Don't hire temporary employees

State-owned banks and financial institutions have been instructed not to recruit any more employees on a temporary basis.

The finance ministry issued a circular recently asking 16 banks and financial institutions to follow the instruction.

The banks are Krishi, Rajshahi Krishi Unnayan, Probashi Kallyan, Sonali, Janata, Agrani, Rupali, BASIC, Bangladesh Development, Ansar VDP Unnayan, Karmasangsthan and Palli Sanchay.

The financial institutions are Jiban Bima Corporation, Sadharan Bima Corporation, Investment Corporation of Bangladesh and Bangladesh House Building Finance.

The management of the state-run banks and financial institutions continued to recruit employees on a temporary basis beyond their manpower organogram which goes against administrative discipline, the circular said.

The temporary employees are deprived of government facilities despite providing services at the entities for a long period. Moreover, there is no scope in government rules for making their jobs permanent.

In this perspective, the ministry took the decision not to employ any more employees on a temporary basis.

The decision came after Agrani Bank requested the finance minister to make permanent the jobs of its 1,208 temporary field officers.

The proposal was turned down on the ground that there was no scope for creating new posts or amending the organogram.

The board of Agrani Bank recruited the 1,208 temporary field officers in 2010 to help its branch-level staff open 10-Taka accounts across the country. Their contracts were extended several times. 

In its instruction to Agrani Bank, the ministry said the job tenures would not be further extended.

From 2010 to 2013, Agrani recruited 4,856 employees to meet manpower shortages. So, there is no more need to extend the tenures, according to the ministry's letter sent to the bank. 

The bank proposed to make the jobs permanent considering the fact that the officers had been serving the bank for a long time, said Mohammad Shams-Ul Islam, managing director of Agrani Bank.

The finance minister was earlier positive about regularising the temporary employees. But since the finance ministry has now instructed not to extend their job tenures, the bank will comply with it, he added.