'Extended family' culture still influences recruitment process

Latifur Rahman (R), president of Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Dhaka, and NS Rajan of Ernst & Young Pvt Ltd, India, pose for photographs at the launching ceremony of HR Practices Survey Bangladesh 2006-07 in the capital yesterday.Photo: STAR

An 'extended family' culture in Bangladesh still influences recruitment process in firms and organizations, as employers prefer hiring through known contacts, said an HR practices survey in Bangladesh.
The survey report also said in talent hunt for running a corporate house or an NGO, newspapers continue to be the most commonly used source.
Ernst & Young, a leading global business advisory services firm, revealed the survey report at a symposium in Dhaka yesterday.
Latifur Rahman, president of Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MCCI), Dhaka, formally launch the report as chief guest.
NS Rajan and Anurag Malik of Ernst & Young Pvt Ltd, India, among others, were present at the report launching ceremony.
Ernst and Young in association with MCCI, Dhaka, started the HR (human resources) survey for the first time in Bangladesh in May 2006. The survey was conducted on the performance of 70 corporate houses and NGOs across the country, Ernst and Young officials said.
The HR Practices Survey Bangladesh 2006-07 said competency based assessment is a recent entrant, adopted currently only by a few enterprises in Bangladesh.
Performance management systems need to be geared up to unlock human potential, the report said.
According to the report, 63 percent of the surveyed organisations have information on manpower requirement for next one to two years, and 58 percent organisations attach critical importance to tackling the performance of the HR department.
The report revealed that 75 percent of the organisations surveyed do not solicit new and innovative ideas from subordinates.
It said inflation and consumer price index are primarily used for fixing wages, but the review of wages is not frequent. “Some organisations have also introduced variable components in the wage structure”.
The report said Bangladesh is buoyant and on the verge of an economic boom. A great opportunity exists for HR professionals to contribute to organisations and the economy by tapping human talent potential in the right way.
“The elements of the HR value chain that are likely to take front seat in Bangladesh in the near future include performance and potential management systems, competency-based HR systems, variable pay systems, reward and compensation, succession planning, employer branding, and leadership capability development."
At the report launching programme, Latifur Rahman said Bangladeshi companies now need to concentrate more on highly value-added products and services produced by a skilled and motivated workforce.
"Training is no longer the issue but rather the development of appropriate skills will be a vital factor for HR development," the MCCI chief said.
He said in Bangladesh, unfortunately no systematic study has been undertaken of the skills needed by enterprises in the 21st century and beyond.
"MCCI has been advocating the importance of HR development for a long time. The country's changing labour market dynamics denote a fresh look on the issue. The gap between a knowledge-based workforce and a labour intensive workforce will definitely widen in the coming decade across the region," Latifur Rahman said.