The following article is the version in English of the article with title in Turkish ‘‘Nasıl Bir Bankacılık-1 ?‘’ that has been published by me in Linkedin at 4th June,2015. This english version has been published for those non-speaking Turkish.
Dear colleagues, friends ; I’ll try to attempt to share with you via these lines all those what have been filtered from our ten-year experiment in banking/finance sector.
When we talk about banking ,what we first imagine are men in suits, with briefcase bags at hands and well dressed ladies. Do not we? Let me say: Yes!
We can express that this topic of ‘elegancy’ is ,may be ,the best side of the banking/financing sector.
Well, do bankers/white collar- workers in particularly and banking/financing sector employee in generally, whom we envy when we look them from a far outside, not have any problems? Is everything alright as we see from outside.
The answer: Of course no!
This is the starting point at where problems of our colleagues in banking sector exactly start, the time they sit their chairs with their clean and well-ironed clothes for the work time .
If they are not one of lucky people of Allah (if tey were, probably would not prefer to be a banker or a white-collar worker) , these people spend their working times and days by handling clients on phones who seek some remedies for their own problems ; a management of the bank assigning aims for all 365 days of the year and following these aims day by day whether they have been reached or not, and if not , questioning the reasons of failure etc. (by the way, almost all who work in this sector know that the aims are generally assigned in order not to be reached instead of to be reached) ; a never ending selling pressure for sellers ; and also, never ending clients sitting on the chairs in front of their desks for all the day.
Of course, it is possible to extend this list and make problems much more detailed.
Moreover, daily visits, works coming from the previous days requiring a close pursuit are what’s more.
Just never talk about mobbing even.
In summary, a situation of out and out chaos and rushing one place from another. Especially , if the office/branch/working place is in one of rush locations,the situation gets more and more desperate.
It may be thought when looked from a far outside that work time in this sector just ends at 6.00 pm and this is an envied situation for much other people. But, this is not the case exactly.
Actually, a typical white-collar worker / banking employee in Turkey begins to work after 5.00 pm,when all the phone calls that seem to be never ending in working time ended, and the intensity of the day diminished. Because those people spare a quality of their time only after that time for works what have to be focused on.
And of course, as a result, they often work overtime, go their home very late, do not spare of a good quality time for themselves , their families and children etc; exhaust due to the mental overfatigue, and so to say, the situation of falling asleep just while sitting on the couch, and the next day, ‘’oh, let’s start a new day again!’’
I ‘m sure that most of banking employee spend their days as such, and again I’m sure that many of white-collar workers are going to think that these lines depict themselves exactly.
As a consequence, years that went by briskly and that we run after but were not able to catch, an early aging and attrition period , early suffered fatal conditions,etc. In summary , a very huge dissatisfaction and unhappiness.
After all those years worked in a heady tempo ,you suddenly realize that there are nothing saved for yourselves and also realize that during all these years you have worked in order not to guarantee of the future of family but to afford the necessities and requirements of the time-being instead.
Well,at that point, should not be asked that this way of life is a destiny of white-collar workers/banking employee ? Should this way of banking be the exact way or is an another way possible? Would we do something in order to change this so called destiny or what would be do?
Let me explicate this theme in my next article, ”Banking,But How?- Episode 2”
Regards,