NORTH SOUTH UNIVERSITY

MGT – 351
Human Resource Management
Sec: 9

Report on the HRM planning and strategies of Eastern Bank Ltd.

Submitted To:
Tasfia Mazid
Lecturer
Department of Management
School of Business & Economics (SBE)

Submitted By:
1. Imrul Farhan Pritom ID: 1620326030
2. Salman Khan ID: 1620371030
3. Md. Zihan Mahmud ID: 1620133030
4. Shahir Ibn Akram ID: 1731773630
5. Sohana Akther Soha ID: 1731763630

Submission Date: 15th of April, 2019

 HR Planning & Strategies

Executive Summary

Eastern Bank Limited is one of the modern, online and technological private commercial Banks
in Bangladesh & provides a wide range of depository, loan, card products as well as other
different banking services. For our report we have selected EBL and visited their head office
located in Gulshan to conduct an interview with their HR manager and current employees. We
asked the manager about the plans and strategies they utilize in recruiting, selection, training &
development process & what benefits are offered. Some differences were seen between
theoretical & practical activity since the bank has some of its own tactics for HRM. In our report
we have discussed about the different planning & strategies involved in the HRM process of
EBL, their implications as well as have given our own recommendations in the aspects where
they might be falling short of and finally concluding whether the methods are effective or not.

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Table of Contents
Executive Summary .................................................................................................2
Introduction ..............................................................................................................4
Methodology of the study ........................................................................................5
Background Information.........................................................................................6
Culture and Interpersonal Relationship ................................................................7
Current HR system ..................................................................................................8
Implications of SHRM ...........................................................................................12
Recommendations ..................................................................................................13
Conclusion...............................................................................................................14
Appendix: ................................................................................................................15
References ...............................................................................................................16

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 HR Planning & Strategies

Introduction
Human Resource management is a function of management which involves planning,
organizing, leading and controlling the functions developing, maintaining and motivating
employees. There are four functions of human resource management. HR is the vital factor of
sustaining an organization whether production or service oriented.
To choose the right person for the right position is not so easy task. Running a bank is not only
providing loan and making deposit. Rather a very critical chain of command is maintained over
here to provide loan and make deposit efficiently specially to attract, serve and retain customer,
increasing their utmost satisfaction and so forth.
Eastern Bank Ltd. is one of the leading banking institutions in private banking industry providing
mainly corporate banking services to flourish its business as well as to be a profitable one.
Employees of EBL are satisfied about the recruitment and selection process of the Bank. But my
personal observation is the process is lengthy and candidates have to pass a lot of steps to get a
job that is why sometimes the process seems to be time consuming. EBL follow traditional
recruitment and selection process to hire employees so that some employees think that if EBL
follow modern n online systems to hire employees then they can hire more capable employees
within less time. EBL has different divisions like HR, Corporate Banking, Retail Banking,
Service Delivery, Credit Risk Management, Consumer Finance Center, Card Division, Treasury,
NRB, etc.

Eastern Bank Ltd. (EBL)

EBL always try to go through a rigorous recruiting and selection process, training &
development, Benefit Plan. They are keen to find out the exact person for the exact position for
its near about 34 branches throughout the country. Human Resources Department of Eastern
Bank Ltd. is divided into three major areas, they are recruitment and selection, training and
development and compensation and benefits. These divisions are responsible for the recruitment
of eligible employees, arrangement of different training for the employees both in home and
abroad, providing compensation benefits including salary, festival bonuses, leave allowance,
loan for internal employees, etc.

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Methodology of the study

Exploratory research is an approach which gives a better meaning of the issue of research and
explore the knowledge which is unknown without giving any finalized answer. Through this
research the evidence can be gathered of a problem which requires further analysis. Moreover,
qualitative research is the approach of research which provides answers of views and opinions.
The research helps to get in depth information about topic. Through this research the qualitative
information gathered through interview and survey. It has been conducted to get more in-depth
information of Recruitment, selection process, Training & Development, Benefit Plan

Sources of data
The study is based on primary and secondary sources of data. Data have been collected from
office records, discussions with employees and from different paper circulars and annual report
of Eastern Bank Ltd. For the report preparation, concepts and techniques are gathered from bank
manuals and relevant books.

Primary data
We gathered primary data by conducting an interview with the HR manager and asking questions
to some employees regarding different aspects of their Human resource management.

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Secondary data
Annual reports of Eastern Bank, online articles /website of Eastern bank ltd

Background Information
Eastern Bank Limited (EBL) is one of the Popular Bank in Bangladesh. It is also one of the
modern Commercial Bank in Bangladesh. They provide all type of loans like Car loan, Personal
loan, business loan, Education loan and etc. They provide online banking service and card
products which include Debit card, Pre-Paid card, Corporate Bamking and SME Banking
services by a network of many branches all over Bangladesh and centers Countrywide. Eastern
Bank has many branches all over Bangladesh Including Dhaka, Chattagram, Rajshahi, Khulna,
Sylhet. They were formed as a public limited company in Bangladesh with the primary objective
to carry on all kinds of banking business in and outside Bangladesh. EBL was formed on August
08, 1992 & commenced its business with four branches from 16 August 1992.
Eastern bank Limited (EBL) is playing a big role in the Banking Sector of Bangladesh and also
in the Private sector. They started their Company with one head office and two branches which
was in Dhaka and Chattagram. They are also listed in Dhaka and Chattagram stock Exchange
Limited. Eastern Bank Limited Provides 68772 Debit card which is first of its kind in
Bangladesh. They also provide 1228 cool cards and 5845 lifestyle cards.

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 HR Planning & Strategies

Culture and Interpersonal Relationship

Transactional Leadership
Focused on group organization and establishing a clear chain of command. Involves
implementing a carrot-and-stick approach to management activities rewarding good
performance.

Open door environment

There are no relationship gaps between the entry level employees and top-level management
because everyone has the opportunity to express their opinion to the top-level management. This
has created a friendly environment to perform jobs in EBL.

Market Culture
Results-based culture that emphasizes finishing work and getting things done. People are
competitive and focused on goals and are rewarded accordingly on their performance motivating
them to perform better.

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Current HR system

Recruitment
Recruitment is the process of finding and hiring the best qualified candidate for a job. Eastern
bank recruit employee for two different positions. Sometimes they recruit employee for
contractual positions and sometimes they recruit employee for permanent positions. The
contractual positions are sales, training officer and collection executive. The permanent positions
are assistant officer and senior officer.

Eastern bank uses both external and internal sources for recruitments.

Internal sources for recruitments:

• Transfer: Sometimes the bank transfers their current employees from one department to
another deportment to fill a vacant position where they need recruitment.

• Promotion: When the bank needs recruitments for a particular position sometimes they
promote lower level employee to fill that position.

• Employee referrals: HR Manager ask the current employees of the bank to refer
someone suitable for a job position form their social networks.

External sources for recruitments:

• Website advertising: First Eastern bank post their recruitment ads on their website.
Which is www.ebl.com.bd.

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 HR Planning & Strategies

• Newspaper advertising: Eastern bank post their ads for recruitment on some popular
newspaper such as The Daily Star, Prothom Alo.

• Online job portal: Eastern bank also post their ads on famous online job portal such as
Bdjobs.com, Chakri.com.

Eastern bank doesn’t use any outside agency for their recruitments, they tell their candidates
to apply online and from online they collect candidate’s CV and shortlist them.

Selection process
Resume Screening: After collecting all the CV’s, employees of the HR department shortlists
those CV’s, based on the job requirements and job descriptions. They check whether the
candidates fulfil certain requirement which is required for the job such as CGPA, past job
experiences.

Written Test: after completing the CV screening, selected employees are asked to sit for a
written test exam. The purpose of this written test is to evaluate basic job knowledge,
intelligence, and analytical skill of the candidates. Most of the questions are multiple choice and
also there is a written part, where candidates need to write an essay about a given topic.
Candidates needs to achieve higher than average marks in the written test in order to qualify for
the interview.

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Interview: The candidates who passed the written test will get a call for the oral interview. The
interview board consist at least 3 member and they are one HR manager, one-line manager and
the other one is from the department that wants to recruit candidate. There is no structured
interview for entry level job position they ask general questions, questions about employee’s
academic background and also question about current national issue. For top level job position
they ask question related to strategic plaining, leadership, success.

Verification: After completion the oral interview the selected candidates are told to provide their
educational certificates, their mark sheet and also release order form the previous organization
where they worked, after collecting those documents the bank verify them. They contract with
the educational institute of the candidates to verify their mark sheet and certificate, sometimes
they also call candidate’s previous organization to verify. The bank also contacts the local police
station of the candidates to find out if they have any criminal record.

Physical test: After verification all selected candidates undergo physical test. In this test they
check if the candidates have any life threating diseases such as cancer, Hepatitis B virus.

Final Selection: If any candidate passes all of these above steps then he or she will get selected
for the job. They will be asked to collect their appointment letter from the bank.

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Training and development

The process of enhancing the efficiency and effectiveness of an organization and the employees
either working individually or as a team within the organization is known as training and
development. It is usually done to boost or enhance the knowledge, ability and skills of an
employee and to make him/her an expert in his/her designated position. Training & development
is often provided to both new and old employees. There are several ways for training and
developing employees and different organizations choose different methods to train and develop
their employees. Choosing the right method depends on the type and culture of the organization.
Eastern Bank Limited (EBL) uses two kinds training & development method. They are:

• On the job training – This method involves employees getting trained or learning to do
his/her task designated with the employees’ particular position by actually doing the job.
Eastern bank limited provides such sort of training method for their newly recruited
employees. This allows the employees to have hands on experience. This method does
not only benefit the employees but also helps Eastern bank limited as employees learn by
actually doing the job.
• In house banking foundation training – This method involves teaching and providing
employees the knowledge about the bank’s rules, regulations, etc. As Eastern Bank
Limited is a bank, unlike any other business sector such as FMCG, RMG, etc, Eastern
bank limited uses in house banking foundation training to provide knowledge about the
procedures, rules & regulations involved to bank accounts, anti-theft & hacking policy
and also about the laws involved with the banking sector.

Benefit Offered

Benefit is defined as the extra amount that is paid in addition to the basic pay to an employee.
Benefits can be both financial and non-financial benefits. The type and amount of benefit also
varies with the type of the organization. According to Eastern Banking Limited, they do not
focus mostly on benefits. The amount of benefits usually depends and varies with the

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performance and thus Eastern Bank Limited uses performance appraisal to figure the amount of
benefits to be provided to the employees. Performance Appraisal is basically the systematic
process of identifying the job performance of an employee. Eastern Banking Limited has given
set of standards for performance according to which the benefits are provided to employees.
They also provide customized benefits for the employees according to the performance of the
employees. Eastern Bank Ltd. usually do performance appraisal session two times in a year.

Implications of SHRM
Strategic HRM is the interface strategic management and HRM and views HRM as a strategic,
integrated, logical and consistent approach and develops plans which coincide with the concepts
of strategic management.
EBL’s policies and methods in creating a open door environment has helped create a friendly
environment where employees can voice their opinions to top managements or any doubts they
might have.
Rewarding based on performance and using performance appraisals a competitive culture has
been created within the organization which will help improve the performance of each other as
competition in industry help create better products the same can be true for humans as well.
Holding performance appraisals sessions often (twice a year) like EBL motivates the employees
to strive to improve and give more effort.
Training and development prepare the employees for different situations and develop new and
existing skills of the employees.

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Recommendations

• Provide more information about the external recruitment and selection process online
• Arrange a reward giving program for outstanding performance
• Use Structured interview questions to evaluate candidates equally
• Provide Online written exams or online Interview via various web-based mediums so that
employees who live far away can also apply
• Provide more non-monetary motivational incentives such as:
i) Job enrichment: Increasing employee responsibilities as a result giving them
important designation, increasing the content and nature of work.
ii) Praise & recognition: Satisfies the ego needs of the employees and sometimes
praise becomes more effective than any other incentive. Employees tend to
respond more to praise and try to give the best of their abilities to a concern.
iii) Job security: If employee’s job is secured, they will give maximum efforts to
achieve the objectives of the enterprise.
iv) Switch up the work day: Replacing the usual structured work day with an agenda
of tasks to be accomplished during a set window and leaving it to the employees
to figure out how best to accomplish them.
• Recreational activities to increase bonding between colleagues and their superiors and
hence improving team work. This also helps the employees to relax and relieve some
stress
• Flexible working hours and company policy should be initiated to prevent turnover
• Monthly Drug-tests to ensure employees are functioning properly, better safety, good
public relations etc.

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Conclusion
Eastern Bank Ltd. is among the leading commercial banks providing various banking facilities to
its customers. They provide fully centralized and retail banking services across their 34 branches
in Bangladesh. Their effective recruiting, selection, training & development are indicated in the
satisfactory financial performance of the bank for the last year. Every organization has some
lacking and limitation but EBL is doing well day by day & the limitations are really not the
threat for the organization as they are improving in those aspects. Even though EBL is not a high
payee organization compared to other market leaders, the excellent and open-door work
environment and totally performance driven career advancement opportunity have made many of
the people to be a wining member of EBL.

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Appendix:

Name ID Contribution
Imrul Farhan Pritom 1620326030 Executive summary, Implications of SHRM,
Recommendations, Conclusion
Salman Khan 1620371030 Recruitment and Selection
Md. Zihan Mahmud 1620133030 Background and Interpersonal relationships
Shahir Ibn Akram 1731773630 Training, Development and Benefits
Sohana Akther Soha 1731763630 Introduction and Methodology

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References
1. Dessler, G. (2017-2018). Human Resource Management. Boston. Pearson.
2. Shrm.org. (2018). [online] Available at https://www.shrm.org/hr-today/trends-and-
forecasting/special-reports-and-expert-views/Documents/Selection-Assessment-
Methods.pdf
3. Annual report of EBL 2017 available at https://www.ebl.com.bd/home/Annual_Reports
4. Bangladesh Institute of Bank Management. (2018). Bangladesh Institute of Bank
Management.[online]
Available at https://www.bibm.org.bd/single_member.php?bank_id=50 [Accessed 18
Apr. 2018]
5. https://www.ebl.com.bd/home/about
6. Monetary and Non-Monetary Factors of Motivation. Available at
http://www.yourarticlelibrary.com/motivation/monetary-and-non-monetary-factors-of-
motivation/32391
7. https://www.wikipedia.org/
8. https://study.com/academy/lesson/strategic-human-resource-management-definition-
importance.html

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