Govt to grade recruiting agents based on efficiency
The government is going to identify “outstanding” recruiting agents based on their track record under a new monitoring mechanism -- aiming to efficiently promote human resource export.
As per the mechanism, a committee headed by an additional secretary of the expatriates’ welfare ministry will evaluate agents’ performance in light of 14 types of activities related to labour migration and its trade.
For example, an agent will be evaluated as an efficient one if he or she can arrange recruitment of 200 workers whose migration costs will be borne by the recruiters.
Likewise, an agent will be recognised as a superior one if 40 percent of workers sent by them in a year are in the “skilled” category.
This way, recruiting agents will be rated or classified in four categories: Grade-A (outstanding), Grade-B (satisfactory), Grade-C (standard), and Grade-D (below standard).
A recruiting agent will be given a grade for two years, according to the draft rules.
The government will promote the classification and indicator against each of the grades among people, especially those who are interested in recruiting agents and overseas employment, says a clause of the draft rules.
Besides, the government will “consider and implement” different incentives including recognition for “safe, quality and responsible” activities on a regular basis, it says.
Ahmed Munirus Saleheen, additional secretary at expatriates’ welfare ministry, said the mechanism will help the ministry promote competent agents.
“A person [recruiting agent] facing punishment will obviously not be included in Grade-A,” he recently told this newspaper over phone.
Saleheen said the ministry will strengthen monitoring of low-performing recruiting agents and try to find out the underlying reasons to take necessary steps for improvement.
The rules will be formulated in line with the Overseas Employment and Migrants Act-2013, said officials of the ministry.
A final draft of the rules has been submitted recently to the law ministry for vetting, said an official of the expatriates’ welfare ministry who is involved in the drafting process.
The rules will be published through a gazette notification, according to ministry officials.
The move comes amidst widespread allegation that recruiting agencies resort to malpractices while sending workers abroad.
At present, over 1,200 licensed recruiting agencies are operating in the country, according to expatriates’ welfare ministry website.
The ministry has so far suspended licenses of 168 recruiting agents and cancelled licenses of another three for their involvement in labour recruitment-related malpractices, according to the Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training.
Under the new mechanism, a guilty recruiting agent will be penalised and their status will be revoked while recruiting license can be cancelled based on the “nature of punishment”.
As per the draft rules, there will be evaluation on number of migrant workers sent by a recruiting agent, as sending 1,000 workers in a year will be considered “high performance”.
Recruiting agents will be evaluated for sending female migrant workers abroad, for sending migrant workers based on demand letters, and for having better financial transection record through banking channel, it says.
Besides, they will be recognised if they pick migrant workers from the government database.
Also, they will be evaluated if they have training centres in operation, for providing service through own website, better educational qualification, trade experience, for office at authorised location with IT facilities, and for branch office outside Dhaka.
The agents will be evaluated on the basis of an aggregated 100 points for 14 types of activities, the draft rules say.
A recruiting agent will earn 20 points for sending 1,000 migrant workers in a year, 10 more points for 40 percent “skilled” workers, and another 5 points for sending 50 female workers, it adds.
According to the draft rules, skilled workers are those individuals who are “capable of doing their job without other’s instructions”, such as welders, electricians and drivers.
Bangladesh Association of International Recruiting Agencies Secretary General Shameem Ahmed Chowdhury Noman praised the new initiative, saying the law aims to increase competitiveness among recruiting agents.
He, however, said there is concern that those agents who will be graded as low performers may lose trade opportunities under the new initiative.
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