Stress has become a part and parcel of human life and is more pronounced in corporate life. Globalization and liberalization has made a rapid change in the banking sector and as a result of it, the employees in this sector have been facing so many challenges. The sizeable increase in the volume of banking business along with the inherent characteristics of job has given rise to a lot of stress and anxiety among banking personnel. It is the need of the hour that the management of bank must provide a stress-free work environment for enhancing the productivity and well-being of its employees.

Occupational stress is becoming increasingly globalized and affects all countries, all professions and all categories of workers, as well as families and society in general (Ahmad and Ahmad, 1992). Every employee is prone to stress either knowingly or unknowingly. Banking professionals are no exemption from this. According to a recent study conducted by Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM), it has been found that banks are the top 10 high stress workplace in recent times. Due to globalization and liberalization, the banking sector had undergone substantial policy changes, in response to the changes that have been taking place in the social, political, economic and technological environments. In addition to meeting the increasing demands from the traditional markets, new markets have been brought into the banking sector, entailing in the process the adoption of new marketing practices, calling for an entirely new approach and a significant change in the market attitude. Entry of new private and foreign banks, non-banking financial institutions, technological changes, downsizing, appointment of contract labor and VRS are some of the important challenges that the bank employees are facing increasingly. Due to these rapid and striking changes, the employees in the banking sector are experiencing a high level of stress. Evidence from existing literature states that more than 60% of the bank employees have one or other problem directly or indirectly related to these drastic changes (Nair, 2008). Increased competition, growing customer demands, prompt customer service, time pressure, targets and role conflicts are the main factors of stress to bank employees.

The main objective of the present article is to analyze various factors causing stress in bank employees. It also aims at suggesting certain measures to minimize the stress level of employees. The study is exploratory in nature and basically based on secondary data. For this purpose, various books, journals and websites were referred.

HRM Review Magazine, Bank Employees, Globalization, Traditional Markets, Liberalization, Banking Business, Banking Sector, Occupational Stress, Organizational Hierarchy, Business Environment, Commercial Banks, Financial Sector, Mobile Banking, Online Banking, Public Sector Banks, Private Sector Banks, Insurance Companies.