LC Packaging helps female Bangladeshi employees gain control of their finances with digital salary payments
July 19, 2020
To contribute to the further economic empowerment of women in Bangladesh and to improve their financial independence, LC Packaging’s SA8000 certified production facility Dutch-Bangla Pack Ltd. (DBPL) has implemented a digital payroll system for all of its Bengali factory employees.
With this system, every DBPL employee has been assigned a bank account to which their salaries are directly deposited. Additionally, all employees have been supplied with a chequebook and bankcard, allowing them to cash out their wages at their own convenience or to directly transfer funds to pay their bills. The bankcards can also be used for payments at the on-site fair priced supermarket; the Happy Shop.
Financial independence
Apart from transparency and control over their expenditure and savings, these digital payments give employees access to formal financial services, such as insurances and loans, which will give them more control over their own finances.
The expectation is that moving to digital wage payments will contribute to the further economic empowerment of female employees, by giving them greater control over how their money will be spent. As a final step of implementing the digital wage payments, an ATM booth has been installed right outside the gate of the DBPL production facility. Employees can use their bankcards for withdrawing and depositing money from this booth.
Female empowerment
Bangladesh has witnessed steady economic growth over the last decade and is gradually moving towards middle income status. That does not take away from the fact that– like many other countries – it is a patriarchal society in which women remain subordinate to men. However, women make up over half of the world’s population and the majority of the world’s poor. It is therefore important, and it makes sense, to address women and their economic empowerment and contribution when trying to reduce poverty and further the economic development of Bangladesh.
We strongly believe in empowerment of our employees and will continue to implement initiatives to further empower each and every one of them.
At Dutch-Bangla Pack Ltd., LC Packaging works daily on improving the well-being of our people through the Employee Commitment Programme. Our efforts have been acknowledged by the Sedex Responsible Business Awards.