Roadblock in choosing full digital wage payment overnight
Only 9 % garment factories pay wages to workers through mobile financial offerings (MFS) and 4 per cent through banks, according to a new study, whose findings may make it hard for the country to digitally pay 4.1 million apparel personnel overnight.
As much as 76 per cent garment factories pay wages to personnel through cash, while 11 per cent disburse salaries through multiple models, the survey of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) showed.
The BGMEA conducted the study to learn the payment modes utilized by factory owners as the factory operations has been preparing MFS accounts for personnel to submit to banks.
The finance ministry and the Bangladesh Bank have managed to get mandatory for the factory owners to provide the list of workers and their MFS and bank-account numbers to banks if they would like to use the government's Tk 5,000 crore stimulus package to pay workers.
The banks have been asked to directly pay to the workers' accounts.
The BGMEA survey was conducted among 160 factories, which employ 225,710 personnel. Of the employees, 101,379, or 45 % of the staff surveyed, possess MFS accounts. They employ bKash, Rocket and very similar types of MFS accounts.
"Using MFS, 1 per cent of the surveyed factories shell out salaries to staff members and 9 percent factories pay wages to employees. This is insignificant," the study said.
In Bangladesh, garment personnel are grouped in seven grades. Wages are given to the graded staff and the income to the non-graded workers, such as for example freshers and trainees.
Some 147,111 employees, or 65 % of the total, have nationwide identification (NID) cards.
Some factories have reported that the workers who were not in a position to provide NID had submitted birth certificates. This is a obvious indication that NID info must be received for all workers of a factory to make sure proper history verification, said the analysis.
Since not all workers and employees possess a smartphone, it could block the way of choosing 100 % MFS coverage outright.
The limitation of the study is it asked about the smartphone, but a good number of workers may have feature phones which may be used to use MFS accounts.
The study recommended instant action to enforce the opening of the MFS account of employees for wage payment.
There are a significant amount of workers who aren't registered with the workers' database of the BGMEA.
It needed making workers' database sign up mandatory and uploading the data within the next thirty days, or by Might 10. The BGMEA's e-wallet should be rolled out immediately.
The survey asked the BGMEA to ask its members to collect the NID of personnel and verify them well. The wages and income payment ought to be well-preserved and it will become a part of significant resources for the sector, the study said.
Providing support to enhance the option of smartphones or almost any cellular devices for the employees could be ensured with the support of development partners.
This task can trigger the application of MFS accounts by workers, who now shy from it for insufficient mobile devices.
"MFS is not a choice for us any longer," said Rubana Huq, president of the BGMEA.
Rather it really is mandatory to ensure transparency of the sector.
"Moreover, through a bank-account or MFS, we're able to also save the hassle of workers coming to factories for income. The sector doesn't have anything to hide or shy from," Huq told The Daily Superstar in a WhatsApp message.
It's possible to open MFS accounts by this month, she said, adding that salaries for April need to be paid by the primary week of the following month.
"So, if we have the accounts by the primary working days of Might, it's all good."
All will get paid the earnings for March. There's no reason to be worried about it, she said.
BGMEA members pay for wages worth Tk 4,000 crore per month.
