Training and Development Practices and Their Impact on Employee Performance in Private Sector Banks in Punjab

Abstract

Purpose: The banking sector in India has witnessed a sweeping transformation over the past decade — technological disruption, regulatory tightening, intensifying competition, and rapidly evolving customer expectations have collectively redefined what it means to perform in a bank branch environment. Against this backdrop, Training and Development (T&D) has emerged not merely as an administrative HR function but as a strategic lever through which private sector banks equip their workforce to meet these demands. This paper examines the nature, frequency, and perceived effectiveness of T&D practices in private sector banks operating in Punjab and tests their impact on employee performance across multiple dimensions.
Design/Methodology/Approach: The study is based on primary data gathered through a structured questionnaire administered to 320 employees working across eight private sector banks in five districts of Punjab — Ludhiana, Amritsar, Jalandhar, Patiala, and Mohali. Respondents were selected through stratified random sampling, stratified by bank, job grade (junior officer, officer, senior officer), and gender. The questionnaire comprised 42 items measuring T&D awareness, participation, perceived quality, and self-assessed performance outcomes. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics, reliability analysis (Cronbach's Alpha), Pearson correlation, multiple regression, and one-way ANOVA in SPSS 26.
Findings: T&D practices were found to have a significant positive impact on employee performance (β = 0.46, p < 0.001). Among the individual T&D components, on-the-job training, digital skills training, and product knowledge programmes emerged as the three most impactful, together explaining 54.2% of the variance in self-rated performance. Female employees and those in junior grades reported significantly lower T&D participation rates, despite expressing higher motivation for training. Senior officers reported greater access to leadership and soft-skills training but lower participation in technology-oriented programmes.
Originality/Value: This study provides one of the first empirically grounded, Punjab-specific assessments of the T&D–performance nexus in the private banking sector, filling a significant gap in Indian HRM literature where the focus has predominantly been on the public sector or metropolitan private banks. The findings carry direct implications for HR policy design in regional private banks.

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