Introduction
It is known that a bank merger is a complicated long-term process that requires not only financial but also human resources. The Eastern Bank Corporation and the First Bank & Trust Company have different human resources (HR) policies. For the successful bank merger, a general HR management strategy should be developed. It is considered that an efficient human resource strategy for the bank merger includes decisions on staff reduction, recruitment, and personnel motivation enhance.
Staff Reduction as an Essential Measure
A question of stuff reduction inevitably appears in all the bank mergers (Cartwright & Cooper, 2014). A crucial question for the human resources strategy is a choice of personnel members who should be fired. The Eastern Bank Corporation follows a more flexible policy on the issue of human resources. Except for professional skills, the corporation usually considers employee’s personal issues such as special medical, family, social, or economic conditions. By contrast, the First Bank & Trust Company provides the human resources policy more objectively with regards to standard rules and regulations. The staff reduction is an inevitable procedure during the merger. However, all the required measures to minimize the adverse effect of this reduction should be provided (Cartwright & Cooper, 2014). Personnel members should be objectively evaluated according to their professional qualities and abilities to match new work conditions. A human resource department should provide time and opportunities to find new job positions as well as the recommendations for people who are planned to be fired.
Personnel Recruitment
A bank merger is a procedure that requires well-educated and qualified personnel resources to perform it. Human resource management should estimate people’s knowledge, professional skills, and loyalty and recruit people who would be responsible for the whole procedure (Brueller, Carmeli, & Markman, 2016). The Eastern Bank Corporation has passed through numerous successful small bank mergers during its existence. It could be considered that this corporation’s staff members are familiar with the procedure of a merger. Thus, the frame of the responsible person should be recruited from the Eastern Bank Corporation staff members. However, representatives from the First Bank & Trust Company should be selected due to their understandings of the company’s specificity.
Personnel Motivation Enhance
The success of the current bank merger depends on future personnel work. It could be claimed that human resources are not less important for bank development as financial sources and clients (Cartwright & Cooper, 2014). Therefore, it is essential to enhance the personnel’s motivation especially in new work conditions, created by the merger. The human resources department should develop the strategy of the personnel members’ motivation to increase. This strategy could include programs for personal development, competitive salary and financial perspectives, career advancement opportunities, clear personnel policy, and convenient work conditions (Brueller et al., 2016). According to Ramsey’s statement, the Eastern Bank Corporation’s personnel started to feel anxious due to the possible consequences of the merger. Thus, it is important to provide guarantees for a personnel protecting policy that would be provided after the merger. Besides, it is essential to introduce cross-bank staff members’ movement opportunities to provide better conditions of work.
Conclusion
A bank merger procedure is based on financial and strategic reasons for both organization’s development. The issue of a human resources policy is usually underestimated during a merger planning (Cartwright & Cooper, 2014). However, personnel sources play an important role in the merger accomplishment and further company development. The human resources department of two banks should focus on the range of questions: the excess staff reduction, recruitment procedure, and further personnel’s motivation increase.
References
Brueller, N. N., Carmeli, A., & Markman, G. D. (2016). Linking merger and acquisition strategies to postmerger integration: A configurational perspective of human resource management. Journal of Management, 20 (10), 1–26.
Cartwright, S., & Cooper, C. L. (2014). Mergers and acquisitions: The human factor. Oxford, UK: Butterworth-Heinemann.