Bangladesh

Recruitment processes, identifying vacancies, job advertisements, screening, shortlisting, etc. are an important part of the hiring process. But interviews make the ultimate decision as they play a very important part in gauging personality.

The standard parameters of employment in Bangladesh:

Working Hours (Depend on the client’s company) – 8 hours a day, Sunday to Thursday, 40 hours a week

Probation Period (Depend on the client’s company) – Minimum probation period is 3 months and can be maximum extended for 3 months by law (6 months in total). The employee needs to be notified in a letter that his/her probation period has been extended. If no notification of an extension or confirmation letter is being provided than the employee will be treated as confirmed employee.

Payroll cycles– Pay – cycle is 1 time (1st to 30th)

Official Deduction from Salary– Professional tax, PF, Income Tax, Insurance, Entertainment allowances, other standard deductions

Typical work hours in Bangladesh– All employees are allowed to work for 8 hours in a single day. Any shift that exceeds the 6-hour work limit should include a 1-hour lunch break, while 5-hour shifts must have a 30-minute lunch break.

Public Holidays
Although Bangladesh has 21 days of national holidays each year, employees are only entitled to take 11 of them off as paid holiday, and it is the employer’s choice as to which ones.

Casual Leave/Sick Leave
Every employee shall be entitled to casual with full payment for 10 (Ten) days in a calendar year and if such leave is not availed, it will not be accumulated and carried forward to succeeding year. Sick Leave 14 (Fourteen) days per calendar year and Medical certificates are required to receive them.

Maternity & Paternity Leave
Mothers are entitled to 16 weeks (112 Days) weeks of fully paid maternity leave, eight weeks on either side of the due date. For government employees mothers are entitled to 6 months of fully paid maternity leave. There is currently no provision for paternity leave in Bangladesh.

Earned Leave
Employees are entitled to have Annual leave 1 day for every 18 days of work with full wages in a calendar year. Leave encashment needs to be paid against unused annual leave.

The payroll process in Bangladesh involves dues of the employees called ‘basic salary’ after adjustments are made for allowances and other deductions.

Basic Salary = Gross pay – allowances (medical insurance, HRA, DA, conveyance, etc.)

Important Elements of Salary Structure in Bangladesh
The monthly salary and wage disbursement has many vital components structured together that make a salary package. These elements are essential for both employers and employees to calculate taxes, PF, allowances and other necessary deductions, etc.

Payroll Cycle – The payroll cycle is monthly, and wages must be paid by the last working day of the month when the employee is a salaried employee. For employees who work on an hourly, daily, or weekly basis, payments must be made every 2 weeks.

13th Salary– ‍After the first year of employment, the employees of Bangladesh are entitled to a festive bonus. Employers may provide two festive bonuses every year. Ideally the bonus should be equal to basic salary or 50% of the gross salary.

Overtime– Overtime is permissible with an overall limit of 60 working hours in any week. However, the weekly average is set at 65 hours in a given year. Overtime wages are set at double the standard of respective employees.

Following are the requirements for starting a business in Bangladesh

The legal requirements for company registration in Bangladesh are mentioned in the list below:

• RJSC approval
• A bank account in any of the banks in Bangladesh
• Locally authorised trade license
• Tax Identification Number and Business Identification Number
• Office in a non-residential area
• Blueprint and map of business for factory setup permission
• Copy of the Import or Export license
• Fire certificate for factory setup or corporate office
• Approval from the respective authorities for telecommunication business approval from BTCL(Bangladesh Telecommunications Company Limited)

Step 1: Name Clearance:

Before starting the registration process, ensure approval for your organization’s name from the Registrar of Joint Stock Companies and Firms (RJSC).

Step 2: Collection of Documents:

After that, you must create the Article of Association (AoA) and Memorandum of Association (MoA). These documents, combined with other necessary paperwork, need to be submitted to RSJC.

Step 3: Opening of a Bank Account:

After completing the third step, you must open a bank account in your company’s name and make an inward remittance of at least US$ 50,000 if you want to employ foreign staff.

Step 4: Submission of documents to the RJSC:

Submit your paperwork to the RJSC and pay the registration fee. As part of this procedure, it’s worth consulting with them for a certificate of incorporation.

Step 5: Additional Licenses and Registrations:

After you adhere to all of the above-mentioned steps and acquire your certificate of incorporation, Articles of Association (AoA), and Memorandum of Association (MoA) documents, a company becomes registered in Bangladesh!

To be compliant with necessary regulations, you will need to obtain additional licenses and registrations, including –

• Trade License
• Tax Identification Number (TIN)
• VAT Registration Certificate
• Fire Certificate
• Environmental Clearance Certificate (if required)