Due to the advantage of lower prices, improved quality triggered by healthy competition, more choices at the hands of consumers, less corruption due to the pressure of survival followed by less red tape, and quicker delivery, the Government of Bangladesh encourages privatization with a view to developing and strengthening the economy of the country by bringing more opportunities for income for its people.
This calls for a major shift in the arena of Human Resource Management. In the public sector, the job security is stable however in the private sector this is simply the opposite. As private organizations is mainly run by an individual or a group of influential people, the overall decisions regarding hiring & retaining or terminating employees are dictated by their choices.
According to a survey conducted for a research on employee retention, 85% of the employees from private organizations (private universities & e-commerce organizations) said that there is no job security at their organizations. As per the latest data of the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, in the last year the number of jobless people increased by one lakh (1 lakh = £0.0093). In 2015-16 the total figure of unemployed individuals stood at around 26 lakh but it rose to around 27 lakh in the following year. [1]
In such conditions when there is no dearth of unemployed educated job seekers, employers tend not to go for employee retention as it is easier and cost saving to hire a fresh candidate rather than nurturing existing employees and giving them incentives & increments with time. One newly joined employee at a rising e-commerce organization that deals with transportation system revealed the fact that “It has been a year since I joined here, now it’s the time to make me a permanent employee, my performance was nothing less than excellent, but a few days ago my departmental head was ask to leave without prior notification and I was told to search for another job & within 24 hours. I received a termination letter, when I wanted to know the reason, I was told that the top management has changed and they want a new set of employees.” Many daily newspapers also featured this issue which is now in practice.
Another highlighting point in HR practice to note is the addition of an allowance given on the occasion of Bengali New Year which or “Pahela Baishakh (Bengali: পহেলা বৈশাখ) or Bangla Nabobarsho” celebrated on 14th April. As government introduced this allowance in public sector, many private sector like the banking sector also adapted this to keep their employees happy. It started on 2016 and since then the compensation package of employees is enriched now with an additional festival bonus. [2]
So among other trends in HR in Bangladesh, job insecurity is rising in private sector and festival bonus is getting enriched. Overall, in Bangladesh, the concern over Human Resource Management is increasing.
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