Bangladesh Employer Duties Run by Your Pro Co-Employer

What Does a Pro Co-Employer Actually Do?

QUICK OVERVIEW
Pro Co-Employer is HRBD’s contractual role for a company that already holds a Bangladesh entity. Under a written service agreement, HRBD runs the employer duties on that entity. These are monthly payroll, tax deducted at source, Provident Fund records, statutory registers and appointment letters under the Bangladesh Labour Act 2006. Your subsidiary, branch office or liaison office remains the sole legal employer.
What happens after you enquire: HRBD holds a scoping call with your finance or HR lead. The call confirms the entity type and headcount, and lists the records needed for takeover.
HRBD then issues the service agreement. It names your entity as employer and HRBD as administrator. The first payroll cycle starts only after signature.
Companies with no Bangladesh entity yet are served through the HRBD Employer of Record service instead.

Which Foreign-Owned Entities Use This Service?

Three kinds of foreign-owned entity use the Pro Co-Employer service, and each already exists in Bangladesh. A wholly-owned subsidiary or a joint venture is a company incorporated locally; a branch office and a liaison office operate under permission from BIDA. The three cards below state what each receives from HRBD, and the wider service is described on the HRBD PEO service in Bangladesh page. Smaller local teams are scoped separately under PEO solutions for SMEs.
Subsidiary and joint venture companies served by HRBD as Pro Co-Employer

Subsidiary and JV Companies

A company formed in Bangladesh with a foreign parent or shareholder. It receives monthly payroll, tax deducted at source, Provident Fund and gratuity ledgers, statutory registers and appointment letters drafted to the Labour Act 2006. The parent company, or both shareholders, receive one compliance pack a month and sign it off before the next cycle.

BIDA-approved branch offices served by HRBD as Pro Co-Employer

BIDA-Approved Branch Offices

A branch office working under BIDA permission. It receives payroll for local and expatriate staff, help with work permit filings at BIDA, and leave and benefit records. Personnel records are kept in the form a BIDA or National Board of Revenue (NBR) review expects. The head office receives the same monthly compliance pack as a subsidiary, signed off by the compliance reviewer.

Liaison offices in Bangladesh served by HRBD as Pro Co-Employer

Liaison Offices in Bangladesh

A liaison office receives employment records, appointment letters, and leave and benefit records. Its payroll is funded by the head office and run within the office's approved scope. A liaison office cannot earn local income, so HRBD keeps the expense and salary records separate. They stay ready for the office's regular reporting to BIDA.

How Is HRBD Accountable to the Parent Company?

HRBD is accountable through three written commitments in the service agreement. Each one is tied to a record the parent company can inspect. A named compliance reviewer signs off every payroll register and statutory filing. Every process runs under Bangladesh law, with employee data held in Bangladesh. Salary and personal data reach only the contacts your entity names. The three boxes below name each commitment and the record behind it.
Simplified Payroll Processing

Accountability for Every Filing

A named HRBD compliance reviewer signs off every payroll register and every statutory filing before it leaves HRBD. If a filing is late or wrong because of HRBD, HRBD corrects it at its own cost. The correction is recorded in your compliance log, which the parent company can read at any time.

Company Benefits

Bangladesh Law Jurisdiction

Every process is built on the Bangladesh Labour Act 2006, the Labour Rules 2015 and the Income Tax Act 2023. Employee data is stored in Bangladesh, the service agreement is governed by Bangladesh law, and no register is kept in a form that a Bangladesh regulator would not recognise.

HR Compliance Expertise

Confidentiality With Continuity

Salary, tax and personal data are disclosed only to the contacts your entity names in the agreement. Continuity is written in as well. A named backup officer holds the same access and the same sign-off duty, so a month-end never depends on one person being available.

Contents of the monthly compliance pack sent to the parent company.
RecordWhat it showsWho signs it
Payroll register.Gross pay, deductions and net pay for every employee in the month.Your named signatory, before payslips are released.
Payslip batch.One payslip per employee, issued after the register is signed.HRBD payroll officer.
Tax deducted at source receipt.The NBR challan for the month’s deduction under the Income Tax Act 2023, s. 86.HRBD, countersigned by the compliance reviewer.
Provident Fund and gratuity extract.Contributions and balances for the month under the Labour Act 2006, s. 264.HRBD, reviewed by the compliance reviewer.
Leave and attendance extract.Leave taken and balances carried forward.HRBD HR officer.
Statutory register status.Which registers were updated and any inspection request received.Compliance reviewer.
Open decisions list.Items waiting for a decision from your entity.Your entity, at the next cycle.

Who Does What Under the Agreement?

The service agreement splits every employer duty into a decision and an administration step. Your entity takes the decision; HRBD carries the administration and records the outcome. The table names each duty, who holds it and the law it rests on, so a finance director in the parent company can see the boundary before signing. The two columns beneath the table summarise the same split for a quick read.
Employer duties under the Pro Co-Employer service agreement, Bangladesh.
Employer dutyYour entityHRBD as Pro Co-EmployerGoverning source
Appointment letters and contracts.Sets the terms and signs.Drafts to the Act and files the signed copy.Labour Act 2006, s. 5.
Monthly payroll and payslips.Approves the payroll register.Calculates, runs and issues payslips.Labour Act 2006, s. 123.
Tax deducted at source.Remains the deducting authority.Computes, deposits with NBR and keeps the receipts.Income Tax Act 2023, s. 86.
Provident Fund and gratuity.Sets the fund rules.Keeps member records and contribution ledgers.Labour Act 2006, s. 264.
Leave and benefits.Approves each request.Maintains balances and the leave register.Labour Act 2006, ss. 115–117.
Discipline and termination.Takes every decision.Prepares the notices and records the outcome.Labour Act 2006, ss. 23, 26.
Expatriate staff.Sponsors the work permit.Coordinates BIDA filings and payroll after issue.BIDA permission.
Parent-company reporting.Receives and signs off.Compiles the monthly compliance pack.Service agreement.

Each decision reaches HRBD as a signed instruction from the contact your entity names in the service agreement. HRBD does not act on a verbal request. The instruction is filed with the employee’s record, the resulting letter or payroll change is prepared to the Labour Act 2006, and the signed copy goes back to your entity. Where a decision carries a statutory notice period, HRBD states it before the instruction is executed.

Every administrative step leaves a record your entity can inspect. Payroll produces a register your signatory approves before payslips are released. Tax deducted at source produces an NBR deposit receipt filed against the month. Provident Fund, gratuity and leave produce ledger entries in the statutory registers. At month end the compliance pack lists what was filed, what was deposited and what still needs a decision from your entity.

How Does the Parent Company Transition to HRBD?

The transition runs in three stages, and the parent company signs off each stage before the next begins. The sequence table shows what the parent company receives at each point and the three cards beneath describe the work inside each stage. Nothing is processed before the service agreement is signed, and your existing payroll method keeps running until the first HRBD cycle has been reconciled against it.
Transition sequence and what the parent company receives at each stage.
StageWhat the parent company receivesPoint in the sequence
Authorisation and records.Signed service agreement and the takeover records list.Before any processing starts.
Register migration.Rebuilt statutory registers for review.Before the first payroll run.
First payroll cycle.Parallel run reconciled against your existing method.End of the first cycle.
Monthly cadence.Compliance pack with the reviewer’s sign-off.After each payroll and NBR deposit.

1

Handover of Records

Your entity issues a letter naming HRBD as administrator. HRBD then collects the appointment letters, salary structures, tax numbers, leave balances and bank details for every employee. The list goes back to the parent company for a check before anything is entered.

2

First Cycle in Parallel

Statutory registers, service rules and leave policies are rebuilt to the Labour Act 2006 and the Labour Rules 2015. The first payroll is run in parallel with your existing method, reconciled line by line, and the compliance reviewer signs off before payslips are released.

3

Reports Each Month

From the second cycle, HRBD runs payroll, deposits tax deducted at source with NBR, updates the registers and sends the compliance pack to the signatories the parent company named. Open items that need a decision from your entity are listed at the end of the pack.

Compliance Resources for Foreign-Owned Entities

These references sit beside the Pro Co-Employer service rather than inside it. The parent company uses them to brief its own finance and legal teams, to prepare records before the scoping call, and to check month-to-month practice against the registers HRBD keeps. HRBD maintains each of them on this site and revises them when a filing rule changes.

Employment and Legal Risk Assessment

A review of misclassification, contract and Labour Act 2006 exposure on a Bangladesh hire before the offer letter is signed. Parent-company legal teams use it to see where a role, a contract term or a notice period carries risk before the entity commits.

Bangladesh Labour Law Compliance Guide

A plain-language guide to working hours, leave, wages, benefits and termination under the Labour Act 2006 and the Labour Rules 2015. It is written for employers whose head office sits outside Bangladesh. The rules are stated once, in the order a payroll month raises them.

Work Permit and Visa Processing

How a Bangladesh entity sponsors a work permit for an expatriate employee through BIDA. It lists the documents the sponsor supplies and how renewals are raised before expiry. It also marks the point at which the employee can be placed on the entity’s payroll under this service.

Payroll Tax Compliance and Filing

The monthly and annual sequence for tax deducted at source under the Income Tax Act 2023. It covers the deposit receipts NBR issues and the annual return the employer files. It also lists the records the parent company should expect in each monthly compliance pack.

Employment Contract Management

How appointment letters and employment contracts are drafted, signed by the entity, stored and renewed. It explains what changes when an employee moves from probation to a confirmed post under the Labour Act 2006. It also lists which copies the personnel file must hold.

Questions Employers Ask About Co-Employment

These are direct answers to the questions finance and legal teams in a parent company ask before signing a Pro Co-Employer agreement. The first sentence of each answer is the answer itself. Anything the list does not cover is settled at the scoping call. That call fixes the entity details, the records and the reporting cadence before any work begins.

What does Pro Co-Employer mean?

Pro Co-Employer is HRBD’s name for its contractual role under a PEO service agreement in Bangladesh. HRBD carries defined employer administration duties. These are payroll, tax deducted at source, Provident Fund records, statutory registers and reporting. Your entity remains the sole legal employer. The word describes shared administration, not shared employment, because the Bangladesh Labour Act 2006 has no statutory co-employment.

Who is our staff’s legal employer?

Your Bangladesh entity is, and it stays so for the life of the agreement. Every appointment letter names your subsidiary, branch office or liaison office as the employer, and HRBD’s name appears only as administrator on the service agreement. Pay, discipline and termination decisions are taken by your entity and recorded by HRBD.

Who signs the employment contracts?

An authorised signatory of your entity signs every contract. HRBD drafts the appointment letter to the Bangladesh Labour Act 2006 and the Labour Rules 2015, checks the terms against your approved salary structure, and files the signed copy in the personnel record. HRBD does not sign as employer.

How does the parent company get reports?

The parent company receives one compliance pack each month, sent to the named contacts in the agreement. The pack opens with the payroll register and the reviewer’s sign-off. Next come the tax deducted at source deposit receipts from NBR. Then follow the Provident Fund and gratuity ledger movements, and the headcount, joiners, leavers and leave balances. It closes with the open items that need a decision from your entity.

Can HRBD pay expatriate staff?

Yes, once BIDA has issued the work permit and your entity is the sponsor. HRBD then places the employee on the entity’s payroll, applies tax deducted at source under the Income Tax Act 2023 and keeps the permit dates in the personnel record so renewal is raised before expiry. Permit applications themselves are coordinated, not filed, under this service.

Is employee data shared outside Bangladesh?

No. Employee data is stored in Bangladesh. It is disclosed only to the contacts your entity names in the agreement. The monthly compliance pack goes to those contacts, wherever the parent company sits. HRBD does not pass employee data to any third party unless a Bangladesh law or regulator requires it.

What happens if a dispute arises?

The service agreement names the escalation path first. An issue goes to the HRBD compliance reviewer, then to the Head of Compliance, and the correction and its cause are recorded in your compliance log. If the matter cannot be settled between the parties, the agreement is governed by Bangladesh law and the dispute is resolved in Bangladesh.

Can we move from in-house HR?

Yes. Moving from an in-house HR or finance officer follows the same three stages as any other transition. First comes the letter of authority and the records handover. Then the registers are rebuilt and the first cycle runs in parallel. Then the monthly cadence begins. Your in-house records are the takeover source, and HRBD checks its first payroll against them before the handover is treated as complete.

Can we end the agreement mid-year?

Yes, on the notice period written in the service agreement. At exit HRBD hands back every register, personnel file, payroll ledger and deposit receipt in a form your entity or its next provider can continue from, and completes the filings that fall due inside the notice period. Nothing is withheld pending final invoices.

What does this service not cover?

It does not incorporate a company, obtain BIDA permission for a branch or liaison office, file corporate tax returns or conduct a statutory audit. It does not act as legal employer, so it is not a substitute for an Employer of Record where no Bangladesh entity exists. Work permit applications are coordinated with your entity as sponsor, not filed by HRBD in its own name.

How long does the transition take?

It depends on how complete your records are on handover day. A subsidiary with signed appointment letters and a current payroll register moves through the three stages faster than an office whose records need rebuilding. HRBD states the expected sequence at the scoping call rather than promising a fixed number of days.
Reviewed by Romana Aktar, Head of Compliance, HRBD
Payroll, statutory filing and labour-law compliance for Pro Co-Employer clients, Bangladesh.
Statutory sources: the Bangladesh Labour Act 2006, the Labour Rules 2015 and the Income Tax Act 2023. Primary reference: Bangladesh Labour Act 2006 (official text). Regulators named on this page: National Board of Revenue (NBR) and the Bangladesh Investment Development Authority (BIDA).

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