Security guards live with little security of their own

Fifty-eight-year-old Wahidul Islam works as a security guard at an ATM booth of a private bank in Shekhertek, Mohammadpur, in the capital. When he entered the profession 16 years ago, his basic salary was around Tk 2,500. Today, he earns Tk 9,333. With overtime, his monthly income rises to Tk 14,000–16,000.

According to Bangladesh Bank data, banks across the country have more than 16,000 branches and sub-branches and over 10,000 ATM booths. Almost all the security guards deployed at these branches and booths are outsourced workers supplied by private security companies.

The presence of private security personnel is not limited to the banking sector. They are now employed at offices, commercial buildings, factories and even diplomatic missions. 

There is no precise figure for the total number of security guards in the country. However, one of the major industry associations estimates that there are more than 500,000 security guards nationwide.

A Prothom Alo investigation found that low wages are the biggest problem facing security guards. Other difficulties include working 12–16 hours a day, delayed payment of wages, lack of weekly holidays and inadequate personal safety. Many also struggle with sleeping, accessing medical care and getting proper meals.

Under the law and relevant regulations, private security companies in Bangladesh are required to obtain separate registrations from metropolitan police commissioners and the Department of Inspection for Factories and Establishments (DIFE). But there are very few instances of companies obtaining these registrations. Oversight is also weak. Security companies cite procedural complications.

Over a period of two months, Prothom Alo spoke to at least 80 security guards in Dhaka and elsewhere in the country. Various documents were examined, and government agencies, employers, client organisations, industry associations and labour experts were also interviewed.

Syed Sultan Uddin Ahmmed, executive director of the Bangladesh Institute of Labour Studies (BILS), said some of the larger security companies comply with standards in certain areas, but most operate without adequate oversight. There is also very little discussion about the problems faced by security guards.

Struggling to make ends meet

Interviews with security guards found that most earn around Tk 8,000–12,000 for eight hours of work. With overtime, their monthly income rises to Tk 14,000–16,000. The situation is broadly similar, from banks to multinational companies. Workers employed by some organisations earn Tk 18,000–20,000, but they are a small minority. Some companies provide workers with modest bonuses and risk allowances; others do not.

Most security guards working in Dhaka keep their families in their villages, Prothom Alo found. Israfil Hossain is one of them. He works at the Dhaka office of a multinational company.

“I’ve been doing this job since 2004. I’ve spent all these years in Dhaka. I can’t afford to live with my family here, let alone bring them to Dhaka for a few days. I can’t make ends meet with what I earn,” Israfil said.

In 2022, the Labour Ministry set a minimum wage for the private security sector. Under that decision, the minimum wage is Tk 9,800 in divisional cities and city corporation areas and Tk 9,140 in district towns and other areas. Of the 80 security guards interviewed for this report, at least 30 said they earn less than these amounts.

Labour experts say that even the prescribed minimum wage is low when recent inflation and wages in other formal sectors are taken into account. In the garment sector, for example, the current minimum wage is Tk 12,500.

The Bangladesh Private Security Services Providers’ Association (BPSSPA) has been repeatedly calling for the reconstitution of the Bangladesh Minimum Wage Board to review the existing wages of security guards.

BPSSPA President Lt Col (retd) Khalid Azam said, “The Labour Ministry recently told us that it will reconstitute the board. We hope a better and sustainable wage will be set this time.”

Another calculation of wages

There is another set of rules governing wages. The Labour Rules, amended in 2022, state that outsourced workers must receive the minimum wage applicable to the sector in which they work. The supplier company cannot pay less than that amount.

The rules also state that the wage and allowances agreed upon for each worker in the contract between the contractor and the client organisation must be paid in full. Yet such rules are rarely enforced.

BPSSPA says it has not received complaints of security companies paying workers less than the amount specified in their contracts. Most contracts, however, mention only a service charge and do not specify the worker’s salary.

BPSSPA Secretary General Farhan Quddus said the problem is twofold. On the one hand, clients are unwilling to pay more and create artificial competition among security companies by seeking services at the lowest possible rates. On the other hand, security companies are desperate to secure contracts.

No fixed working hours

BILS conducted a study on security guards in 2017. According to the study, more than 80 per cent of workers in the sector work more than eight hours a day. Twenty-four percent work more than 15 hours a day. They generally have no weekly holiday, and 88 per cent do not even get a day off on May Day.

Many security guards do not want to make this a long-term career, particularly younger workers. Thirty-eight guards in Dhaka told Prothom Alo that they would leave the profession if they found another job.

The Labour Rules stipulate that a worker cannot be employed by more than one organisation on the same day. But there are instances to the contrary.

Jibrail Hossain works as a security guard at a bank office in Gulshan. After completing an eight-hour shift there, his supplier company gives him a two-hour break and then sends him to another multinational company about half a kilometre away, where he works for another six hours.

BPSSPA Secretary General Farhan Quddus, however, said workers themselves often ask to work additional hours continuously to increase their income because of low wages. Security companies discourage this practice, he said.

Women workers face additional difficulties

In recent years, women have increasingly been employed as security guards at large shopping malls, corporate offices and garment factories. Interviews with 13 women security guards in Dhaka found that they sometimes face discriminatory conditions at work compared with men.

Many workplaces do not have separate changing rooms for female guards. Many women are also unable to work overtime.

Salma Begum works as a security guard at the office of a foreign company in Gulshan.

“We earn a little less. Sometimes the company sends us far away for duty at events. Then eating and using the toilet become major problems,” she said.

Registration hurdles, little oversight

Private security companies began operating in Bangladesh in 1988. Many companies have entered the sector over the past four decades.

A BPSSPA survey in 2020 identified around 369 companies with valid trade licences. At the time, the association estimated that they employed around 500,000 guards. The association says the number has increased since then.

A 2017 BILS study found that between 350 and 400 security agencies were operating in the country at the time, employing slightly more than 300,000 workers.

Neither the metropolitan police commissioners nor DIFE has up-to-date information on registrations.

Asked about the matter, Niaz Mehedi, additional deputy commissioner of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police’s Media and Public Relations Division, told Prothom Alo that private security agencies had previously been operating without formal registration from the DMP. However, the Home Ministry issued a public notice on August 19 asking private security companies to obtain registration within two months.

BPSSPA President Lt Col (retd) Khalid Azam said that under the Private Security Services Act, companies are required to obtain licences from the Home Ministry through the DMP.

“The companies want to obtain those licences. But there is confusion over the DIFE registration process. Large companies already have adequate arrangements for gratuity, provident funds, leave, maternity benefits and medical care. Despite this, DIFE is asking companies to deposit money into a workers’ safety fund, which creates an additional cost,” he said.

What needs to be done

BILS Executive Director Syed Sultan Uddin Ahmmed told Prothom Alo that the private security sector must be regulated under labour laws. Minimum safety standards and protections applicable to hazardous work must be ensured.

In his view, the Home Ministry does not have an inspection system, nor is there a labour court for the sector. The ministry could focus on specific security-related registration and verification, such as the registration of weapons, while other responsibilities should fall under the Labour Ministry.

Sultan Uddin recommended establishing standards for recruitment and for wages and working hours under service-supply contracts. There should also be an appropriate inspection system, mechanisms through which workers can raise complaints and demands, and the right of workers to organise.