State Bank of India launches consultancy RFP for employee surveys

The State Bank of India is in the process of engaging a consulting firm to help conduct an employee engagement survey across the bank’s entire operation.

According to a public tender document, the State Bank of India intends to carry out an employee engagement survey to gauge staff sentiment and uncover improvement potential within the bank, and is aiming to tap an external consultancy to oversee the process.

Owned by the Indian government, the State Bank of India is India’s fifth largest employer with nearly 250,000 employees. Its asset base of $650 billion places the bank among the 50 largest banks in the world by total asset size.

The decision to gauge its employee engagement comes years after the State Bank of India implemented a massive employee engagement program aimed at augmenting staff morale. The program, known internally as ‘Nayi Disha’ or the new path, focuses on work-life balance, employee wellbeing and health, and commitment to the banks’ purpose and goals.

“We realised that over a period of time, our employees, especially the ones in branches, had started to work mechanically which could have an impact on customer service and also their morale,” said the bank in a February 2019 statement (when the ‘Nayi Disha’ program kicked off).

Fast forward four years, and a pandemic-period which transformed ways of working and employee expectations, and the nation’s largest lender is keen on understanding how staff sentiment has evolved.

The to be hired consulting firm will be tasked with conducting three surveys annually, spanning all regional divisions of the bank and its 22,000 branches along with its corporate center facilities. The survey will cover all levels of employees, including officers, clerical staff, and sub-staff.

The surveys will be conducted online, with the State Bank of India aiming to achieve a participation rate of at least 70% in order to ensure results represent its full population.

Key areas that will be explored include: human resource policies, work culture, work environment, support systems, supervisory control, leadership quality, and training & development. The survey will also evaluate the efficacy of bank’s manpower planning and transfer procedures, as well as the effectiveness of its grievance redressal mechanism for employees.

The nature of the questionnaire will be determined in conjunction with the bank’s top management, leadership teams, and a number of sample-oriented target groups.

For consulting firms keen on winning the work, the bank has stated that bidders submitting proposals must specify their approach, track record in the field, and precise milestones and deliverables.

The selected firm will be handed the remit for a three-year term, however, as stated in the public tender document, “if all or any of the deliverables as mentioned in the request for proposal are not submitted by the consultancy during the course of the assignment, the State Bank of India shall not be liable to pay the professional fees.”

According to research, conducting periodic employee engagement surveys is essential for organisations to receive feedback from their workforce on challenges faced on the workfloor. Such insights aid the development or modification of existing policies and facilitate the implementation of improvements to enhance the effectiveness, engagement, commitment, and productivity of employees.