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Compensation Management issues in Teletalk Bangladesh Ltd.

Thesis · September 2022

DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.2.17140.42881

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 Report on
TELETALK Bangladesh Ltd.

Course title: Compensation Management

Prepared by

Md. Anwaruzzaman
Masters of Business Administration
BRAC University
Table of Contents
Introduction ................................................................................................................................................... 1
History of Teletalk .................................................................................................................................... 1
Initial capacity at the time of launching .................................................................................................... 2
Present Status of Teletalk.......................................................................................................................... 2
Compensation management and issues of Teletalk ...................................................................................... 5
Compensation Systems of Teletalk ........................................................................................................... 5
Issues in compensation management in Teletalk .................................................................................... 10
Overall compensation system of Teletalk ............................................................................................... 11
Identify the importance of internal consistency/ market competitiveness. ................................................. 12
Internal consistency of Teletalk .............................................................................................................. 12
The internal consistency in compensation management ..................................................................... 12
How Teletalk can develop consistency in the company’s compensation system? ............................. 12
Market competitiveness of Teletalk ........................................................................................................ 13
Internal consistency or market competitiveness? .................................................................................... 14
Approaches adopted by employers in building a flexible workforce.......................................................... 16
What is a flexible workforce ................................................................................................................... 16
Measures to implement flexible workforce ............................................................................................ 17
CM challenges Teletalk will face in 21st century ....................................................................................... 22
Compensation management problems in 21st century ............................................................................ 22
Conclusion .................................................................................................................................................. 26
Recommendation for Teletalk..................................................................................................................... 27
Recommendations and implementation .................................................................................................. 27
References .................................................................................................................................................. 30

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Executive summary
Teletalk Bangladesh Ltd. debuted in telecom industries on 31st of March 2015 with association of
government. This company had started its commercial operation with sky-high expectations. The
first year of the operation is pretty significant for an operator, considering the time of other existing
operator’s operation time. Most probably that was the right time to assess the achievements it has
made, comparing them with what it could have achieved. And also, to inspect the opportunities
and threats are forthcoming.

The biggest weakness of Teletalk was its prematurity in a mature market. Whenever any user could
hold of a Teletalk sim, he started comparing with other operators GP, Banglalink or Robi. Teletalk
had its first setback if they had the slightest idea of what problems could be impounded and
compounded while starting a commercial telecommunication operation with such a small coverage
comprising pockets all over the places.

Many of the analysts used to say “Where is the harm in throwing a system on use with such a small
number of BTSs if operator like Grameen could start its commercial operation with couple of BTSs
around.” But Teletalk wretchedly failed to classify the difference of penetration into a matured or
developed market.

Moreover, the improvement in development of network system was far lower than the expectation
of users/subscribers. Above all the strength to compete with other operators was so poor.
Especially with Teletalk generally just because of lake of cooperation, it became a nightmare for
the subscribers to use a Teletalk sim service.

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Objectives of the study

Broad objective

The broad objective of this study is to find and sort out the compensation management problem in
Teletalk Bangladesh Ltd. is one of the reasons for its falling back in telecommunication industry.

Specific objectives

1. Compensation management problems and issues of Teletalk.

2. Identify the importance of internal consistency/ market competitiveness in Teletalk.
3. Approaches adopted by Teletalk employers in building a flexible workforce.
4. CM challenges Teletalk will face in 21st century.

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Scope of the study

This study is only about the possible problems in HR department and compensation management
of Teletalk Bangladesh Ltd. There are a number of problems along with HR department and
compensation management which are the cause of falling back from Teletalk’s organizational goal
even though they being facilitated by government support.

Limitations of the study

Limitations I’ve faced while working for the report are as follows:

➢ One of the major limitations about Teletalk is, they did not disclose any kind of updated
organizational data/information on the internet.
➢ Confidential information such as compensation policy, strategy and other information
is not collected accurately. Some provided information is collected from third party site
and research paper.
➢ I have used very primary data of this organization. So, there might be level of inaccurate
information in this study. Adequate cross check was conducted through the online.

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Introduction
History of Teletalk
In Bangladesh, tele communication industry is highly potential industry. But tele destiny of
Bangladesh is still the lowest in South Asia. According to the statistics of International
Telecommunication Union (ITU), Bangladeshi tele subscribers still getting the lowest facilities.

The long-awaited debut of a mobile telecom service administrated by state-run organization had
emerged on 31st of March in 2005. It was a cherished dream of the people of Bangladesh,
continuously demanded to the government for such a telecommunication service.

The government started “Mobile Telephone Project” and Bangladesh Telegraph and Telephone
Board (BTTB) was delegated to implement this project. This project was started in June 2004 and
network was initially launched on 26th of December 2004.

Teletalk Bangladesh Ltd. was initiated their operation successfully by installed by BTTB. The
initial operation successfully started with standard networking system and give proper service to
its subscribers inside Bangladesh. Teletalk was the only operator introduced mobile users many
attractive packages and all of the lucrative offers were welcomed in the market at that time.

The main strength of Teletalk was the loyalty of the subscribers towards this company as the
government administrated institution. On the contrary, being a part of government administration
is the biggest weakness from operational perspective of Teletalk. This fact will be clear as we go
through the whole project.

The most outstanding accomplishment of Teletalk is the slump in tariff. When the Teletalk
announced its tariff the extensive oligopoly between other private telecom operators were crushed.
A healthy competition came into telecom industry and this market causing 50% reduction in sim
price and usage rate. The slump in price made mobile phone, sim and usage rate affordable even
for the low level of income people. Use of a mobile phone became a necessity from luxury.

Teletalk started conducting its operation with a big bang right at the time when people of
Bangladesh were desperately looking a way out to get rid of the oligopoly of few private operators.
There was huge response from the mobile phone users. People became frenzy to get a Teletalk
operated sim card. Another good reason of that craze was it’s easy and flexible way to get

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connectivity while the other operators was bit crucial. It is the only operator which has versatility
of connection having facility of ISD, economy ISD along with both incoming and outgoing
connectivity with any of the land phones.

Initial capacity at the time of launching

From the very beginning of launching of Teletalk, it got huge response as this operator triggered
the actual competition in the market at that time. And impressively, Teletalk had covered about 61
districts, 120 upozillas and 3 major highways of the country just within one year.

Present Status of Teletalk

Definitely there is no justification threatening on the past unless Teletalk exploit those
experience in the further course of time. This company, despite having the privileges but failed
to earn a competitive place even in 18 years. As an example, country's total 18 cr. mobile
subscriber, Teletalk serves only 66 lakhs. which is only 3.66%. Moreover, it is losing market day
by day.

As of June,2022 the total number of mobile phone subscribers has reached about 178.61m. But
as of June 2021, it was 5.98m.

Figure 1 Current status of Teletalk

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 Teletalk Usres From Dec. 2012-June 2021 (In millions)
7

0
2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021

Figure 2: Subscribers status of Teletalk in the previous years.

As of June 2021, the total number of Teletalk subscribers is about 6.00 million with only a 3.39%
market share. Which placed them at the very bottom of the telecommunication competition.
Teletalk intends to make the government’s mission/vision of ‘Digital Bangladesh’ to be successful.
But it could never attract a massive portion of the customers compared to the other competitors.
With over 8 crore subscribers and 46% market share, Grameenphone earned the first position and
becomes the largest mobile operator in Bangladesh and with more than 5 crore subscribers and
29% market share, Robi comes at the second position. Banglalink comes in 3rd position with
nearly 4 crore subscribers and 21% market share.

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 Teletalk
3%
Banglalink
21%

Grameenphone
47%

Robi Axiata Ltd.

29%

Figure 3: Mobile phone subscribers in Bangladesh as of June,2021

However, there is still a long way to pass for improving its network.

People of Bangladesh have high hope from Teletalk. People expect constant network coverage all
over the country, prompt customer care service and more value-added services, data services of
high band-width etc. Teletalk must be integrated to its customers by refining its services day-by-
day. So that people can appreciate that even in a competitive scenario. The public sector
organization can accomplish remarkable growth if they get proper opportunity.

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Compensation management and issues of Teletalk

Compensation Systems of Teletalk

The compensation structure Teletalk should designed in such a manner that attracts, retains and
motivates qualified and skilled employees at all levels. The principles of compensation policy of
a company are to offer a level of compensation that will attract, retain and reward the competent
employees at all levels, also considering Internal and external fairness. Meanwhile to

• Consider the relative weight of jobs.

• Be competitive and internally consistent and fair.

• Recognize individual performance and contribution.

• Have a fair and transparent system.

• Maintain the admirable understanding and relationship with all level of the employees.

To attract and retain employees, the following issues Should be considered to reward and also to
set a competitive compensation structure:

• Company financial performance.

• Internal salary analysis.

• Market dynamics.

The Company offers a Compensation package that includes salary, cash and non-cash benefits and
services:

• Monthly guaranteed cash and adequate variable components.

• Yearly cash and non-cash benefits on the basis of eligibility and long term/ deferred
benefits.

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In an assessment of Company's strategic objectives and unique characteristics and environment
prevailing in the Telecommunication industry, Teletalk considers cash and non-cash benefits,
internal and external equity, competitiveness, performance-based pay and consistency to
determine an attractive compensation system.

The overall compensation and benefits packages of Teletalk are stated below:

Total Compensation Package of Teletalk

Basic Variable Non-

Compensation Components Compensation
Components /Other Benefits

• Health Plan
❖ Insurance
• Basic Salary • Overtime
❖ Disability
• House Rent allowance
• Medical allowance ❖ Shift • Employee transportation
• LFA ❖ On-call • Laptop/desktop offer
• Bonus • Children
education • Mobile phone allowance
❖ Festival
❖ Performance allowance (Handset and Talk time)
• PF & Gratuity • Long service awards

Number of Employees: The total number of employees in Teletalk Bangladesh Ltd is 396 which
is very limited and is not adequate to run all the operations efficiently.

Figures of Employment: There are 3 main categories of employee in Teletalk Bangladesh Ltd.
Most of the employees are permanent officials and some are recruited on lien and outsourced
based.

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 Name of the categories Number Percentage

Full time 310 78.28%

Lien officer 26 6.57%

Outsourced 60 15.15%

Total 396 100%

Percentage of male and female employees in Teletalk

Name of the categories Number Percentage

Male 328 82.83%

Female 68 17.17%

Total 396 100%

Educational & professional qualification

The permanent employees are all at least bachelor passed. In the technical sectors there are posts
for diploma and BSc engineering. The lien officials are highly professionals in diverse sectors in
Bangladesh.

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Different categories of employees

Position Approved At present TBL Lien officer On recruitment

manpower

MD 1 1 1 0 0

DMD 4 0 0 0 0

GM 12 2 0 2 3

DGM 36 9 3 6 4

Company 1 0 0 0 1
Secretary

Manager 72 9 4 5 8

Deputy 144 23 11 12 0
manager

Asst. manager 288 61 60 1 20

Junior officer 122 131 131 0 55

Staffs 50 160 160 0 0

Total 730 396 370 26 91

Training

There is not enough formal arrangement of training and development for the recruited employees
in Teletalk Bangladesh Ltd.

Compensation levels of different categories

The income level of different categories of employees in Teletalk Bangladesh Limited starting
from Junior Officer to Managing Director (MD) is given in the following table:

Page |8
 Figure 4: Salary ranges in Teletalk according to the level of jobs.

Basic Compensation Components

The principles show that, while the fact is about basic compensation factors, Teletalk follows the
same format to compensate their salaries. Study shows that the companies provide their employees,
the basic salary along with medical and house rent allowance. Meanwhile, Teletalk and other
company issues LFA and bonus for their employee’s as yearly basis. So, the pay for Work and
performance are nearly same in all of the company.

Variable Components

Teletalk provides some variable packages to their employees– overtime, PF and Gratuity etc. But
some other operators provide children education allowance which Teletalk still not introduced for
their employee’s children. So, spouse family income continuation is not followed properly in this
case by Teletalk. Teletalk also didn’t enabled employees for pay for time not worked or paid
vacation.

Page |9
Issues in compensation management in Teletalk
Teletalk already pays comparatively less salary to their employees from the other companies in
telecommunication industry. The employees of Teletalk have even more issues with the
compensation policy of Teletalk. These issues are as follows:

Worker/Workplace

Most of the employees in the Teletalk Bangladesh Ltd. says that they are happy with the present
working atmosphere in their company but they are not satisfied enough with the facilities beside
the salary available for them in the company. There are not any mentionable facilities but the salary
only providing them. Only for senior level officers, there are, some limited extent, transport and
mobile bill facility. Unfortunately, the Junior level official have to be satisfied with meagre a fixed
amount of salary which is also comparatively low with others telecom sectors. All of the employees
have a strong claim to be ensured with some other facilities by the company.

Working Condition; Health and Safety

In Teletalk Bangladesh Ltd, there are no noteworthy health facilities, except a small allowance,
available for the employees. No safeguard or measures are taken to ensure the safety of the
employees in the office in the case of emergency. Only the pure and safe drinking water is supplied
for the officials. In this regard, the major problems or lacking are as the employees mentioned, are:

• No health services.
• No fire or emergency exit.
• Lack of proper fighting equipment.
• No emergency power supply backup.
• Ventilation system is not available without the air conditioning system.

Trade or Labor Union

Teletalk Bangladesh Ltd strictly prohibited to form any kind of trade or labor union in this
government mobile company. That’s why there is no formal/informal association of employees in
the company to raise their voice to establish their legal rights in decision making process of the

P a g e | 10
management. The employees of the company, strongly believe that there should, certainly, have a
formal workers/employee union. The employees should be unified to secure their rights and
claims, also protest any forms of discrimination against them.

Overall compensation system of Teletalk

Salary is comparatively and significantly lower in Teletalk than the other private competitors.
Especially, the frontline managers and employees gets less facilities than the top-level managers.
According to the employees of Teletalk we can state that the compensation system for the
employees is poor. Which is gradually demotivating, getting dissatisfaction and making less
determined the employees. This is one of the major issues for Teletalk of lagging behind in the
telecom industry.

P a g e | 11
Identify the importance of internal consistency/ market competitiveness.

Internal consistency of Teletalk

Internal consistency is an assessment of, how reliable the survey or test items that are intended to
measure the same hypothesis actually do so.

For example, the manager of Teletalk wants to assess customer satisfaction.

The internal consistency in compensation management

The main mission of internal consistency of an organization is to create and support highly engaged
and rewarding work environment. It is stated that organizations exist because of employees “doing
things right”.

This consistency compares the value of each job within the same organization against the rest of
the jobs found within that organization. In easy words, it is an internal comparison of jobs. This
method leads an organization to develop the job structure/span of management/hierarchy based on
the comparison of jobs against each other within the organization.

How Teletalk can develop consistency in the company’s compensation system?

Teletalk is a government owned commercial mobile operating service company. It still needs to
develop a standard compensation package system to achieve its organizational goal, retain
potential employees, dedication.

There are seven keys to develop an effective compensation strategy.

1. Budget Allocation. (The approach should include the organization’s policy to allocate
compensation into salary and benefits.)
2. Develop the salary ranges. (There must be salary range for each title.)
3. Salary audits. (It is an analysis of a company's payroll processes to ensure accuracy.)
4. Benefit/reward package. (A highly effective way to motivate employees)
5. Performance appraisal management system. (Manages the employee performance process)

P a g e | 12
 6. Legal compliances. (The process by which a company adheres to the complex rules,
policies and processes that regulate business practice)
7. Structured administration/Organogram. (a typically hierarchical arrangement of lines of
authority)

In the discussion of previous objective of this case, we find that employees are claiming that their
job is not valued properly which is causing dissatisfaction, demotivated and less determined. The
compensation system is not only discriminated and inconsistent from the other competitors but
also from the internal jobs inside Teletalk. Only the top level of managers are getting proper
facilities and actual compensations against their jobs. The frontline employees are being deprived
of those things just because the internal consistency of Teletalk is not that much of employee
friendly and too much long-limbed in decision making process.

Market competitiveness of Teletalk

Competitiveness is a basic prerequisite for the development of all organizations in all industrial
sectors. In order to increase the competitiveness, Teletalk in the country must constantly reassure
activities that are concerned on the way to the processes of shaping and strengthening external
competitiveness of compensation management and technological standards. This is essential
because Teletalk Bangladesh Ltd. still have insufficient quality, technology and standard that
represents a limiting factor for telecommunication job markets and achieve competitive advantage.
Competitiveness should be intended at creating the compulsory conditions for its operation.

In this direction, despite macroeconomic conditions, Teletalk must have reformation in

employment, standard and hiring procedure, according to the requirements of survival in
telecommunication industry. While experiencing strong competition, Teletalk must be oriented
towards obtaining the necessary elements such as labor market factor, product market factor and
organization factor for gaining competitive advantage. To overcome the main obstacles faced by
Teletalk, as well as accomplishing high quality in line with top notch standards. It is a domineering
for gaining competitive advantage. It should be well-known that gaining competitiveness of
organizations depends on the stability and consistency of the macro-economic policy. In
conjunction with the necessary changes to Teletalk’s business operations and management at the
micro level of organizations.

P a g e | 13
An organization accomplishes competitive advantage if it is able to produce/provide a superior
product/service that it will bring out on market at a lower price and create a degree of competition
in the telecommunication industry. Therefore, every company should have its own competitive
strategy to respond to the very environment, and will strive to mold to its own favor (Kotler,2007,
p.14-15).

Telecommunication organizations compete in terms of coverage of the domestic area and market.
Organizations that are able to offer superior products at the lowest price on the domestic market
and gain customer have the greatest advantage. The competitive advantage can be easily
accomplished if any of the organizations somehow practice differentiated approach and factors of
external competitiveness and unlike competing organizations which are not good at this practice
such as Teletalk even though Teletalk have a particularly favorable terms from government,
carriers or have access to cheap labor.

Internal consistency or market competitiveness?

Internal consistency, it is a system of comparing internal job characteristics in relation to their

value to other jobs within in a company. Market competitiveness is also intended on their own
internal job, compensation structure and also on external factors. Such as other companies on the
market, their job and compensation structure. For Teletalk to remain competitive, it is not adequate
to have internal consistency. Teletalk must also have to be competitive on the market, otherwise it
will be tough to attract and retain talented and potential employees. So according to my assessment,
I think both are important and should go hand-in-hand. Because being a part of market competitive
means having an internal job structure. But, to attract talent and potentials first Teletalk need to be
market-competitive. This is the first step to attract the applicants. Internal consistency is the second
step that ensures an organization that it can retain talent.

I don’t believe that one of these is more important than the other. Both the internal consistency
and market competitiveness are important equally for a company’s competitive advantage.
Teletalk shouldn’t choose to compensate its employees just based on the companies’ financial

P a g e | 14
capacities or what everyone else in the telecommunication market is offering. They should find a
proper balance between the two of these. If Teletalk focuses more only on internal consistency,
they may end up with some unsatisfied workers who always seek for employment somewhere else
to earn a better salary. On the other hand, if Teletalk focuses more just on market competitiveness,
they may end up with too much outlay, too much budget and end up with undesirable financial
issues. Finding a decent balance between internal consistency and market competitiveness will
give Teletalk the best chance of achieving financial achievement, qualified candidates, and
satisfied employees. These three things will introduce Teletalk a competitive advantage.

P a g e | 15
Approaches adopted by employers in building a flexible workforce.

What is a flexible workforce

Flexible work force can be defined as “A method of working or work to be done that suits an
employee’s needs.

For example: Having a flexible start and finish times, or working from home.

A flexible working strategy can also develop diversity, by introducing an organization up to a

widespread pool of candidates. This ensures that a company can be able to find the talented fit for
each role, rather than recruiting in an inadequate local area. Flexible work is also an attractive
bonus for job seekers. It can help an organization to find a top performer in any field.

Flexibility in the workplace is advantageous for engaging with employees. It helps in creating a
more motivated and productive working environment/culture. Flexible workforce can create a
culture of empowerment, motivation and happiness when employees feel reliable to manage their
own time and get work done without direct supervision. This reflects straight to the employee
productivity, quality of work and retention.

The most common types of flexible working were:

• Job share.
• Work from home.
• Part time.
• Compressed hours.
• Flexible time.
• Annualized hours.
• Staggered hours.
• Phased retirement.

P a g e | 16
Measures to implement flexible workforce
To help Teletalk run a more flexible workforce, I have assessed and found that business HR
professionals and business leaders of Teletalk can follow some approaches to develop flexible
workforce.

Here are some approaches can be practiced by the employers of Teletalk to develop flexible
workforce.

Measure and encourage flexibility broadly

Most of the organizations is going to practice both formal and informal flexibility in the workplace
and putting more importance on the latter. Conducting employee engagement surveys, also asking
employees whether they feel able to work flexibly and supported in doing so. Precise and
appropriate comments help organizations to understand why individuals may not feel supported to
work flexibly, also letting them to report barriers for individuals and teams. This survey is to
sustain the flexibility which has been adopted during the pandemic. To increase sustainable
agreement of flexible work, HR and front-line managers must engage in proactive outreach to
school employees on its availability. Also, school them how they can make it as part of their
careers.

Train leaders of flexible teams

Leading and managing performance, when teams are at work flexibly which is totally different,
and an innovative skill for many. Leaders must help teams to reform work structure, and they will
need a significantly clearer understanding and articulation of the outcome and impact of teams and
individuals in order to measure performance and productivity. These managers must link and build
responsiveness with individuals who may be in remote locations or just working in a dissimilar
way. Covid-19 has made proved that authentic leadership is more important, as managers and
leaders seek to sincerely connect with and care for their employees in the time of uncertainty.

P a g e | 17
Remove institutional barriers

As the pandemic COVID-19 took hold, most of the organizations were forced to abandon previous
approval processes for working from home. Many have seen the outcomes and will continue this
modernized approach going onward.
Prior to the Covid-19, IAG had executed an automated support system for flexible work in
Australia. Whereby employees were able to submit a request by electronic means, noting the type
of flexible work desired. The process required only one step of approval. During the uncertain
periods, this easy approach has empowered the employees to choose flexible working options that
work best for them.

Cultivate mutual respect and trust

Managers and employees need to trust each other and their team members. As a manager of
Teletalk, it's important to develop professional relationships with team members to encourage
mutual respect and trust. Managers may find that some employees are way more productive when
the work remotely. So as a managers have to ensure that prospects are set and communicated, and
there should have regular communication to keep projects on right direction.

Be focused on goals

One of the effective strategies to develop a flexible workforce is to have focused goals flexible in
everything else. If Teletalk do this effectively, it will provide employees the flexibility to work the
way they want. Managers have to ensure that approaches still hitting the goals Teletalk need to hit.
When managing a flexible workforce, managers must enforce some sort of approaches, and the
best way to do this is to remain focused on goals.

Prioritize regular online communication

Another effective strategy to develop a flexible workforce is prioritizing regular online

communication. For ex: daily video calls with team and weekly one-on-one meetings between

P a g e | 18
employees and their managers. Usually, collaboration comes naturally in an office culture. But the
remote and combined work becoming the new standard in many organizations. Remaining in touch
requires more of a cautious effort. It’s required to keep a sense of communal culture and develop
on company culture, especially when developing a flexible workforce such organization like
Teletalk.

Treat all employees equally

We’ve already acknowledged that frontline employees of Teletalk are being deprived in terms of
developing compensation and other facilities. Teletalk should figure out how to treat all employees
equally, even while knowing they that don’t all have to be treated the same will be most effective
in developing a flexible workforce.

Consider total talent programs

Consider a total talent program that supervises permanent hires, liable talent, and internal
flexibility. Procurement, HR, and IT tend to run in a split method when hiring workers. But
collaboration among all departments is critical.

Integrated talent management solutions offer HR and talent procurement teams with a number of
data and analysis that provide the insights required. This process also helps to find and deliver the
right talent at the right time to meet business needs.

Empower your managers

A developed flexible workforce places any business organization into the “best place to work”
category. Developing and managing a flexible workforce can be challenging for Teletalk.
Directors of Teletalk, who have the day-to-day responsibility of managing the flexible workforce
to be the creators of the policy and procedures for remote work will empowered them to visualize
and develop a successful program they will be placed to manage.

P a g e | 19
Focus on results

Focusing on achievement while offering an increased flexibility should be the top priority. It’s all
about the independence of action that truly comes with ownership of employee’s own action and
final results. Finding the equilibrium between responsibility and independence is the key to
successfully dealing flexible teams.

Have a system that connects everyone

Today's work environment and corporate culture has extremely changed over the last two years.
We have seen that a shift to hybrid and remote-only workplaces and that will likely not change for
many businesses. Businesses must have an arrangement that connects everyone together. Not just
a system to communicate like Slack or Microsoft Teams, but an HR platform where all the
employees can design their career path and able to get collaborate of management to continuously
develop.

Recognize and rework beliefs

There is an innovative phenomenon in the hybrid workforce that a universal belief that remote
employees are less productive and dedicated, have fewer close relationships with the top managers
and team members. And will be ignored for career development opportunities and promotions.
Developing a flexible workforce means recognizing those beliefs and reworking the employee
skill, strategy to ensure the remote and hybrid manpower has a stellar, impartial knowledge to
those in the physical office.

Define work modes

Remote working has been part a of telecommunication companies culture way before the pandemic
(Covid-19) forced all other companies to do the same. Teletalk have always empowered and
encouraged employees and managers to decide, where to work in order to increase efficiency and

P a g e | 20
productivity. This idea led to the development of our Work Modes. For those new or insufficient
to flexible working, it may be difficult to determine what responsibilities need to be done where
to be done. Work Modes help to inform the working standards and clarify. When employees need
to be in the office or at home. It is depending on the task.

P a g e | 21
CM challenges Teletalk will face in 21st century
21st century is a time of mass competition in all sector. Especially employment sector is much
more competitive and very challenging for the organizations regarding hiring talented employees
and retaining them by providing fair and equitable compensation package.

Compensation management problems in 21st century

Forms of pay

Employee payments starts with a cash base and bonus pay. But that may also be comprises
with non-cash forms of compensation. The estimation of non-cash compensation is
frequently most problematic for employees to appreciate. But this process offers the most
opportunities for creativity on the part of an organization. So, developing a compensation
pay standard would be a crucial task for Teletalk.

Underlying pay philosophy

“All of the organizations pay according to some fundamental philosophy about jobs and
the people who do them”, says- KP Kanchan, a professor at CFAI National College in
Bhopal, India. Compensation standard must reflect and value the work of those who offer
the most internal support to the Teletalk as well as those, who directly affect financial
outcomes. Teletalk’s compensation policy will regulator the rate and time of pay increases.
And also, which jobs are qualified for bonuses and other incentives assessing the level of
competitiveness with comparable organizations.

Internal equality

Internal equity is essential to for Teletalk. If Teletalk don’t have it, there will be risk of
losing employees and facing lawsuits for. Internal pay equity is a company compensate
employees with similar positions/jobs or skills within an organization equally. This
standard includes salary and additional employee benefits, incentives and perks that comes

P a g e | 22
 with the job. In most of the countries around the world, equal pay for equal work is a legal
requirement.

External equality

External equity is how much other companies are willing to pay for the same talent/job.
Therefore, Teletalk must consider the comprehensive market and industry when
developing Teletalk’s compensation policy. If Teletalk doesn’t pay according to the
telecommunication market rates, it will not be able to attract new talents and employees.
And Teletalk will lose the existing ones.

Employee incentives and compensation

Pay-for-performance has become ever more popular widespread policy. Companies are
using compensation to appraise and boost motivate of high-performing employees, and
also to motivate underperformers.

Offering competitive pay

Competitive pay is one the crucial part of compensation management. Because employee
turnover mostly depends on this. Teletalk should compete for the best of the available talent
pool and must offer a competitive compensation pay compared to other companies within
the telecommunication industry and at large.

Generational difference in expectation

Generation, it is a group of individuals/people within a certain age range. Who may have
comparable ideas, attitudes, values etc. Having varied generations embodied in a working
environment or culture is another form of organizational culture variety. Understanding the
topographies of a generation, as well as those of are co-workers, can further develop this

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 diversity, balance of policies and encourage in interaction that benefits everyone and every
employee supporting inclusion.

Executive compensation

This term is known as “Executive pay”. Executive pay refers to the remuneration package
which is specifically designed and developed for the business leaders, senior management
individuals and the employees works in the executive levels of a company. This executive
pay consists of benefits such as salaries, incentives insurance and perks. Teletalk should
develop such types of compensation packages for the managers to keep them satisfied
which is a big challenge.

Rewarding niche jobs

This could be challenging under developing companies such as Teletalk to figure out, how
to develop fair salary ranges for evolving or highly specialized jobs.
For example, how, specifically, will Teletalk evaluate the value of the jobs without a lot of
statistical data and information? And how will that impact to other’s salaries in the same
division or team?

Salary growth

Teletalk is in a candidate-driven market and competition, where potential employees get a

lot of supremacy during agreement and salary negotiations. Candidate-driven markets
arises for numerous reasons but mainly result from increasing demand for talent across
industries, especially those who are seeing unexpected profits.

Candidate-driven market leads to significant pay increases for those who are looking for
new jobs. Also, this can cause a problem for the current employees who see less income
growth. Therefore, Teletalk would need to choose how frequently and when their
employees get salary raises. In addition, to make sure salaries are even fair with new
employee’s salaries, Teletalk will need to reevaluate for the rising inflation rates, too.

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 Considering competency-based pay

“Competency-based pay” it is a pay policy that compensates employees and workers based
on their talent, skills, knowledge, background, and experience rather than their job title.
This pays structure encourages employees to reach the salary to the range that they want
by improving their hard and soft skills through training and development. This is known
as motivation. Motivation is not for making an employee productive but for encourage
them to be comply with skill development training program.

Additionally, this policy of paying employees contributes to correcting compensation

matters because it increases the transparency in the organization since the employees will
be better understood how much they are able to earn and what they required to do to get to
the next salary level.

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Conclusion
TELETALK Bangladesh Limited is the first ever state-owned private telecommunication service
operator in Bangladesh. The main goal of TELETALK is to distribute SIM kits to the subscriber
at an economical rate and make a competitive market. TELETALK has another goal to attain an
economic achievement on its investments and to contribute to the economic development of
Bangladesh where telecommunications is playing a vital role. “TBL believes in service, a service
that leads to good business and good development”. But Teletalk has been running their business
through many organizational deficiencies and lacking, especially in their recruitment management
and compensation management. Some possible problems were discussed in the body of this report.

Especially their front-line managers and employees are not satisfied with the compensation policy
of Teletalk. Also, those problems are very easy to resolve and gain market position in the
telecommunication industry of Bangladesh. According to thorough research about Teletalk, still
this organization is practicing very old organizational culture which has to be changed and should
make it flexible. So, change in the management system and recruiting process is required.

To ensure TBL’s goal they must bring a massive change in their whole management and
compensation system. This change will gain remarkable outcome in productivity and other
development, which in turn will enable them to provide a telephone service and generating a good
business. Thus, organizational change, development and business go together.

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Recommendation for Teletalk
After all the research and assessment, I’ve figured out some internal and external management
deficiencies inside the managing system of Teletalk Bangladesh Ltd. All those problems are stated
and explained in the previous sections. I’ve figured following recommendations for Teletalk
according to those deficiencies from the context of compensation management and can be
complied by to overcome the problems Teletalk have been facing.

Recommendations and implementation

Hire sufficient employees for jobs
According to the data from Teletalk, they have insufficient number of employees to
manage and operate this telecommunication service. They also need to hire more renowned
business analysts to standardize the marketing policy, infrastructure, technology,
management and compensation system. Because these are the main pillars of a business
organization. If Teletalk overcomes these systematic problems, sooner or later it will be a
frontline competitor in the telecommunication industry.

Internal and external equalization

This term is mostly accused for employee turnover. Because it is a time of employee driven
market competition. Each and all companies are in same competition which is hiring
talented and versatile employees. Employees have multiple options to be occupied in job
market. They have sources to compare their job and compensation with other similar jobs
easily and switch the job as well. So, it is mandatory for Teletalk to analyze the market and
ensure internal and external equalization in their compensation system.

Fair and transparent pay system

Most of the frontline employees of Teletalk has a complain that they don’t get proper
compensation facility package against their job. For example, they do not get non-
compensation facilities. These facilities are being provided only to the top-level managers

P a g e | 27
 in Teletalk. This type discrimination create disappointment among the employees. They
become demotivated towards their job and organization. So, Teletalk must ensure fair and
transparent pay policy for level of employee through the organization.

Maintain admirable relationship

All level of employees loves to measure their value in the organization. How they are being
admired and treated in course of reporting to senior level, compensation and promotion.
Teletalk’s bureaucratic culture doesn’t maintain admirable relationship with employees
which is must.

Solve workplace issues

Health friendly, secure, comfortable and pleasant environment facilities increase attention
and motivation towards work and organization. Teletalk have to ensure fire safety, air
circulation system, emergency safety system, emergency safety equipment’s arrangements
in every operational infrastructure.

Develop flexible workforce

Work independence is an important term to retain an employee’s productivity and skill.

Teletalk is renowned for its bureaucratic work culture. So, Teletalk must eliminate
bureaucratic culture and implement flexible workforce through the organization.

Standard compensation package

Employees determination and dedication is mostly depending how they are being benefited
from the organization they are working for. They also compare with other internal and
external employees works in the similar job. Dissimilarity brings dissatisfaction among
them. And Teletalk has the same issue. So, Teletalk should focus on this issue.

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 Eliminate lengthy process in decision making

Teletalk is a state-owned telecom service operator which is being administrated by BTRC.

This is making Teletalk long-limbed in decision making process. Teletalk takes longer time
to take any kind of decision in any case. Lengthy decision-making process is a major barrier
towards organization goal. Teletalk must come out from lengthy decision-making process.

Eliminate bureaucratic management

According to Echoing Sabir and Lafifa, some other telecom experts also stated that the
bureaucratic management system and the lack of accountability pulled Teletalk down
despite its huge potentialities and opportunities.

It’s became mandatory for Teletalk to go through the red tape of the bureaucratic
management system to establish or apply a policy, which is a major barrier, among others.

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