Across corporate Bangladesh, this paradox is becoming more visible inside everyday workplace practices. Job insecurity is no longer limited to occasional mergers, departmental reshuffles, or an isolated downturn. Instead, sustained pressure, continuously shifting expectations, and an emphasis on short-term outcomes are increasingly shaping how organizations manage their people. Stability is often treated as something employees must repeatedly prove they deserve rather than a foundation for productivity. Evidence from global workplace research shows that when insecurity becomes normalized, it weakens both employee well-being and long-term performance, turning a short-term management tactic into a long-term organizational risk.
The metaphor "not players, but the ball" captures how a large share of employees experiences their role: pushed between departments, targets, and leadership agendas, often without clear protections, predictable career paths, or meaningful voice. In an economy where most workers are in informal employment, formal corporate jobs carry a premium, and that premium can keep people silent even when workplace culture becomes unhealthy.
Bangladesh's current macro-financial context matters because it shapes corporate behavior. The International Monetary Fund has described "mounting macro-financial challenges" for Bangladesh, including elevated inflation, weak tax revenue, and financial-sector vulnerabilities, while stressing that stronger governance and job creation are central to long-term stability.
The ILO has recognized a safe and healthy working environment as a fundamental principle and right at work. In Bangladesh, that principle should translate into transparent restructuring processes, fair notice and severance norms, and minimum standards of due process even for "officer" categories
This reality becomes even more significant in a tightening labour market. Recent Labour Force Survey 2024 figures reported overall unemployment at around 3.66%, with urban unemployment higher than rural areas and approximately 2.62 million people classified as unemployed, particularly concentrated in major corporate hubs such as Dhaka and Chattogram. Hiring trends reflect a similar slowdown, as job portal data indicated that postings declined by about 10% during the first eleven months of FY25 compared to the previous year, suggesting that many organizations are either delaying expansion or maintaining cautious recruitment policies. When external opportunities become limited, employees are more likely to tolerate demanding or unhealthy workplace practices, including unclear performance expectations, persistent urgency, and evaluation systems that feel punitive rather than developmental.
The pressure inside companies is fed by forces outside them. Labour market analysis notes that around 2.2 million young workers enter Bangladesh's labour market each year, while public policy goals aim for massive job creation by 2030. At the same time, the same analysis warns that a large share of Bangladesh's workforce is concentrated in industries at high risk of automation. Organizations respond by squeezing more output from fewer people and expecting faster adaptation from everyone.
Insecurity inside corporates sits on top of insecurity across the wider workforce. Using the Labour Force Survey 2022, the International Labour Organization reported that 84.9% of the working population is in informal employment, with even higher informality among employed women (96.6%) and youth aged 15-27 (92.7%). It also notes that informal employment can exist even inside formally registered businesses. That context shapes corporate power: when alternatives are scarce, workers bargain from a weaker position.
Legal coverage can also be uneven across white-collar roles. The Bangladesh Labour Act defines "worker" broadly but explicitly excludes people employed mainly in managerial, administrative, or supervisory capacity. Many corporate employees fall into these categories, relying more on individual contracts and internal service rules than on robust, enforceable protections. Finally, Bangladesh does not have a practical unemployment benefit insurance scheme as a standard backstop, which increases the personal cost of job loss and makes employees more vulnerable to coercive performance management.
Bangladesh's corporates do not need to abandon performance. They need to redesign it so results and dignity move together. Evidence from goal-setting research suggests companies should avoid narrow, single-metric targets that create tunnel vision and predictable side effects. Targets should be multi-dimensional: reward outcome quality and ethical conduct, not only volume, supported by realistic time horizons and internal checks that verify how results were achieved.
Psychosocial safety should be managed like any other operational risk. ISO 45003 provides guidance for managing psychosocial risks within occupational health and safety systems, emphasizing leadership commitment and worker participation. In practice, that means role clarity, workload planning, trained supervisors, protected grievance channels, and a credible no-retaliation rule that employees trust.
Public expectations should be clearer too. The ILO has recognized a safe and healthy working environment as a fundamental principle and right at work. In Bangladesh, that principle should translate into transparent restructuring processes, fair notice and severance norms, and minimum standards of due process even for "officer" categories. Corporate Bangladesh should remember the simplest truth: people protect quality, innovate, and tell the truth when they feel secure enough to do so.
Everyone involved should frame "decent work" as national competitiveness policy. Bangladesh cannot build durable productivity and governance while treating its corporate employees as a ball to be kicked between targets and restructurings. A safe and healthy working environment is increasingly recognized internationally as a fundamental right, and Bangladesh's corporate sector will be judged, by investors and citizens alike, on whether it aligns with that direction.
The writer is a senior banker
