Offshore Contractor Management Service in Bangladesh
Contractor management is the work of engaging, verifying and recording the people a business uses without employing them directly. PayrollBD maps every engagement against section 2(65) of the Bangladesh Labour Act, 2006, holds the registration and identity records the Act requires, and hands the whole file back when the engagement closes.
What does a contractor management service actually do?
A contractor management service takes the engaging, checking and record keeping for people who work for a business without being on its payroll. In Bangladesh that work is not administrative housekeeping. The Bangladesh Labour Act, 2006 decides who counts as a worker, and it does so by looking at the substance of the engagement rather than the wording of the contract. PayrollBD runs the mapping, the verification and the register so the classification of every engagement can be shown on paper.
The risk is concentrated in one place. If an engagement that was treated as contracting is later read as employment, the duties attach to the establishment that engaged the person, not to the agency that supplied them.
When does a contractor count as a worker in Bangladesh?
Section 2(65) of the Bangladesh Labour Act, 2006 defines a worker as any person, including an apprentice, employed in any establishment or industry either directly or through a contractor, by whatever name he is called, whether the terms of employment are expressed or implied. The phrase through a contractor is the one that matters. It means a contract labelled as contracting does not by itself put the engagement outside the Act. Five factors decide the reading in practice.
| Factor in the engagement | Points to an independent contractor | Points to a worker under s.2(65) |
|---|---|---|
| Who directs the daily work | The contractor sets method and hours | Your managers set method and hours |
| How the fee is set | Per deliverable or milestone | A regular wage for time worked |
| Who supplies tools and workspace | The contractor | The engaging establishment |
| Right of substitution | The contractor may send a substitute | The named person must attend |
| Continuity of the engagement | Ends with the deliverable | Rolls on without a defined end |
Source: Bangladesh Labour Act, 2006 (Act No. XLII of 2006), section 2(65) and section 3.
Where an engagement sits in the right-hand column on most rows, PayrollBD treats it as employment and prepares the records before the person starts. Workplace compliance is administered by the Department of Inspection for Factories and Establishments, and deduction at source on contractor payments sits with the National Board of Revenue. Reviewed by Eicra Binte Islam
How does contractor onboarding and verification work?
In six stages, each closing with a document you can point to. Nothing advances until the record from the stage before it exists, so a gap shows on the day it happens rather than at the end of a quarter. The six cards below name the record each stage produces and the section of the Bangladesh Labour Act, 2006 it answers to.
Which records must exist behind a contractor engagement?
Five, and each one belongs to a named party. Section 3A(1) puts a Government registration on the agency that supplies workers on contract. Section 5 puts an appointment letter and a photo identity card on the employer for every worker. Section 9(1) puts a register of workers on the employer, open to the Inspector at all times during working hours. Section 3 puts written service conditions on the establishment. PayrollBD builds and holds the set that falls to you.
| Record or duty | Who holds it | Section |
|---|---|---|
| Government registration of the supplying agency | The contracting agency | s.3A(1) |
| Appointment letter for every worker | The employer | s.5 |
| Photo identity card for every worker | The employer | s.5 |
| Register of workers, open to the Inspector | The employer | s.9(1) |
| Written service conditions | The establishment | s.3 |
Source: Bangladesh Labour Act, 2006, sections 3A, 5 and 9.
The wording of each section is published by the Ministry of Law in the authentic text of the Bangladesh Labour Act, 2006, and inspection practice is set by the Department of Inspection for Factories and Establishments. Where an engagement is better carried as employment, our employer of record service holds the contract instead.
What stays with you, and what moves to PayrollBD?
The commercial decisions stay with you: which contractors to engage, what to pay them and when to end an engagement. What moves across is the checking and the record keeping, which follow formats the Act sets rather than formats a business chooses. That split is written into the engagement schedule before work starts, so neither side discovers a duty at an inspection.
Where the work is a defined project rather than a standing contractor pool, our project management BPO carries the milestone side, and vendor management covers supplier audits beyond the labour question.
What do foreign employers ask before engaging contractors here?
Six questions come up in almost every first conversation with a company engaging people in Bangladesh without a local payroll. Each answer names the section, the record or the stage it rests on, so it can be checked against the statute rather than taken on trust.
Classification, registration and records
The first three cover the classification test itself, the registration the supplying agency must hold, and the documents that must exist once an engagement is read as employment. The last three cover liability, payment and how an engagement is scoped and quoted before any work begins.
When does a contractor become a worker under Bangladesh law?
Section 2(65) of the Bangladesh Labour Act, 2006 defines a worker as any person employed in an establishment either directly or through a contractor, whatever the person is called, whether the terms are expressed or implied. So the label on the contract does not settle it. What settles it is who directs the work, how the fee is set, who supplies the tools and whether a substitute may be sent.
Does the agency supplying our contractors need its own registration?
Yes. Section 3A(1) states that no contracting agency, by whatever name called, which on contract supplies workers to different organisations in different posts, shall do so unless it is registered by the Government. PayrollBD checks that registration before an engagement starts, and records the result against the agency so the position is provable later.
Which records must exist if an engagement is treated as employment?
Three at minimum. Section 5 requires an appointment letter and a photo identity card for every worker. Section 9(1) requires a register of workers kept available to the Inspector at all times during working hours. PayrollBD prepares all three before the person starts, because a record created after an inspection begins is evidence of the gap rather than of compliance.
Who carries the liability if a contractor is reclassified?
The establishment that engaged the person carries the statutory duty, because outsourcing moves the work and not the obligation. That is why the classification decision is documented at the point it is made. PayrollBD holds the questionnaire, the contract and the verification file so the basis of the decision can be produced rather than argued.
How does PayrollBD handle contractor payments and tax?
Payments are made against the fee basis written into the contract, in Bangladeshi taka, with deduction at source applied where the National Board of Revenue requires it. The payment record is filed beside the classification file, so the way a person was paid and the way that person was classified never disagree in the paperwork.
How does an engagement start, and what does it produce?
It starts with a mapping of the contractors you already engage and ends with a written classification file for each one. After a short scoping call we send a fixed written quotation before any work begins. Scope changes are quoted separately and in writing, and the full record set is handed back when the engagement closes.
Need to manage a large number of contractors?
Tell us how many contractors you engage, what they do and who directs the work. We map each engagement against the Bangladesh Labour Act, 2006 and send a written classification file and a fixed quotation before any record is touched.