Recruiting in China

MUCH has been said recently about domestic retail banks doing all they could to pacify unhappy customers who suffer long hours of waiting in line.

Major domestic banks are now three months into their campaign to improve their customer service. I decided to make some observations to see if what we read and hear are what we get.

My first stop was at a China Construction Bank branch in Shanghai. Certainly fewer customers were in queue but only two counters were open during lunch hours. Behind the two cashiers were empty chairs.

Why do the bank's staff have to go for lunch together? Must lunch hours for retailers be the same time as for the customers, who obviously have less than an hour to return to their workplace?

As I planned to withdraw 3,000 yuan (US$394), I happily queued at the ATM behind a guy whom I later believed came from another city.

I walked off after waiting more than 15 minutes and made a suggestion to the floor manager. You see, this chap seemed to have an unlimited number of ATM cards and the beauty of it was that he probably did not realize he could withdraw a maximum of 2,500 yuan at one go. He kept punching in 500 yuan per withdrawal.

I then made my pilgrimage to Sichuan Road. Amazingly, the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China there was closed for lunch.

Finally, China Merchants Bank's main hall was less crowded and the service speedier.

It seems that Shanghai has a dire shortage of cashiers - tellers. I can think of only one solution.

Yup, up their starting wages and reward the good and faithful ones.