Better Work Bangladesh: Our services

Better Work Bangladesh

Established in 2015, Better Work Bangladesh has been an essential facilitator of growth and expansion of the Ready-Made Garment (RMG) industry ─ one of the economy’s largest export-oriented drivers.

Focused on promoting decent work, empowering women and inclusive economic growth, the programme has grown to include about 450 participating factories. Working with 48 brands and retailers, Better Work Bangladesh impacts around 1.3 million workers, 50 per cent of whom are women.

In its first phase (2014 – 2017), the programme worked with the Government of Bangladesh to better align the country’s labour laws with international labour standards and best practices. This was a period marked by labour law amendments and improvements in union registration criteria adhering to the ILO’s fundamental constitutions on Freedom of Association and Collective Bargaining. In Phase II (2018 – 2022), the programme expanded its operations from Dhaka to the port city of Chittagong. To respond to evolving industry needs, the programme adopted an agile service model and initiated several special initiatives, such as the Gender Equality and Returns (GEAR) programme, maternity health and protection initiatives and the Factory Ambassador Programme (FAP).

MORE ABOUT THE PROGRAMME

Bangladesh: Our services

Since September 2015, our team in Bangladesh has been delivering our full suite of services under our global Factory Service Model to registered factories. This includes a series of Learning and Assessment services, as detailed below.

Learning

The learning part of our process takes place through advisory factory visits, training and industry seminars

Our advisory work

Our advisory work begins with a specially-tailored programme of coaching from our experienced staff. Here we engage factory managers one-on-one in identifying compliance and other issues and establish the means of improvement, working with them every step of the way.

Industry Seminars

Industry Seminars are an integral part of the advisory process as they provide an important opportunity for factories to learn from their peers. Seminars are participatory, learner-centered workshops that aim to tackle collectively areas of needed improvement identified across factories.

Training

Our innovative training courses for factory representatives support and reinforce the advisory work through detailed instruction on how to tackle challenges and improve workplace relations. Examples of this include training on managing health and safety in the workplace, enabling worker and management representatives to diagnose and improve their own grievance mechanisms, and educating supervisors on how to manage workers and training on setting up proper human resources systems.

Our Training

Our Training Courses

Explore our training courses offered in Bangladesh

5s

5S is a workplace organization method that uses a list of five Japanese words: seiri (整理), seiton (整頓), seisō (清掃), seiketsu(清潔), and shitsuke (躾). These have been translated as “Sort”, “Set In order”, “Shine”, “Standardize” and “Sustain”. The list describes how to organize a work space for efficiency and effectiveness by identifying and storing the items used, maintaining the area and items, and sustaining the new order. The decision-making process usually comes from a dialogue about standardization, which builds understanding among employees of how they should do the work. The 5S steps are: 1. Sort (Seiri) – Elimination of needless work items 2. Set In Order (Seiton) – Establishment of efficient and effective storage systems 3. Shine (Seiso) – Establishment of cleaning requirements and systems to quickly highlight issues 4. Standardise (Seiketsu) – Establishment of best practice as a standard process 5. Sustain (Shitsuke) – Strategy development to sustain best practice into routine. A place for everything, and everything in its place! Participants Production managers/supervisors/ HR/ Compliance officers

Awareness training on Reproductive Health

After receiving the training program participants will be aware on the issues of– Menstrual health and hygiene – Family planning – Maternal Health (pre & post-natal) – Breast cancer & cervical cancer – STD & women vulnerability

Capacity Building Training for Welfare Officers

Roles and responsibilities of welfare officers, challenges and opportunities Facilitation Skills Welfare Officers Role on Grievance Mechanism Welfare Officers Role and Industrial Relation Bangladesh Labour Law and Bangladesh Labour Rules following Welfare Officers Job Description Welfare Officers Role in Disciplinary Procedures

Communication in the Workplace for Workers

Effective workplace communication is essential in ensuring harmonious workers management relations, and a productive environment. This training provides an overview of ways in which workplace cooperation can be established in factories, including developing internal dispute resolution mechanisms to address and find a solution to grievances. Areas covered include the importance of effective workplace communication, grievance mechanisms, barriers to good workplace cooperation as well as strategies to overcome. And how to develop a plan to monitor and implement improvements to workplace cooperation.

Compensation and Benefits Training

Understand the importance and benefits to have a good Compensation and Benefits management system. Understand the theoretical base for the Compensation and Benefits management system. Understand the international and national regulations as the legal framework and best practices in your country context. Understand the overall management system components. Understand the important steps to set up a fair salary structure and scale. Identify gap on their existing wage management system and formulate follow up action plan.

Crisis Leadership

The intention of the program is to train on the important topics and challenges associated with leading teams through crisis’s and during post crisis situations. There are three parts to this module; Part 1: building crisis leadership skills, behaviours, mind-sets, prioritizing and situational leadership Part 2: circle of influence and managing stress Part 3: crisis communication processes, ensuring safe and inclusive workplaces and managing retrenchment. Participants Mid to top level management (Production, HR and Compliance)

Factory Ambassador Program (FAP)

Factory Ambassadors are factory compliance staff and workers’ representatives who are empowered to have greater ownership in the factory’s improvement process. Ambassadors play a key role alongside our team to ensure Better Work support to factories continues. Participants of this programme are coached and trained to strengthen their knowledge, competencies and skills to bring long-lasting changes to their workplace, using tried and tested Better Work tools and techniques.

Financial Literacy Training

Topics covered through this training are:

  • Meeting your goals
  • Making a Budget Staying within your budget
  • Book Keeping Tools
  • Debts
  • Compering Saving Services

Participants: Workers and Welfare Officers

Gender Equality at workplace

  • Understand the concept gender and gender mainstreaming
  • Understand how to make the workplace gender inclusive
  • Know the steps to make the workplace gender inclusive

Leadership Skills Program

This course will help factories to boost the confidence and effectiveness of middle managers though practical instruction and guidance both for their own personal development and for their role as mentors and managers. Areas covered include management styles and techniques, effective communication in a managerial position, coaching skills, and managing conflict.

Learning Sharing Session of Capacity Building Training for Welfare Officers

Negotiation and Collective Bargaining to contributing in Harmonious Industrial Relations

Enterprise-level TU interactive session on ‘Negotiation and Collective Bargaining to contributing in Harmonious Industrial Relations. This training will help participants to understand the role and importance of negotiation in everyday life and the link between negotiation and relationships and understand the role and importance of negotiation/collective bargaining for both employers and workers, and society more generally. Moreover, the session will help to identify what they will do to enhance the effectiveness of constructive labour management relations and harmonious industrial relations in their factories

Nutrition

After workers completed this training course they will:

  • Have a broader understanding of importance of healthy eating
  • Gain knowledge on the different food groups and the benefits in each
  • Have more knowledge of the consequences of malnutrition
  • Have a better understanding of the challenges to good nutrition

Problem Solving

Roles And Responsibilities Of Participation Committee

  • Recognize the goals of the Better Work Service Model and the PC function within this
  • Identify the roles and responsibilities of management and worker representatives in the PC
  • Get to the root cause and address non compliances through the PC
  • Recognize the key characteristic of an ideal PC and how it links to improved industrial relations

Sexual Harassment and Prevention training for Managers, Supervisors and Workers

For Managers

Supports middle or human resource managers to prevent and address sexual harassment, including information on conducting interviews, impartial investigations, and confidentiality.

Topics include:

  • Defining sexual harassment, forms of sexual harassment and how to identify it
  • Why it is common in the garment sector, how it impacts workers and the steps to take when dealing with it.
  • Participants: Production Managers, HR and Compliance Team

1 day training

For Supervisors

Supports supervisors to protect themselves and workers from sexual harassment.

Topics include:

  • Rights and responsibilities
  • What sexual harassment is, forms of sexual harassment and how to identify it
  • Sexual harassment policy and the steps to take when dealing with it

Participants: Supervisors and Line Chiefs

1 day training

For Workers

Focusing on rights and responsibilities regarding sexual harassment, workers learn what sexual harassment is, how to prevent and address it, as well as contacts for local referrals and hotlines for help in such matters.

Topics include:

  • Understanding what sexual harassment is, forms of sexual harassment and how to identify
    Sexual harassment policy and the steps to take when dealing with it

Participants: Workers, including PC, Safety Committee and Trade Union members

0.5 day training

TOT on Sexual Harassment and Prevention

After completing this training participants will:

  • Understand the basic of adult learning methodology
  • Understand the basic of facilitation skill
  • Be able to conduct awareness session on Sexual Harassment and Prevention in the factory for different types of participants

Supervisory Skills Training

SST has been proven to increase the productivity of lines supervised by trained female supervisors, as it reduces the time needed to reach production targets, resulting in a 22 % increase in productivity.

Major topics which we cover through this training are:

  • Supervisors’ roles and responsibilities
  • Types of supervisor
  • Steps to influence
  • Positive attitude
  • Integrity
  • Management styles
  • Giving job instructions
  • Correcting poor performance
  • Resolving conflicts
  • Managing workers Participants Supervisors, Line chiefs and Production Managers

Training of Facilitators on Facilitation

Training of Facilitors (ToF) course provides methods and tools to enable factories to deliver variuos type of facilitation for the factory at a consistently high quality. Participants will be able to get knowledge and skills on adult learning principles, learning & retention, facilitation skills etc. Participants will also get the opportunity to practice their learning during the session and get feedback along the way.

HIV & AIDs Awareness

After workers complete this training course, they will:

  • Have a broader understanding of HIV and AIDS
  • Have more knowledge of protective measures
  • Have more knowledge of preventive measures • Get to know the Better Work Team (Main)

Training on Management System focusing Factory Road Map

The training aims to:

  • Improve the understanding of the managers on OSH and HR management system focuing PDCA
  • Improve the understanding of factory road map, why it is important and how to develop and implement a road map for sustainability.

Trainings for capacitating Compliant Committees

Planning to arrange a series of training programs for the existing Compliant committee/Anti-Harassment Committee members of the factories with the purpose to strengthen the capacity of the compliant committee /AHC members regarding prevention and handle Sexual and Gender Based Violence issues at the factories, so that the workers have a healthy working environment.

Violence and Harassment in the workplace

Supports middle or human resource managers to prevent and address workplace violence and harassment. Topics include: Definitions of violence and harassment, Gender Based Violence and sexual harassment It’s causes and impact on victims, bystanders, perpetrators and workplaces How to build a trusting and open environment to encourage transparency The difference between prevention, immediate action, and redressal, and the factorie’s role in this Effective policies and processes Participants Production Managers, HR and Compliance Officers

Worker Rights and Responsibilities

Participants will know more about their rights and responsibilities at work, get to know the national labour law and learn about international labour rights/human rights Participants Workers and Welfare Officers

Assessments

We provide a comprehensive assessment to determine each factory’s overall progress on meeting international labour standards and national labour laws. Assessment findings are coupled with the factory’s own diagnosis of problems to provide a fair and well-rounded picture of success, demonstrated progress and areas for continued improvement. As of September 2016, Better Work Bangladesh had completed 88 assessments, released 83 assessment reports and conducted 437 advisory visits.

Areas covered by our assessments include:

Areas covered by our assessments include:

  • Discrimination
  • Forced Labor
  • Child Labor
  • Freedom of Association and Collective Bargaining

National Labor Law:

  • Compensation
  • Working Time
  • Contracts and Human Resources
  • Occupational Safety and Health

Enroll your factory or supplier enterprise

If you are a Bangladesh based enterprise working in the ready-made garments industry in Dhaka, Tongi, Gazipur, Savar, Ashulia, Narayanganj or Mymensingh and are interested in our assessment, advisory and training services, you can enrol your factory on the link below.

Subscribe to our Newsletter

Keep up to date with our latest news and publications by subscribing to our regular newsletter.