission is a statement expressing what bank A aims to It provides a path in making the right decisions that will distinctively sets us apart from its competitors The mission statement is to be a bank that does what is right, consistently It captures its strategic ambitions, unites it and guide it towards the future Its main vision statement is to be the world’s most trusted bank 1.2 Description of Remittance team 1.2.1 Description Remittance team has the task to send to and receive funds from various accounts - Inward Remittance product description Authenticated payment instructions received by the branch to pay a named beneficiary are classified as inward remittances Inward remittance can take the following forms: instructions received from overseas agents to credit branch customer’s account or pay to the beneficiary through a beneficiary bank, instructions received through local clearing to credit branch customer’s account - Outward Remittance product description Payment instructions issued by customer to pay out from their accounts to the beneficiary are classified as outward remittances Outward remittance can take the following forms: overseas telegraphic transfer, local payment order and interaccount transfer - 2|Page FX Settlement product description A request issued by customers to buy foreign currencies base on their available fund in Vietnam Dong under various following purposes: to repay for loan to the bank/ repay for offshore loan, to pay for L/C (letter of credit), to pay for goods under TTR (Telegraphic Transfer Reimbursement), to repatriate of legal income to overseas and other purposes complied with the Authority’s regulation 1.2.2 Structure Figure Structure of Remittance team in 2013 vs 2016 Manager Inward Officer Staff Staff Outward Officer Outward Officer FX Officer Staff Staff Staff Manager Inward Officer Inward Officer Outward Officer Outward Officer FX Officer Staff Staff Staff Staff Staff According to Figure 1, in 2013, under one manager, there are officers to check the processing from staffs To survive in the competitive industry, the bank tried to connect with various new customers that is the reason why it has significantly increased the amount of customers just in after years Therefore, in 2016, they recruited one officer to help the other officers with checking the payment more accurately and efficiently This officer can handle the task of both inward and outward reports so the burden of officers was released However, the number of payment orders continuously goes up day by day, staffs are always whining about their work 3|Page 1.3 Symptoms 1.3.1 Long working hours It is easy to discover that the trend of working hours for each employees in Remittance department grows continuously over the years Accordingly, all staffs recently complain that they have no time for family and personal hobbies For this reason, the author took further look at the average working hours of this team Table Average working hours of Remittance team Year 2013 2014 2015 2016 Q2/2017 Average transaction 200 250 576 610 630 Working hours 72 81 90 100 105 Number of employees 9 10 10 Average working hours (hrs/no of employees) 10 10 10,5 Firstly, by table 1, before 2016, the department is operated with employees, the average working hours were hours/employee (in 2013), hours/employee (in 2014) In 2015, the fact was that although the average working hours did not change significantly, due to the system upgrade and the wide open of customer accounts, bank A started to develop so the average transactions were at the 200% rate of growth Secondly, to have a deep look into the table, with one more recruited officer, the average working hours did not decrease (still around 10 hours) This equivalent to reducing spent time with their family In 2013, the staff left office at 5:30pm for working hours From 2014, when they returned home at 6:30pm, their dinner time must be hour later than the usual time Hence, it is not difficult to understand that in 2017, all the employees did not often have family dinners together if they stay at work for 11 hours per day and reach home at 9pm According to Labor Code of Vietnam - Law No 10/2012/QH13 date June 18, 2012 (Appendix), the overtime working hours with 11 hours per day could be accepted because the working hours are allowed under 12 hours per day and all employees are paid 1.5 times for each hour overtime working However, when the 4|Page staffs get their overtime paid while they still complain It must be a problem we should invest in 1.3.2 Increased health problems 1.3.2.1 Low degree of health results Health check-up programs and insurance policies are always practiced with all employees in the bank By the collected annual health check, it is easy to find out that the status of remittance employees health are in trouble Table Number of employees at grade A health results versus amount of employees from 2015 to 2017 2015 2016 2017 8/9 5/10 4/10 Rate of grade A health results By collecting the short summary results from Remittance employees (table and table 3), it is discovered that in 2015, there were employees with good health scores They are ranked at grade A in health check results However, this result falls to 50% in 2016 and it continues to decrease to 40% in 2017 1.3.2.2 High rate of sick leaving Table Rate of employee sick leaving over years (2015-2017) Number of days on sick leave/ amount of employees 2015 2016 2017 0/9 5/10 20/10 This collected data shows how many sick leave days all employees had taken In 2015, nobody was off for health reasons On the other hand, in 2016, moderately, each person took half of a leave day because of bad health A serious symptom was seen when average every employee had to leave days to cure their disease Obviously, this department should ensure all employees for better health 5|Page 1.3.3 Decreased productivity The data given in Figure below shows the trend of the productivity of Remittance team per day Working hours per day is the average of total working hours of the team per day The productivity is calculated by dividing the average transaction per day and the working hours Figure Productivity of Remittance team 7.000 Productivity 6.000 5.000 4.000 3.000 2.000 1.000 000 Productivity 2013 2014 2015 2016 Q2/2017 2.778 3.086 6.400 6.100 5.727 In 2013, with employees and the small size of 200 transactions, the productivity was estimated at 2.78 By the growing the amount of customers in 2014, the number of transactions increased and the working hours average equal approximately hours per day for each person, so the productivity was 3.09 Although the average working hours did not change significantly, due to the system upgrade and the wide open of customer accounts when bank A started to develop in 2015, the productivity was at the highest level of 6.40 From 2016, this department recruited one more staff Due to the amount of transactions did not increase too much, the productivity felt to 6.10 Especially, in Quarter 1-2 in 2017, it is worth noting that the productivity drops to 5.73 Therefore, productivity issue is one of the matter that Remittance team should invest in In summary, the symptoms which are easy to discover are three main troubles: staffs have to work for long hours, warning employee health status should be concerned and their productivity decreased in recent years 6|Page 1.4 Initial cause-effect map Based on the symptoms, the interview guide was designed to investigate the picture of problem respondents were kind to help with questions then the authors discovered that previous symptoms really exist and they lead to various effects Then other interviewees were invited to answer similar questions to validate all the information 1.4.1 Effects of long working hours 1.4.1.1 Lack of elderly care time Ms Ha shared her story with sayings: “I have an old mom but I reach at home at 9pm, it is a short time to converse with her I think the elderly should be cared much more.” 1.4.1.2 Lack of household time Ms Ha added to her answers: “After work, I have to go to supermarket and cook meals for mom It takes me a lot of time.” 1.4.1.3 Lack of childcare time Ms Uyen who had year-old child got trouble with her baby She told her story that she often go home when her baby is going to sleep, she had no time to take care of her child 1.4.1.4 Lack of personal time Shared by Ms Minh, what influenced her after work is tiredness and time management She left the office at 8pm, reached at home at 8:45pm and she usually denies to eat anything, her choices are her bed And actually, I became this slim because I get used to skipping dinner already Moreover, she did not have enough time to talk with her sister, call her parents or what she loves to 7|Page more After work, I have to go to supermarket and cook meals for mom It takes me a lot of time Ms O: Yes Caring for elderly parents is not easy Ms Ha: Right I go home at 9pm, cooking, wash up, then sleep at 11pm and wake up at 5am You know, a short sleeping could not recover myself so I always suffer from headaches Ms O: Do you have to drink pills? I mean, how often? Ms Ha: Sighing, always mate, I mean every week Ms O: If you have a choice to change your status now, what will be the first? Ms Ha: I would say: “Please NOT chase me with reports” Ha-ha, it sounds like a dream The systems are too bad I put manual all the time (Interview month later to ask Ms Ha for further information) Ms O: Morning Ms Ha, it’s my fault to take your time with my questions Ms Ha: You are welcome, mate Ms O: I found that maybe your department must be in stuck due to work-life imbalance Do you think that? Ms Ha: Yes I had thought about it and last conversation, I shared that I had problem with family time management Ms O: Could you explain whether there are any loss of your department because of work-life imbalance? Ms Ha: For this short talk and bank’s policy, I cannot tell the full picture of our problem But, you know, I heard a few complaints from customer due to my staffs’ mistake Customers sent emails to me because the transaction processes are slow In room’s meeting, I asked them why and I understood that some of them are exhausted and they explained because of pressure from work put on them every day I tried to motivate them for better mental health and gave them some restaurant vouchers for family dinners at weekend 36 | P a g e Ms O: Wow, you are a great boss, ha-ha Ms Ha: Mate, in honestly, we are working as a team It means I am their mom, I am their sister Not just their boss, you know, I and the bank have responsibility with themselves and their responsibility 37 | P a g e Participants Age Gender Occupation Income Status Ms Ngo Khanh Uyen 32 M Remittance Officer $ 700 Married Interview Location Interview Time Bank A – Lobby 18:00 – 11 Oct 2017 * The fourth interview with a remittance staff was at the lobby She worked in this bank from 2000 Ms O: Dear Uyen sister, I am doing a research for my assignment about remittance department, regarding issues encountered So you can give the answer freely without concerning about leaking information (smiling) Ms U: Pleasure to help your assignment mate Ms O: Could you describe your work? Ms U: My task is to check the processed payment, approve it after the staff did it Ms O: How feel about the effectiveness? Ms U: Due to no time to chat with together, I always think how to handle conflict in workplace My partner just throws the tasks to me You know, if we share together or understand for other side, I think it is better and build the peace Ms O: Yes, I see Why don’t we chat about another topic? How about your family? Ms U: My baby is years old Ms O: So cute You must be a great mom I saw that you are always caring everyone well Right, sister? Ms U: You know I am very sorry because I not spend enough time for taking care of her Ms O: You are doing well You shouldn’t think like that, sister Do you feel stress? 38 | P a g e Ms U: Certainly You know, I feel tired because there is a lot of work At home, my baby sometimes cries overnight, then I am unable to sleep To describe me, I am as a farmer walking and carrying a heavy burden on my shoulder every day When the next day comes, I am scared due to the fact that I was exhausted the day before I am unable to the day's work properly Terribly, when another day begins, I go to work with no energy because of fatigue from the previous day I felt sick for 2, times this year Ms O: OMG You work too hard mate What you think to reduce work and family stress? Ms U: I am stuck in this situation I just suffer day by day from both my work and my husband Anyway, he is my strength I membered my last birthday was on December, before New Year eve, he waited for me at home till 10pm, I burst into tears that day Ms O: How about the benefits for new mom? Ms U: There is a new policy for new working mothers In first six months after maternity leave, I can reach the office 30 minutes later than other employees Now I have to be at the office on time You know, I prepare food for my family then it takes me 30 minutes to the workplace How time flies!!! Ms O: I hope that you will be better soon Ms U: Thanks, mate Hope so If you need more questions, not hesitate to ask me, guy Ms O: Thanks a lot, sister Have a nice working day Ms U: Thank you so much Bye Ms O: Bye, sister 39 | P a g e 7.3 Questionnaire on Work-life imbalance Confidential for Employment Studies Please answer the following questions as fully as you are able by ticking the boxes or writing in the spaces provided The survey is entirely confidential and the information collected will be used anonymously Please return the completed questionnaire to the researcher at the end of your discussion or place it in the reply paid envelope provided and return it to author Thank you for your cooperation Are you? Mark only one oval Male Female You are Mark only one oval