Although working hours commence from 9am and are supposed to end at 5pm, we have to work for almost 12 hours every day
PESHAWAR: Getting a job in today’s Pakistan is probably one of the toughest jobs for a fresh graduate. I consider myself among the luckiest, who got a job in such a tough job market. Having spent more than a month of my job in one of the most prestigious banking organisations of Pakistan, I found myself to be not more than an educated slave. What took me by surprise was the bizarre working schedule of banks. Although the working hours commence from 9am and are supposed to end at 5pm, we have to work for almost 12 hours every day. It is mandatory for every employee to be present at 8am and we rarely leave before 8pm, and this practice is common in almost every private bank. Like every other employee of the bank, I rarely get any time to spend with my family. I was welcomed in the bank by one of my colleagues with the remark, “Welcome to the bank and say adios to your social life.”
When I questioned these draconian rules, my colleagues, who have been working in the banking sector for years, replied that “nothing can be done about it as protests might either end up getting you fired or you might lose an annual increment or two”. Like my colleagues, I am also scared of losing my job if I raise a voice against such atrocity. I request the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) and other authorities concerned to take appropriate actions in this regard. The SBP penalises banks stringently if their ATMs are broken but nothing is being done about the broken employment rules. I have nothing against working till late or working overtime, but then we should be compensated for that. We do not get an extra dime for the overtime we put in. The only difference I see between myself and the slaves of Pharaoh is that they didn’t have an MBA degree.
Mian Fahim,
Published in The Express Tribune, January 14th, 2014.
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