Remote Employee Onboarding in Bangladesh Without a Local Entity
Remote employee onboarding in Bangladesh is the process of hiring, contracting and activating a worker on behalf of a company based elsewhere. PayrollBangladesh becomes the legal employer in Dhaka, issues the employment contract, registers the employee for tax and runs monthly payroll. You choose the person and direct the work.
We Hold The Employment, You Direct The Work
Onboarding through an Employer of Record splits one job in two. We hold the employment relationship locally. You keep everything to do with the work itself. The division below is what clients ask about first.
PayrollBangladesh, as legal employer
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Employment contracts. Drafted under Bangladeshi law, carrying your commercial terms and your IP assignment.
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Tax registration and deduction. Employee e-TIN registration and tax deducted at source on every payroll run.
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Monthly payroll. Currency conversion to BDT, bank transfers to the employee, and a digital payslip each month.
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Statutory administration. Leave tracking, festival bonuses, record keeping and end-of-service settlement.
Your managers, as the operating team
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Who you hire. You source or approve the candidate, interview, and set the package.
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Day-to-day direction. Tasks, priorities, working hours and tools are yours to set.
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Performance. Reviews, objectives and progression decisions sit with your team, not with us.
What We Handle As Your Legal Employer In Dhaka
Each item below is a task that either happens or does not, so the service can be held to it rather than described in general terms. This is the full operational scope for a remote hire in Dhaka.
How We Onboard Your New Hire, Step By Step
This is the order the work happens in, from the moment you confirm a candidate to the first payslip. The early steps are documentation. Later steps depend on government processing rather than on us.
Role and package confirmation
You confirm the role, the salary and the start date. We structure the package into base pay and allowances so it is ready for local payout, and flag anything that needs restructuring before a contract is drafted.
Contract drafting and signature
We prepare an employment agreement that meets Bangladeshi requirements and carries your confidentiality and intellectual property terms, so work produced during employment belongs to your company.
Documents and verification
The employee supplies identity documents, academic and employment records and bank details. Our Dhaka desk verifies the set is complete before anything is filed.
Tax registration and banking
We register the employee for an e-TIN and open or confirm a salary account for direct deposit. For an expatriate hire, work permit and visa processing starts at this stage.
Equipment and first day
We coordinate laptop and equipment delivery or a setup allowance, complete the onboarding paperwork, and introduce the employee so they can start working with your team.
First payroll and ongoing support
The first payslip is issued with deductions applied. From there we run monthly payroll, manage leave requests and handle everyday HR questions for your Bangladesh team.
Should You Use An EOR, A Staffing Agency, Or Your Own Entity?
These three routes are often treated as alternatives to the same problem. They are not. They differ in who legally employs the worker, who carries the risk, and how long it takes to get someone working.
| Employer of Record | Staffing agency | Your own entity | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Who employs the worker | PayrollBangladesh | The agency | Your local company |
| Who directs the work | Your managers | Varies by contract | Your managers |
| Local company needed | No | No | Yes, via RJSC registration |
| Who carries compliance risk | PayrollBangladesh | The agency | Your company |
| Best when | You want a long-term team member without registering a company | You need a role filled quickly and the engagement is short | You are committing to Bangladesh at scale via foreign entity setup |
We compare the first two in more detail in Is hiring an Employer of Record better than a staffing agency?
What Does It Cost To Employ Someone In Bangladesh?
We quote per engagement rather than publishing a rate card, because a local administrative hire and an expatriate specialist needing a work permit are not comparable figures. The components below are what makes up the total.
| Cost component | How it is calculated | Who receives it |
|---|---|---|
| Gross salary | The compensation you agree, structured into base pay and allowances | The employee, in BDT |
| Statutory benefits | Festival bonuses and leave entitlements set by law | The employee |
| Tax deducted at source | Withheld from salary at the applicable rate | National Board of Revenue |
| Management fee | A fixed monthly fee per employee covering contract, tax, payroll and HR administration | PayrollBangladesh |
| Work permit fees | Government application and processing costs, for expatriate hires only | Government departments |
To get a figure, send us the role, the salary band, whether the hire is local or expatriate, and your intended start date. That is enough to quote. Building a whole team rather than one hire? See offshore HR onboarding.
Which Compliance Rules Apply From Day One?
Employment in Bangladesh is governed by the Bangladesh Labour Act, 2006 and the Bangladesh Labour Rules, 2015. These set the baseline for appointment letters, working hours, leave and notice. Three requirements catch foreign employers out most often.
Employees need a taxpayer identification number from the National Board of Revenue, and the employer must deduct tax from salary at source.
Expatriate employees need work permit approval, administered by the Bangladesh Investment Development Authority. See work permit support and work visa processing.
Employing directly means registering with the Registrar of Joint Stock Companies and Firms first. If that is the route you want, see company registration or branch office setup. Using an EOR is what removes the step entirely.
Frequently Asked Questions About Hiring In Bangladesh
These are the questions companies ask most often before hiring their first employee in Bangladesh. Select any question to open the answer.
Do I need a company in Bangladesh to hire someone there?
No. PayrollBangladesh holds the employment relationship on your behalf, which removes the requirement to register a local entity. You would need your own company only if you intend to trade in Bangladesh directly or build a large local operation.
Who does the employee report to?
You. We are the legal employer for contractual and statutory purposes. Day-to-day direction, priorities, working hours and performance management stay with your team.
Who owns the work our employee produces?
Your company. Intellectual property and work product ownership is set in the employment contract we draft. Tell us the terms you require and we draft to them, the same as you would specify for a direct hire.
How is this different from using a recruitment firm?
A recruitment firm introduces candidates and the engagement ends there. Onboarding through an EOR continues after the hire: contracts, tax registration, payroll, leave and ongoing administration remain our responsibility for as long as the person is employed.
Can you onboard expatriates as well as Bangladeshi nationals?
Yes. Expatriate onboarding adds work permit and visa processing to the sequence and needs additional documentation from both the employee and the sponsoring company. Government processing time sits outside our control and is usually the longest part.
How are leave and festival bonuses handled?
We administer them as part of monthly payroll. Casual, sick and earned leave are tracked against the contract and reported to your managers. Festival bonuses are calculated and paid on the statutory schedule.
What happens if we want to end the employment?
Notice periods, final settlement and any end-of-service entitlement follow the Bangladesh Labour Act 2006 and the terms of the contract. You tell us the commercial decision and the date, and we administer the exit.