Central Bank hit by recruitment crisis... in its Human Resources unit

THE Central Bank’s HR unit — the department tasked with solving the regulator’s longrunning employee retention problem — had the highest rate of staff turnover in 2015.

Following reports that Central Bank bosses are concerned at a rapid turnover of staff, new Central Bank figures reveal that the banking watchdog’s human resources department had the highest rate of turnover — 17pc — with approximately 14 staff quitting last year.

However, this turnover rate rises to 26.2pc when adjustments are made for internal churn, whereby vacant roles in other sections of the bank are filled by internal candidates.

The 26.2pc rate is more than three times higher than the overall annual staff turnover rate at the Central Bank, which is running at almost 8pc.

The majority of those resigning from the banking regulator cited low remuneration levels as a principal reason for quitting, according to ‘exit interview’ questionnaires conducted by bank chiefs.

A Central Bank spokeswoman said: “There are a variety of reasons for turnover figures, including demand for those skills in the market at a particular time; the size of the gap in remuneration for equivalent roles in the market, for example, the stage of career development the individual is at and individual career aspirations.”

“The exit interview analysis shows that staff are leaving for reasons primarily related to remuneration and career development,” she added.

Internal Central Bank documents released under Freedom of Information suggest that as many as 55 staff may have been lost to secondment to the Single Supervisory Mechanism in Frankfurt since 2014.

“Notwithstanding the benefits of such a move, this can create pressures at a local level,” states Liz Graham, the bank’s human resources manager in a report on staff turnover.

It was revealed last week that the Central Bank has ramped up its spend on recruitment in the past 18 months. However, despite spending nearly €2m on a hiring drive in 2015, “recruitment remained a challenge” for the regulator, according to internal bank documents.

Although the Central Bank has targeted a staffing increase of 20pc, or 300 jobs, over a three-year period — bringing its total headcount to 1,829 — “resourcing remained a key focus and challenge”, according to the Central Bank Commission, an internal oversight body.