As of: February 7, 2024, 10:43 a.m
By: Lars-Eric Nievelstein
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Banks around the world have announced job cuts.
Together with the retirement of the baby boomers, there is a massive gap in skilled workers.
The savings banks sometimes come up with creative solutions for this.
Frankfurt – German savings banks need 100,000 new employees within the next ten years.
The problems with this: Firstly, financial institutions around the world are currently cutting jobs, and demographic change is also taking hold.
Essentially, significantly more Germans are leaving the job market than new people are entering it.
The savings banks are looking for solutions.
Currently employed by the savings banks |
190,000 |
|---|---|
Of these, retirements until 2034 |
45,000 |
New trainees at the savings banks (2023) |
5,000 |
A quarter of all employees are leaving the savings banks
A look at the numbers shows how serious the retirement of the so-called baby boomer generation is.
At the savings banks, around 45,000 employees will be retiring by 2034.
For comparison: around 190,000 people are currently employed by the savings banks.
A quarter of the workforce would therefore be eliminated.
All banks together have around 510,000 employees, reported the Federal Employment Agency.
Shortage of skilled workers at savings banks – 100,000 skilled workers wanted © IMAGO/onemorepicture / Thorsten Wagner
In principle, those born between 1946 and 1964 are considered the baby boomer generation, but these numbers can differ slightly depending on the medium.
“We need all the skilled workers and workers in the next few years.
“We cannot train and attract as many people as will be leaving in the next few years,” the
Handelsblatt
quoted Sparkasse President Ulrich Reuter as saying.
According to the German Savings Banks and Giro Association (DSGV), a “moderate decline” in employees is also expected in the longer term.
Banks that had previously announced staff cuts are now changing course and planning to either stabilize their workforce numbers - or even increase them.
Savings banks want to be more attractive to new employees
The savings banks have three possible solutions for this.
Basically, they want to train more.
These efforts are not limited to traditional bank clerks; they are increasingly aimed at e-commerce or dialogue marketing clerks.
In 2023, the number of new trainees rose by around 14 percent to 5,000.
Employers are currently fighting for the attention of the young Generation Z, who were born between 1997 and 2012.
Incentives such as more generous home office rules or even the four-day week are intended to stimulate interest.
Some financial institutions no longer have general home office rules - employees can choose where they want to work from.
In order to get closer to the younger generation, the savings banks are sometimes resorting to creative solutions.
An example of this is Barer41, a special branch in Munich that looks more like a café than a bank branch.
Savings banks want flexibility in their jobs – even in old age
Solution number two reads like the complete opposite: more work instead of less.
“People should therefore be able to structure their working hours more flexibly so that older employees can be activated and part-time workers can extend their working hours,” explained Dr.
Gertrud Traud, chief economist at the Hessische Landesbank.
This would require tax incentives, but also non-financial incentives.
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To date, greater flexibility in working hours has primarily been a demand from the younger generation.
However, this must also be an option in old age.
“Especially for the workforce that a company already has and doesn’t want to lose.” The transformation of the German economy only works with a transformation of thinking.
Times have changed - structural changes must help to cushion demographic change.
Germany's prosperity also depends on climate protection and cosmopolitanism.
Search for skilled workers abroad
And finally, the savings banks have also turned their attention abroad.
More skilled workers from outside Germany are needed.
According to the former Sparkasse President Helmut Schleweis, Germany needs 400,000 skilled workers from abroad every year - as a whole, not just the savings banks.
Schleweis confirmed this at the fall meeting of the International Monetary Fund in Marrakesh.
This would particularly affect non-academic qualifications.
Other companies, such as Deutsche Bahn, have developed special programs for the training of new skilled workers from abroad.
The DSGV association had not yet responded to a request about how the savings banks are positioned here.