Having
spent almost two unproductive years at home after graduation, Evelyn was badly
in need of a job. After passing the aptitude test and first interview, she was
pretty confident as she walked out of her second interview for a management
trainee position at Access Bank.
But
her confidence immediately atrophies like an ice cube thrown into a burning
fire when she was told, over the telephone, by an official of the bank that she
needed to source a total of N1 million from at least 10 new customers within a
week as a prerequisite for being employed.
Her
parents immediately kicked against her continuing with the recruitment process
saying it was exploitative. But the thought of having to sit at home for
an indefinite period in search of another job was far scarier for Evelyn. She
was determined to meet the bank’s demand.
Hard
as she tried, she could only get eight people to open new accounts with the
bank. Two days later she got a call from the bank telling her she didn’t make
the cut.
“In
Access Bank it has to be ten over ten or nothing,” the voice at the other end
of the phone said.
Evelyn
was devastated. She felt used and dumped.
“After
the second interview, I thought I already had the job,” she said.
In
fact she was called for the third interview, which is usually a formality,
according to an Access Bank source.
John,
another applicant, said he didn’t feel comfortable raising N1 million as a
prerequisite for employment.
“I
remembered telling myself this was nonsense. Why would they ask me to get N1
million before I was
employed?
I didn’t even bother to try.”
Some
of applicants who spoke to PREMIUM TIMES said the bank gave them ten
account-opening booklets each carrying Access Bank employee numbers for this
purpose.
“When
I say the employee numbers on the account-opening booklet, I was confused. Does
it mean that I’m running around for someone else to take the credit,” wondered
another applicant who raised N900,000.00 and was not employed.
Evelyn,
who said she is now doing what she described as her dream job, told PREMIUM
TIMES one of those who opened an account with her went through a lot of hassles
when she tried to withdraw the money she deposited.
“She
wasn’t given a debit card or chequebook. They kept telling her at the branch
that they have issues with her account when she went to withdraw the money she
deposited. After paying several visits to the branch over three months she
could only manage to withdraw part of the money she deposited.”
Access
Bank says the practise of asking applicants to generate N1 million within one
week is to prepare them for “the rigour of the highly competitive market.”
The
bank’s Head of Corporate Affairs, SegunFafore, says only candidates that have
passed the entry requirement are asked to raise this amount.
“It
is part of the training. It is part of the recruitment process. This person
will certainly go to the training school. It is just the practical aspect
before you go for the four months training programme,” he said.
However,
none of those who spoke to this paper were called to resume at the bank’s
training school. Despite excelling at all the pre-recruitment evaluations, they
were specifically rejected because they raised less than the N1 million asked
by the bank.
Employment bond
Access
Bank has been courting controversies for some time now due to some of its
recruitment practices. In what is a blatant disregard of the country’s labour
laws, the bank makes new employees sign bonds that force them to stay in the
bank’s employ willy-nilly for at least two years.
Access
Bank says it does this to protect the “heavy investment” it makes in training
its staff. It says due to the quality of training its staff get they are
usually poached by both local and international firms.
“The
bank invest heavily in building the competence and capacity of its staff to a
level of admiration that matches what is available in the global financial
community,” MrFafore says.
“Following
market tendencies, it is not surprising that with this kind of investment in
its people other institutions, financial and non-financial, within and outside
Nigeria encroach on the bank’s School of Banking Excellence.”
MrFafore
says the bank designed its employment contract to “stem the tide” of employee
poaching.
Alarmed,
Lagos lawyer and frontline human rights advocate, JitiOgunye, describes the
practice as “shady, irresponsible and illegal.”
“From
employment and banking perspective it was illegal for the bank to compel people
who are not employees of the bank to discharge banking duties,” he said.
“Having
compelled these applicants to go and be scouting for customers for them as a
condition of being offered employment, a relationship of implied agency has
crystallised between the bank on one hand and those prospective employees. So
the bank has made them her agent by sending them out to go and bring customers
so the question there is if the bank had made these people her agent how did
the bank remunerate them at the end of the day?
It
flies in the face of constitutionally guaranteed rights of citizens. A bank is
expected to be a repository of integrity. This is nothing but obtaining
property by false pretence. This is nothing but fraud.”
Obituaries and epitaphs
Allegations
of malpractices and abuses have dogged recruitment processes and staff training
in the Nigerian banking sector. For instance in 2011, a group of Guaranty Trust
Bank’s entry level trainees were expelled on the last day of training for what
the bank described as “[contravening] several basic programme rules that
include professional conduct.”
But
several members of Sapphire, as the class was nicknamed, said the consultant
instructor during the training, Tutu Sholeye of Learners and Trainers,
traumatised the group with an unending string of vile comments, verbal abuse
and attack on their self-esteem.
They
told this paper that they were asked to write their obituaries and epitaphs as
part of the training regime.
“We
were shocked when she told us to write our obituaries and epitaphs. And it
didn’t end there; whatever you wrote will be used as an excuse to rain more
insults on you,” said Taye, still visibly angry two years after the experience.
For
instance, a trainee who smokes and had indicated to live up to 85 years in his
obituary was told by the trainer: “how do you expect to live that long with the
worthless life you’re living?”
Learners
and Trainers website says it focuses on the “attitude training and personal
development” rather than focus on “skills and knowledge training.”
MsSholeye
declined to speak with PREMIUM TIMES. She said as a consultant, it was
unprofessional for her to speak about what happened during the training.
Peter
Ogunnubi, a psychiatrist at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital, LUTH, says
this style of training is “archaic and barbaric.”
“It
is a form of mental torture that can lead to post-traumatic and personality
disorder.” He says this is even more so because the trainees didn’t get the
job.
Guaranty
Trust Bank says this approach to staff training has brought out the best in its
employees.
“The
curriculum adopted for the training programme which all employees must
undertake, has been in use for the same period and you will no doubt agree with
me that our Bank has the finest, most professional and knowledgeable human
capital in the country today,” says Pascal Or, the bank’s official in charge of
Brand Management.
Regulatory laxity
Those
wronged by unfair recruitment may have to look further from the Central Bank of
Nigeria, CBN, if they hoped to get succour for the wrong done to them.
CBN
Director of Corporate Communications, UgochukwuOkoroafor, says the CBN cannot
act on hearsay.
“Please
note that the allegations have not come to our attention with concrete evidence.
This is necessary to enable us take action,” he said.
“There
is nothing the CBN can do on the basis of mere hearsay, other than moral
suasion,” he added.
MrOkoroafor,
says the CBN prohibits profit and liability targeting by banks and other
unethical practices.
“Unfortunately,
these are not things you can pick up from financial records when conducting
bank examinations. Neither can interviews with Bank Management or staff reveal
them.”
However
MrOkoroafor said the bank encourages whistleblowers to come with names, dates
and evidence of malpractices.
***
The names of the bank informants in this story have been changed to
protect their identities. All of them still work with different banks in the
country and fear they might be victimised by their employers.
--Culled from Premium Times
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