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Section 1
1.0 Introduction:

T he issue of ‘Work-Life Balance’ within banking services has drawn considerable

attention over the past few years. The movement towards the better service has increased
the development of the banking industry. Employees of the banks are providing lots of
services in order to remain competitive in a rapidly changing market. On the other hand banks
are rewarding those employees by providing lots of benefits. Nevertheless banks maintain some
policies to support employees in balancing their work and life responsibilities. The objective of
the report is to examine work-life balance services provided by the banks for their employees.

While there have been efforts to study work-life balance services, there is no general
measurement on the measurement of the concept. So that the survey questionnaire is divided into
six types of policies those are taken by the banks. These are Leave Arrangements, Parenting and
Pregnancy Policies, Flexible Work Arrangements, Additional Work Provisions, Formality of
Policies and Experiences of the Employees.

One of the aims of this study involves the use of ‘Work-Life Balance Survey’ in order to
ascertain how banks ‘work life balance’ policies support its employees in balancing their work
and life responsibilities. Another aim of this term paper is to point out how important are these
services for the employees and how these policies could be improved. In the following I have
mentioned about the work-life balance policies, findings of the work-life balance survey and the
views of the employees about those policies.

1.1 Objective:
The objectives of the report is-

• To measure the work-life balance policies of several banks.

• To understand the views of the employees about those policies.

• Finding the ways of improvement of those policies.

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• Analysis of those findings.

1.2 Methodology:
To measure the work-life balance policies I have used here Work-Life Balance Survey-
Employees. The measurement of the policies using this method contains questions about some
work-life balance policies from six specific aspects. For four of the aspects I have graded twice:
first, whether the bank has the policy or not, then how important the policy is from the
employee’s view. Then I have counted the percentage that whether the bank possess the service
or not. I have also measured the score according to the bank’s employee’s view.

1.3 Rationale of the Study:

The rationale of this study is that, we don’t know all the work-life balance policies provided by
different banks. As a result we can not assess how the employees are balancing their work and
life responsibilities. So that I have made the analysis of the ‘Work-Life Balance Survey-
Employees’ to assess the work-life balance policies of different banks.

1.4 Scope and Limitation:

The scope of the report is that we can know about a bank’s work-life balance policies. As a result
we can assess how the employees are balancing their work and life responsibilities.
The limitation is that some employees do not want some policies for them. The survey is based
on the employee’s perception. So it may vary.
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Section 2
2.0 Work-Life Balance Survey-Employees and Its Importance

Better work-life balance survey:

The Better Work-Life Balance Survey is a free questionnaire to help employers in evaluating and
improving their work-life balance policies. The survey aims to measure how effectively
organizations accommodate work-life balance, by assessing employee’s awareness of work-life
balance policies and their comfort levels in using these policies.

Why work-life balance?

Effective work-life balance policies are valuable to businesses and organisations for a number of
reasons, including:

• reduced staff turnover rates

• becoming a good employer or an employer of choice
• increased return on investment in training as employees stay longer
• reduced absenteeism and sick leave
• improved morale or satisfaction
• greater staff loyalty and commitment
• improved productivity

How the survey will help business/organization

The Better Work-Life Balance survey can help an organization improve and promote work-life balance in
the workplace by:

• identifying areas of policy development and implementation where change may be

required (e.g. improve awareness; change workplace culture);
• monitoring the effectiveness of organizational changes by readministering the survey
after changes have been made;
• responding to the changing needs of your employees and ensuring employees are aware
of existing and changed policies by readministering the survey periodically.

.
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Section 3
3.0 Company Information:
In this study I have made the survey on five banks. These are the EXIM Bank, AB Bank, Brac
Bank, Islami Bank Bangladesh Ltd and Dutch-Bangla Bank Ltd. In the following I have
mentioned the brief of these banks.

3.1 AB Bank
AB Bank Limited, the first private sector bank was incorporated in Bangladesh on 31st
December 1981 as Arab Bangladesh Bank Limited and started its operation with effect from
April 12, 1982. AB Bank is known as one of leading bank of the country since its
commencement 28 years ago. It continues to remain updated with the latest products and
services, considering consumer and client perspectives. AB Bank has thus been able to keep their
consumer’s and client’s trust while upholding their reliability, across time. During the last 28
years, AB Bank Limited has opened 77 Branches in different Business Centers of the country,
one foreign Branch in Mumbai, India and also established a wholly owned Subsidiary Finance
Company in Hong Kong in the name of AB International Finance Limited. To facilitate cross
border trade and payment related services, the Bank has correspondent relationship with over
220 international banks of repute across 58 countries of the World. In spite of adverse market
conditions, AB Bank Limited which turned 28 this year, concluded the 2008 financial year with
good results. The Bank’s consolidated profit after taxes amounted to Taka 230 cr which is 21%
higher than that of 2007. The asset base of AB grew by 32% from 2007 to stand at over Tk 8,400
cr as at the end of 2008. The Bank showed strong growth in loans and deposits. Deposit of the
Bank rose by Tk. 1518 cr ie., 28.45% while the diversified Loan Portfolio grew by over 30%
during the year and recorded a Tk 1579 cr increase. Foreign Trade Business handled was Tk
9,898 cr indicating a growth of over 40% in 2008. The Bank maintained its sound credit rating in
2008 to that of the previous year. The Credit Rating Agency of Bangladesh Limited (CRAB)
awarded the Bank an A1 rating in the long term and ST-2 rating in the short Term. AB Bank
believes in modernization. The bank took a conscious decision to rejuvenate its past identity – an
identity that the bank carried as Arab Bangladesh Bank Limited for twenty five long years. As a
result of this decision, the bank chose to rename itself as AB Bank Limited and the Bangladesh
Bank put its affirmative stamp on November 14, 2007.
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3.2 Brac Bank

BRAC Bank is a Bangladesh-based financial institution that offers a range of financial and
banking services. The company offers corporate banking, retail banking, personal banking, and
small and medium enterprise (SME) banking services. It also offers phone banking, locker
services, short message service (SMS) banking and internet banking services. The company
primarily operates in Bangladesh, where it is headquartered in Dhaka. BRAC Bank Limited, with
institutional shareholdings by BRAC, International Finance Corporation (IFC) and Shorecap
International, has been the fastest growing Bank in 2004 and 2005. BRAC Bank has been rated
as one of the four most successful and sustainable SME Banks in the world. It also has been
recognized for “ICMAB Best Corporate Award 2007’. It had been rated as “A” in Long Term
and ST-2 in short term. A fully operational Commercial Bank, BRAC Bank focuses on pursuing
unexplored market niches in the Small and Medium Enterprise Business, which hitherto has
remained largely untapped within the country. In the last five years of operation, the Bank has
disbursed over BDT 1500 crores in loans to nearly 50,000 small and medium entrepreneurs. The
management of the Bank believes that this sector of the economy can contribute the most to the
rapid generation of employment in Bangladesh. Since inception in December 2007, the Bank's
footprint has grown to 36 branches, 392 SME unit offices and 67 ATM sites across the country.

BRAC went public following an initial public offer (IPO) and got listed on Dhaka Stock
Exchange (DSE) in 2006. The Company, after approval from SEC, issued 50mn shares at Tk.
170 per share including Tk.70 premium. By the end of 2007, a major portion of the Company’s
shares were held by the institutions and general public, which accounted for 47.11%.

3.3 Dutch-Bangla Bank Ltd

Dutch-Bangla Bank started operation is Bangladesh's first joint venture bank. The bank was an
effort by local shareholders spearheaded by M Sahabuddin Ahmed (founder chairman) and the
Dutch company FMO. From the onset, the focus of the bank has been financing high-growth
manufacturing industries in Bangladesh. The rationale being that the manufacturing sector
exports Bangladeshi products worldwide. Thereby financing and concentrating on this sector
allows Bangladesh to achieve the desired growth. DBBL's other focus is Corporate Social
Responsiblity (CSR). Even though CSR is now a cliche, DBBL is the pioneer in this sector and
termed the contribution simply as 'social responsiblity'. Due to its investment in this sector,
DBBL has become one of the largest donors and the largest bank donor in Bangladesh. The bank
has won numerous international awards because of its unique approach as a socially conscious
bank.

DBBL was the first bank in Bangladesh to be fully automated. The Electronic-Banking Division
was established in 2002 to undertake rapid automation and bring modern banking services into
this field. Full automation was completed in 2003 and hereby introduced plastic money to the
Bangladeshi masses. DBBL also operates the nation's largest ATM fleet and in the process
drastically cut consumer costs and fees by 80%. Moreover, DBBL choosing the low profitability
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route for this sector has surprised many critics. DBBL had pursued the mass automation in
Banking as a CSR activity and never intended profitability from this sector. As a result it now
provides unrivaled banking technology offerings to all its customers. Because of this mindset,
most local banks have joined DBBL's banking infrastructure instead of pursuing their own.

Even with a history of hefty technological investments and even larger donations, consumer and
investor confidence has never waned. Dutch-Bangla Bank stock set the record for the highest
share price in the Dhaka Stock Exchange in 2008.

3.4 EXIM Bank

EXIM Bank Limited was established in 1999 under the leadership of Late Mr. Shahjahan Kabir,
founder chairman who had a long dream of floating a commercial bank which would contribute
to the socio-economic development of our country. He had a long experience as a good banker.
A group of highly qualified and successful entrepreneurs joined their hands with the founder
chairman to materialize his dream. In deed, all of them proved themselves in their respective
business as most successful star with their endeavor, intelligence, hard working and talent
entrepreneurship. Among them, Mr. Nazrul Islam Mazumder became the honorable chairman
after the demise of the honorable founder chairman.

This bank starts functioning from 3rd August, 1999 with Mr. Alamgir Kabir, FCA as the advisor
and Mr. Mohammad Lakiotullah as the Managing Director. Both of them have long experience
in the financial sector of our country. By their pragmatic decision and management directives in
the operational activities, this bank has earned a secured and distinctive position in the banking
industry in terms of performance, growth, and excellent management. The authorized capital and
paid up capital of the bank are Tk. 3500.00 million and Tk 2677.80 million respectively. The
bank has migrated all of its conventional banking operation into Shariah based Islami banking
since July/2004.

3.5 Islami Bank Bangladesh Ltd

Bangladesh is one of the largest Muslim countries in the world. The people of this country are
deeply committed to Islamic way of life as enshrined in the Holy Qur'an and the \ Sunnah.
Naturally, it remains a deep cry in their hearts to fashion and design their economic lives in
accordance with the precepts of Islam. The establishment of Islami Bank Bangladesh Limited on
March 13, 1983, is the true reflection of this inner urge of its people, which started functioning
with effect from March 30, 1983. This Bank is the first of its kind in Southeast Asia. It is
committed to conduct all banking and investment activities on the basis of interest-free profit-
loss sharing system. In doing so, it has unveiled a new horizon and ushered in a new silver lining
of hope towards materializing a long cherished dream of the people of Bangladesh for doing
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their banking transactions in line with what is prescribed by Islam. With the active co-operation
and participation of Islamic Development Bank (IDB) and some other Islamic banks, financial
institutions, government bodies and eminent personalities of the Middle East and the Gulf
countries, Islami Bank Bangladesh Limited has by now earned the unique position of a leading
private commercial bank in Bangladesh.

IBBL at a glance:

Date of Incorporation 13th March 1983

Inauguration of 1st Branch
30th March 1983
(Local office, Dhaka)
Formal Inauguration 12th August 1983
Share of Capital
Local Shareholders 41.77%
Foreign Shareholders 58.23%
Authorized Capital Tk. 10,000.00 million
Paid-up Capital Tk. 7,413.00 million
Deposits Tk. 265,193.00
million
Investment Tk. 255,178.00
(including Investment in Shares) million
Foreign Exchange Business Tk. 277,739.00
million
 Page |8

Section 4
4.0 Data Analysis:
In this study I have measured whether a bank follows the work-life balance policies or not. Then
I have counted the percentage of it. The importance of the policies according to the employees
view is also mentioned here. Work-life balance survey-employees contain six types of policies
such as Leave Arrangement, Parenting and Pregnancy Policies, Flexible Work Arrangements,
Additional Work Provisions, Formality of Policies and Experiences of the Employees. These
policies have been analyzed below from the perspectives of five banks.

4.1 Leave Arrangements:

Leave arrangements are different types of leaves that the bank has for its employees. Bank
provides these services to its employees for balancing their work and life responsibilities. I have
made survey on five banks. Based on the leave arrangements dimension the findings of these
banks are:

Name of Banks Leave Arrangements

Does the bank has this policy? (In Importance Description
terms of %) Score (In of the
Yes No Don’t scale of 40) Score
Know
AB Bank 37.5% 62.5% 0 24 Average
Brac Bank 62.5% 37.5% 0 35 Very
Important
Dutch-Bangla Bank Ltd 62.5% 25% 12.5% 35 Very
Important
EXIM Bank 50% 50% 0 35 Very
Important
Islami Bank Bangladesh 50% 50% 0 28 Important
Ltd

Importance Range:

Range of the Score Description

0 - 8 Very Unimportant
9 - 16 Unimportant
17- 24 Average
25- 32 Important
33- 40 Very Important
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Explanation Using Chart:

Maintenance of the policy by the Banks:

Importance Score (In scale of 40):

 P a g e | 10

4.2 Parenting and Pregnancy policies:

This is another type of work-life balance policy. It indicates whether the bank provides paternity,
maternity, adoption, pre-natal etc leaves or not. I have made survey on five banks. Based on the
Paternity and Pregnancy Policy dimension the findings of these banks are:

Name of Banks Parenting and Pregnancy Policy

Does the bank has this policy? (In Importance Description
terms of %) Score (In of the
Yes No Don’t scale of 50) Score
Know
AB Bank 50% 50% 0 38 Important
Brac Bank 40% 60% 0 41 Very
Important
Dutch-Bangla Bank Ltd 50% 30% 20% 40 Important

EXIM Bank 20% 70% 10% 36 Important

Islami Bank Bangladesh 50% 50% 0 34 Important
Ltd

Importance Range:

Range of the Score Description

0 - 10 Very Unimportant
11 - 20 Unimportant
21- 30 Average
31- 40 Important
41- 50 Very Important
 P a g e | 11

Explanation Using Chart:

Maintenance of the policy by the Banks:

Importance Score (In scale of 50):

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4.3 Flexible Work Arrangement:

It indicates that whether an employee can share his or her job or not, can work from home or not,
has the opportunity to negotiate part-time work for full-time, option of self-rostering, gradual
retirement. I have made survey on five banks. Based on the flexible work arrangement dimension
the findings of these banks are:

Name of Banks Flexible Work Management

Does the bank has this policy? (In Importance Description
terms of %) Score (In of the
Yes No Don’t scale of 35) Score
Know
AB Bank 0 100% 0 26 Important
Brac Bank 14.29% 71.43% 14.29% 24 Important
Dutch-Bangla Bank Ltd 14.29% 57.14% 28.57% 30 Very
Important
EXIM Bank 0 85.71% 14.29% 19 Average
Islami Bank Bangladesh 14.29% 85.71% 0 22 Important
Ltd

Importance Range:

Range of the Score Description

0 - 7 Very Unimportant
8 - 14 Unimportant
15- 21 Average
22- 28 Important
29- 35 Very Important
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Explanation Using Chart:

Maintenance of the policy by the Banks:

Importance Score (In scale of 35):

 P a g e | 14

4.4 Additional Work Provision:

This work-life balance policy consists of telephone for personal use, counselling services for
employees, referral services for employees, health programs, parenting or family suppport
program, exercise facilities, relocation or placement assistances, equal access to promotion. I
have made survey on five banks. Based on the additional work provision dimension the findings
of these banks are:

Name of Banks Additional Work Provision

Does the bank has this policy? (In Importance Description
terms of %) Score (In of the
Yes No Don’t scale of 40) Score
Know
AB Bank 25% 75% 0 30 Important
Brac Bank 37.5% 50% 12.5% 27 Important
Dutch-Bangla Bank Ltd 37.5% 62.5% 0 33 Very
Important
EXIM Bank 62.5% 25% 12.5% 37 Very
Important
Islami Bank Bangladesh 37.5% 62.5% 0 28 Important
Ltd

Importance Range:

Range of the Score Description

0 - 8 Very Unimportant
9 - 16 Unimportant
17- 24 Average
25- 32 Important
33- 40 Very Important
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Explanation Using Chart:

Maintenance of the policy by the Banks:

Importance Score (In scale of 40):

 P a g e | 16

4.5 Formality of Policies:

I have made survey on five banks. Based on the formality of policies dimension the findings of
these banks are:

Name of Banks Formality of policies

Does the bank has this policy? (In terms of %)
Yes No Don’t Know
AB Bank 100% 0% 0%
Brac Bank 0% 100% 0%
Dutch-Bangla Bank Ltd 100% 0% 0%

EXIM Bank 66.67% 0% 33.33%

Islami Bank Bangladesh 100% 0% 0%
Ltd

Explanation Using Chart:

Agreement Level of Employees:

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4.6 Employee’s Experiences in the Organization;

This section describes employee’s experiences about the work-life balance policies. It also shows
their level of agreement for each statement. I have made survey on five banks. Based on the
experiences of employees about the work-life balance policies the findings of these banks are:

Name of Banks Employee’s Experiences in the Organization

Score (In the Description of the Score
scale of 105)
AB Bank 75 Agree
Brac bank 65 Agree
Dutch-Bangla Bank Ltd 70 Agree
EXIM Bank 72 Agree
Islami Bank Bangladesh Ltd 55 Uncertain

Agreement Level Range:

Range of the Score Description

0 - 21 Strongly Disagree
22 - 42 Disagree
43- 63 Uncertain
64- 84 Agree
85- 105 Strongly Agree

Explanation Using Chart:

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Overall Comparison:

Name of Scal AB Bank Brac Bank DBBL EXIM Bank IBBL

Policies e of
Scor Policy Imp Policy Impo Policy Impo Policy Impo Policy Sco
e Mainte orta Mainte rtanc Mainte rtanc Mainte rtanc Maint re
nance nce nance e nance e nance e enance
Scor Score Score Scor
e e
Leave 37.5% 24 62.5% 35 62.5% 35 50% 35 50% 28
Arrangem
ent 40
Parenting 50 50% 38 40% 41 50% 40 20% 36 50% 34
and
Pregnancy
Policies
Flexible 35 0% 26 14.29% 24 14.29% 30 0% 19 14.29 22
Work %
Arrangem
ent
Additional 40 25% 30 37.5% 27 37.5% 33 62.5% 37 37.5% 28
Work
Provision

Formality 100% _ 0% _ 100% _ 0% _ 100% _

of Policies
Employee’ 105 75 65 70 72 55
s
Experienc _ _ _ _ _
e in the
organizati
on
 P a g e | 19

Explanation Using Chart:

Maintenance of the Policies:

Grading of Banks:
In my study I have found that different banks are following different work-life balance policies.
And all the work-life balance policies are not maintained by all banks. So that I have graded
these banks according to their maintenance of the work-life balance policies.
 P a g e | 20

Policy Maintenance level

Name of Policies AB Bank Brac Bank DBBL EXIM Bank Islami Bank

Leave 37.5% 62.5% 62.5% 50% 50%

Arrangement *** ***** ***** **** ****

Parenting and 50% 40% 50% 20% 50%

Pregnancy ***** **** ***** *** *****
Policies
Flexible Work 0% 14.29% 14.29% 0% 14.29%
Arrangement ***** ***** *****

Additional Work 25% 37.5% 37.5% 62.5% 37.5%

Provision *** **** **** ***** ****

Formality of 100% 0% 100% 0% 100%

Policies ***** ***** *****
Total value 16 18 24 12 23

No. of star Indication Value of grade

***** Grade-1 5

**** Grade-2 4

*** Grade-3 3

** Grade-4 2

* Grade-5 1
 P a g e | 21

Explanation Using Chart:

 P a g e | 22

Section 5
5.0 Conclusion and Recommendation:

Conclusion:
In this paper, after getting the responses from the employees of the banks I have analyzed those
data. I have graded those banks according to their policy maintenance level. I have given value
for each grade based on their maintenance level. The total score of the banks according to their
maintenance level are- Dutch-Bangla Bank-24, Islami Bank Bangladesh Ltd-23, Brac Bank-
18, AB Bank-16, EXIM Bank-12. So it can be realized that the Dutch-Bangla Bank Ltd is in the
superior position, Islami Bank Bangladesh ltd is in the second position, Brac Bank is in the third
position, AB Bank is in the fourth position and EXIM Bank is in the fifth position. So Dutch-
Bangla Bank Ltd is maintaining better work-life balance policies for their employees. So
graphically it has been depicted in the following-
 P a g e | 23

Recommendations:
Though these banks are following work-life balance policies, but they are not following these
policies fully. So these banks should upgrade their lacking to provide the better work-life balance
policies. Though DBBL is in the superior position it should increase its flexible work
arrangement and additional work provision policies. IBBL should increase its flexible work
arrangements, leave arrangements and parenting & pregnancy polices. Brac Bank should
increase its parenting & pregnancy policies, flexible work arrangement, additional work
provision and formality of policies. AB Bank should increase its flexible work arrangements and
additional work provisions. EXIM Bank should increase its parenting & pregnancy policies,
flexible work arrangements and formality of policies.

References:

www.google.com

www.dbbl.com.bd

www.ibbl.com.bd

www.bracbank.com

www.abbank.com.bd

www.eximbankbd.com

Appendix:

Questionnaire of the Better Work-Life Balance Survey.