"The market trend is to reduce the growth rate of bank salaries. If the average growth rate was 16-20 percent last year, it will no longer exceed 7-8 percent in the best-case scenario," Otel said.
Since the beginning of 2009, GarantiBank employed some 25 people. The lender's Retail Banking and Bancassurance Manager, Okan Yurtsever, recently said that GarantiBank plans to open a further four or five offices this year.
"We increased the number of employees through personnel leasing, especially on the credit card application processing segment and direct sales. Most of them are students who work during weekends or in the afternoon," Otel said.
Although recruiting personnel is easier compared to the previous years, when massive recruiting in the banking system led to a shortage of employees, the stability of specialists within companies is still an issue. At high seniority levels, recruitment is as difficult as it used to be, according to Otel.
The bank decided to implement a quarterly bonus system, to make up for the salary freeze and to stimulate performance. The system is operational within branches and a similar one is to be introduced in the headquarters by mid-2009.
