Do we have enough paid leaves in Bangladesh?

Jamil Ashraf Khan Noyon worked in the media sector in Bangladesh before migrating to Germany. At his first job in Bangladesh, he worked in an office that offered one holiday per week. There was adequate leave privilege on paper, but getting permission to avail those leaves was always a herculean task. 

At year's end, all the leaves would accumulate and everyone would try to take a vacation at the same time. But as the office would become understaffed, Noyon could not avail those accumulated leaves either. 

His casual leaves would remain unused and unpaid for; so would the sick leaves. 

Noyon's next job was better: he had two holidays, and adequate casual and sick leaves, including government holidays. There was an opportunity for taking a vacation at the end of the year. But the problem was that all his work had to be done in advance for the leaves. Also, if the leaves remained unused, they would not be compensated for. 

But since the office offered more vacation days, Noyon accepted the job for mental peace.

"From the experiences of working in two countries, I can say most of the offices in Bangladesh do not pay for unconsumed leaves. Offices in our country do not keep in mind who will carry out the responsibilities of an official during his leave. They do not hire additional people. As a result, the employees feel pressure that negatively impacts their work," Noyon told The Business Standard.  

Germany, however, is very different. 

Everyone, from low-income professionals to high-income professionals, can spend their vacations properly. 

"If you work six days a week, you can have 24 days of paid leave. Besides, you can have 25 to 30 days of casual leave, depending on your job. If you have unconsumed leaves, the HR department requests you to take leaves. If you don't take it, you are paid for it," Noyon said. 

He also mentioned a long list of paid leave privileges that offices in Germany offer to employees, including long maternity and paternity leaves. 

"There are many more such benefits for workers here. I didn't need so many vacations, though. But in comparison, Germany is safer than Bangladesh for a worker. No one works with stress here," he added. 

In conversation with several other workers in Bangladesh, and those who migrated to European countries or North America, we found that Noyon's comparison matches with that of others. 

Many people in Bangladesh complain about the culture of leaves in the country. For example, the idea of paternity leave has not quite arrived here yet, and even mothers still face various repercussions for maternity leaves in some offices. 

And Bangladeshi offices seem hesitant to the idea of long paid vacations like those in the developed world. 

The world of work is changing all around the world. Even Chile, a South American country, recently cut their working hours from 45 to 40 hours a week. However, most of Latin America still has 48 hours in place. 

In France, full-time employees are entitled to a minimum of 30 days (or 25 working days) of paid vacation leave per year. This entitlement is based on a 35-hour workweek and is pro-rated for part-time employees.

The working hours and leaves have a close connection with contentment and happiness. 

A recent article on Deutsche Welle mentioned Denmark, one of the countries  with shortest workweeks, ranks as one of the happiest countries in the world. Denmark is known for the concept of 'hygge' which is described as "creating a warm atmosphere and enjoying the good things in life with good people." 

Leave culture in Bangladesh 

Bangladesh's Labour Law 2006 allows workers who have completed one year of continuous services in an establishment roughly 15 days of leave with wages. 

As per the law, "one day [of paid leave] (a) in the case of a shop or commercial or industrial establishment or factory or road transport service, for every 18 days of work; (b) in the case of tea plantation, for every 22 days of work; (c) in the case of a newspaper worker, for every 11 days of work, performed by him during the previous period of 12 months." 

Now this provision of paid leave is excluding the government holidays offered every year. 

For example, in 2023, the government announced 22 holidays (eight of which fell on Fridays and Saturdays – weekly holidays). Banks have 24 days with two bank holidays added to it, a Bangladesh Bank official said. 

Now this is somewhat similar to India and some other neighbouring countries.

However, in the changing world of work, there are two issues at play here in Bangladesh, according to labour leaders and workers. First of all, the stipulated days of leave with wages prescribed in the law are inadequate. 

But more importantly, the leaves are discouraged in Bangladeshi offices while work hours often do not matter as long as you overwork. 

"Taking leave is discouraged a lot. They red-mark an employee if he takes many leaves. He is indirectly told that he takes too many leaves so they would put him on permanent leave [fire him]. There is no protection. There is mention in the law of paid leaves, but there is no protection about what happens if leaves are not allowed," Razekuzzaman Ratan, a prominent labour leader, told The Business Standard. 

Leaves are not only a leisure for workers, it is part of work and you cannot work without rest. If you want to increase creativity, efficiency and focus at work, leaves and rest are very important, Ratan further said.  

"That is why back in 1886, the workers whom we regard as ignorant, raised this demand for eight hours of work, eight hours of rest, and eight hours of creative entertainment," he said, adding, "Now, we only think in what ways we can extract their labour. 

"This way, we may get the labour but not the quality. For physical, mental, social, and psychological needs, the issue of paid leave is being raised as a demand now," he added. 

A brief sector-wise picture in Bangladesh 

Mustafizur Rahman, a Deputy Executive Director of Walton, said the company has a one-day weekend on Fridays. However, they get 18 to 20 days of earned leave, besides 10 days of casual leave and 14 days of sick leaves. 

In terms of earned leave, and other stipulated leaves, Mustafizur said, they "don't struggle on availing them if asked". 

Noting that one-day weekends are a common practice in many Bangladeshi companies besides Walton in general, Mustafizur said that it was not enough. 

"We have a lot of work on Friday from Jummah prayer to visiting relatives to shopping. If we had Saturday included in the weekend, we could actually get a day to rest," he said.  

"In the modern world, none of the employees idle away at home. Since work is assignment-based, we keep doing them even on holidays. We keep checking our WhatsApp groups, emails, and incorporating feedback. Wherever we are, we deliver our assignments. So if the workdays were five, the employees would work happily and deliver the assignment in due time as well.  

"The developed world's offices are allowed up to three days leave. Are their offices not running smoothly?" Mustafizur asked. 

Tania Sattar, the head of brands and communications at AB Bank, said they get 12 days of sick leave, 10 casual leaves, and their mandatory earned leaves were reduced from 15 days to 10 days as per the Bangladesh Bank's directions. 

"This is common practice in most banks," she said. 

Besides these leaves, Tania said, the female employees get six months of maternity leave twice in their career. However, if you have more than two children, you cannot avail this a third time. She also added that they are allowed up to 45 days of leave for Hajj. 

"Besides, sometimes, in exceptional cases, when you have to work on weekends or holidays, the work-life balance can be managed with the leaves I have," Tania said. 

However, when it comes to availing long vacations by cashing in on earned leaves, some bankers said it is often not an easy task. 

In contrast with local companies or brands, however, Unilever, a global brand in Bangladesh, gives 25 days of annual leave in a year for five days of work and 30 days of annual leave in a year for six days of work, according to Sumaiya Tabassum Ahmed, Sustainability, Partnerships and Communication Manager at the multinational firm.

They don't have limitations in case of sick leaves — employees are eligible to take sick leaves on an as-needed basis, she said. Unilever employees can take 15 days of Hajj leave once during their tenure. They also get bereavement leave, maternity leave of six months, surrogacy leave for three months, three weeks of leave in case of miscarriage, and three weeks for paternity leave. 

"At Unilever, we run a yearly survey on the overall health and wellbeing to understand the mood of the employees… Our leadership team ensures each employee is taking their time off and replenishing themselves periodically," Sumaiya added. 

Is Bangladesh's leave policy fair? 

Tawfiqul Arif, an additional secretary at the labour ministry, said that paid holidays are a corporate culture. And the number of paid leaves is dependent on a country-specific standard. 

"It is dependent on a country's social, political, economic and cultural perspectives. Suppose the US people's per capita income is $39,000, I cannot say give me what Americans enjoy. This depends on a country's culture and capacity," Tawfiqul said. 

"When you get a country in similar economic, social, and cultural status, only then you can do a comparison. There are many factors at work here," he added. 

The United States, however, is a country in the developed world with the least or no paid leaves policy, which is increasingly at the crosshair of the debate as more and more countries are opening up on vacations and working hours in the changing world of work. 

Former cabinet secretary Ali Imam Majumder said different sectors enjoy different kinds of leave privileges in Bangladesh. From the judiciary to education, they have different types of vacation privileges. 

"I don't see problems in Bangladesh's vacation policies. I don't think the labourers have demands for more than what is prescribed already," Ali Imam said. 

While this is connected with productivity, there is beyond-the-law practice here as well according to Ali Imam. 

"This is about the contract between employees and employers. I know an employer in the Uttara area who doesn't offer any holidays in Ramadan including Fridays but offers around 15 days of leave in Eid. His workers accept this happily. This is not necessarily guided by law. This is a negotiation between him and his employees." 

We asked the former cabinet secretary if he thinks we should increase the number of paid vacations in Bangladesh as many workers we interviewed recommend. 

"I think what we have already is alright," he said. 

Labour additional secretary Tawfiqul Arif, however, said the law prescribes the minimum. 

"For example, the government set the minimum salary of Tk8,000. But it doesn't mean they cannot pay more to their employees. Similarly, the law prescribes a number of paid leaves, if the companies want to increase the number, they can." 

Ratan, however, said that society in Bangladesh also ignores the leave issue. As a result, our manpower is increasing, but not their quality. 

"People learn new things at their leisure. For example, stitching kantha wouldn't be a thing unless they had free time. But ever since it became part of their livelihood, it lost its creativity. Rest is part of their work. Shrinking a worker's rest means chaining them," Ratan said. 

Whereas the right to rest should be widened, it still remains shrunk in our country. It is even regarded as an offence in many offices, according to Ratan. 

"Paid leaves are an integral part of the developed world and developed life. But here in our country, only labour is increasing with development, rest is shrinking. We are heading in the opposite direction. Our labour law has to be rectified," he added.