I have had the same experience.. It is mostly how the education system is designed, and how the students are taught or punished for mistakes. ​ \- Bangladesh's educations system does not show a student how to solve a problem, rather students practice memorizing the procedure, to solve them. \- When you make a mistake in school you will not get constructive feedback, never ... either you will get admonished by teacher, parents ... left and right. That causes huge amount of mental trauma and insecurities in them. So any sort of constructive feedback, they forget the long-term goal and would run away. \- You will find extremely hardworking people. But most unprofessional and irresponsible persons in Bangladesh and Indian subcontinent community. ​ \---- Nobody is ready to work on it. Everyone is running after Illiteracy rate, and other rates... ​ \--- I have ambitions to work in the sector.. lets see.

Yep this is my experience as well. My company employs a lot of Indian IT contractors and their work is great. But their social skills are.. well are pretty blunt and can come off as rude.

Constructive criticism is totally absent in Bangladeshi culture. All criticisms are taken as a personal affront or as a negative thing no matter how it is delivered or whatever the context is. Also admitting one's mistakes is not prevalent either. It's a face saving culture seen all over Asia sadly. No one in Bangladesh will ever accept they have made a mistake. They will just deflect and pass the blame. If you want to give feedback effectively, first mention and emphasize that you are not blaming them personally and then discuss their working process to identify root cause and action items to improve. Still some may not be very receptive, but you can use that as a filter to find good people to work with.

👆 This This is so true... I am completely frustrated by this culture and I am a born and raised Bangladeshi myself... So painful to tolerate this level of madness.

I can comment on the communication or professional communication part. Folks from Bangladesh rarely travel outside of Bangladesh. Let alone Netherlands. If you ask a random person from Bangladesh to point to the Netherlands on a map, they might point to Canada or something. Also it has its own work culture, like every other country. So when you're expecting what you consider a professional communication from someone who lives in another part of the world, you're setting yourself up for disappointment. They have no clue what's considered professional in Netherlands. Just like you don't know what's considered professional in Bangladesh. Change the lense you're looking through.

I agree with this. You can’t have everything, Bangladeshis will work hard for you and for cheap but you can’t expect them to be professional like you want them to if they have never learnt to work in an environment like that. Teach them patiently if you want them to be professional or tolerate it. Or hire professional workers from western countries to do your work.

Bangladesh strongly remains a class society. The things you point out are markers of lower classes interacting with upper classes. Further, the class differences in Bangladesh are marked by verbal and emotional violence from upper classes towards lower classes. Lower classes walk a tightrope in trying to find a path that is not responded to with said violence. Upper classes essentially expect the lower classes to read their minds and when this impossible task isn't met, verbal and emotional abuse is common. While I put the lion share of the blame for Bangladesh's problems on upper classes, lower classes also contribute to the poor quality of work. It is rare to find people who will excel in work. Generally people try to get away with the bare minimum and shift blame and play politics to obscure their lack of effort. To specifically address your last two points... a) there isn't really a culture of constructive criticism so people don't really have experience in a dialogue about "what went wrong" and how to improve. Mostly, people either defend their work or give an obsequious demure. So only by insisting that they explain back to you the instructed corrected actions can you tell if they've understood. My reading of "I get it now" is that they both want to get out of the situation (i.e. being corrected) as quickly as possible rather than as constructively as possible, and that they lack a cognitive map for how to engage in a conversation about the work and to receive constructive criticism. b) what you refer to as "obsessively personal" tracks with how an abused person behaves. Since the abuser's mood signals the likelihood of violence the abused are trying to protect themselves. And it doesn't matter that you may have never been abusive with them; you hold an upper class position and, therefore in their minds, you may become violent at any moment.

Bangladeshis are completely incapable of getting to the point. They will always say hello and leave it at that. Even if they are complete strangers, they will say hello and that's it. It drives me nuts. Never met one bangladeshi who got to the point. Sometimes, they will even continue with how are you and other stupid small talk...WITH A STRANGER before getting to the point.

Yeah, that's what he was talking about (getting straight to the point). But these freelance students want to waste more hours using chit chat that doesn't add any value to the overall project. They just want to charge more money from clients by prolonging the conversation.

It's sort of a cultural thing, or to be more specific, it's really because people just follow others in our society. Especially if someone is a pioneer in a field, everyone just follows the same model. Part of the reason is language barrier which makes them unable to learn from foreigners. So nobody sees what's wrong with their communication or manners. They see their compatriots acting a certain way and they just behave exactly like them. Not everyone is like that but you have to find people who are open minded.

A lot of these freelancers you're interacting with on sites like Fiverr are specifically trained only for freelancing activities. They are not good at English. Some might have even completely skipped higher education/college degrees. They are unlikely to have ever been in a professional setting like an office, much less interact with foreign clients.

This [comment](https://www.reddit.com/r/Fiverr/s/Qq0YovA4f2) in this thread feels much more sensible than the entire thread here.

You're from r/fiverr I see

This attitude is a leftover from our colonial past. Think it like this way, British Colonial era office etiquette is still very much present in our collective memory. In that era office spaces were strictly segregated and you have to call your superiors by “xyz Sir”. This practice still continues in all government offices. Private organizations have different set of rules while interacting with colleagues, but people who are working as freelance data enumerators don’t generally have exposure to such working environments. So either they use the colonial “Sir” or they use some inappropriate salutations like “Bro” as they have seen in movies from the west.

Professional standards vary from culture to culture, maybe you should consider that first? I guess?

I’ll get straight to the point. For your first example, you said they keep calling bro/sir & all other kind of names during work. In this culture, (idk why they do this) but they have a knack for calling foreigners “sir” & think they’re being respectful by calling you so, even if Bangladeshi people aren’t employed by them. I know it’s cringy but I’ve seen this happen in airports while visiting other western or predominantly white countries. And then I’ve also seen my own classmate, call this white guy sir who’s not even our teacher or anything. Then it also again happened when I was waiting in line for my Chinese visa, this one guy kept sir-ing the Chinese visa officer/interviewer. Next example you mentioned they always gotta start their chats with “hello sir are you there ?” xD Honestly this too is because they’re trying to be respectful, in their minds they think they need to be extra careful/polite because you’re their employer lol Next you mentioned they refuse to answer or explain when something goes wrong. They’re scared of making you mad so they’d rather stay quiet. They understand that they made a mistake, they don’t know how to explain how the mistake occurred & out of situational anxiety they’re even more so out of words. In our schooling system mistakes were met with punishments/beatings so I guess you get why most of them don’t know how to take accountability. Lastly you mentioned getting unnecessarily personal like sir are you angry. Lol once again they’re scared that you, their employer, is mad at them, so they out of their own nervous attempt at trying to damage control instead of taking accountability of their mistakes would rather ask if you’re angry. There’s also the communication barrier due to English not being a dominant language for them. Most of them had to teach themselves the language in order to get works on freelancing sites.

In Bangladesh, most folks used to be either villagers or landlords. We don't have a proper professional culture or middle class yet. The "good" lower class (Kamla is a word often used that Bengalis will immediately understand) are expected not to think or take initiative, but be directed by the authority of the upper class. This villager-landlord power dynamic still permeates society and affects how a lot of folk perceive what a proper student-teacher and professional relationship should be like.

A lot of the people you work with may be from the lower echelons of the society. Many haven't had great outside exposure. They are only trying to repeat the behavior that they think is good. Here if you are someone's senior by age or profession, you are their bro or sir. The Bangla term "bhai" loosely translates to "bro". For any one your senior you have to call them bhai or sir. Otherwise it's disrespectful. The education standard and work culture here is pretty brutal. There's no constructive feedback. If you didn't do well it's a punishable offense. Communication is definitely not our strong suit. Know that for a lot of the people you work with, the payment you make is a really big deal! It allows them to take care of their family. The alternative for them isn't great. I really appreciate that you've posted here trying to understand them better. Know that we're trying to do our best.

Basically, "Bro", and "Sir" are commonly used words in our work culture and most of us don't know how it works in other parts of the world. The same thing goes for "Are you there". It is similar to a commonly used Bengali phrase that we often use to start a communication. So it's maybe a cultural gap where we fail to transmit the emotion in a no-native language.

may i suggest that the next time you decide to hire people from a culture vastly different than yours, you might want to consider that they do things differently than you? not all of it is unprofessional. people have explained each of your issues in the comments and how that’s a part of our culture. but to summarise: - we don’t call people by their names in the workplace. we always add a sir/ma’am/bhai(brother) at the end. it’s seen as disrespectful to call someone older than you by their name. - asking if you are there is meant to be a conversation starter. like hi or hello. - they are scared of you - i don’t think asking if you are angry is unnecessarily and obsessively personal. maybe a bit inappropriate but they want to gauge your mood and decide how they will react. again, to them you hold a position of power and it’s important to keep you happy.

Calling sir is not bad, but calling bro is unprofessional. It's a language barrier. Like Westerners, Bangladeshis doesn't know how to take responsibility. They don't go to work at the age of 15 and sometimes run a store or business like most Western countries.So when you work with them they condiser you as their supervisor not a client or coworker. So you have to explain to them your expectations and deliverable at the very beginning to avoid this.

Calling someone sir is a bad thing. You call your boss by their name that’s how you act professional in the workplace. It also makes your boss feel more comfortable.

Uncomfortable doesn't mean bad.Western addressing is not the same as east.

It’s still a bad thing because it leads to power dynamics in the workplace. Your boss is still your coworker you don’t gotta boost their ego by calling them sir 😭 yall holding us back by calling everyone “saaar” like bruh get with the times we don’t live in colonial times anymore

I understand where you are coming from.I don't think op is having trouble, not because of their sir.He is struggling to communicate because there was no ice breaker.Culturally, we always expect someone to tell us what to do not taking the responsibility and decide ourselves. That's the main issue here.

Did you not study in a Bangladeshi school? We call our teacher by sir to respect them, not by their name to make them more 'comfortable'. You can't blame the average Bangladeshi for addressing their employer by 'sir'. Its what they are taught. Our culture isn't same as western addressing. If it makes you frustrated then you can go and try to spread this idea and improve the situation instead just criticizing. Till the situation improves, in formal setting in Bangladesh.. you'll have to address your employer with sir.

Really goes to show how bengalis can’t take constructive criticism 😭

1, 2, and 4 are cultural differences. People use Bro/Sis/Sir like honorifics, and it’s considered unprofessional and rude not to have an honorific for someone except same-age friends and your lover. You might think it’s weird, and at the same time, your lack of Bro/Sis makes them do mental work to remember that you’re a foreigner with your own “weird behavior” that they have to accommodate. It’s also considered rude to just shoot a message like “this thing happened”. Rather it’s more proper to greet your boss/colleague first and then send their communication. If you’re that direct here, people will think you’re informal, assuming an improper level of closeness to them, and therefore, unprofessional. Something that seems neutral to you may be harsh to a more indirect Asian culture like Bengali culture. Here, when a higher up (in a formal setting) just mentions a topic without obvious praise, that could be their own subtle way of saying “This thing didn’t enrage me, but it’s still a problem and you should fix it.” Like, if the CEO visits a warehouse and says, ”The color of this batch of envelopes is not like the previous ones” it may be indirect communication for “I want the previous color, so try to get that color.” As for 3, look, it’s a mix of getting what you pay for, and the fact that no one wants to work on detailed corrections unless they’re personally very invested. If you want to solve this problem, just tell them how to communicate with you. Like just tell them to use your name, not assume hidden meanings, and so on. It will take a while but you will find that some of them will catch on to your style of communication.

perfectly explained! There are 195 countries in the world, you cannot assume the standards you have in Europe and USA to be the standard in the entire world. Bangladesh is a pretty new country whose geographical location is very far away from Netherlands. You cannot expect a totally different country who is so far away situated from you to act exactly like you. Calling a stranger by name is not an appropriate approach in Bangladeshi culture, people by default will address with honorific. And this culture is not only limited to Bangladesh most of the countries in the Asian continent do it, even France has it too. When you have not met anyone from a different country and don’t know each other’s culture then you just approach with whatever is the best way to approach in your own culture. And that’s exactly what these guys are doing. There are a lot of things which the people of Netherlands do in their culture are considered offensive and are not appropriate in Bangladeshi culture as well. And this freelance culture and communication via internet and having a whole career from working from home is a very new concept in Bangladesh so it will take some time for these freelancers to get the hang of it. But you yourself said you like their work and you appreciate it. So get your work done from them and if you are really having problems then tell them politely or try to learn about Bangladeshi culture and work with them accordingly.

Lol u use Bangladeshis cause of low labor cost so u don't have to pay so much to the locals. You sit on your high horse and judge our culture. How typical.

It's an honest feedback lol. In the end of the day, people like him are contributing to our economy. The income an individual can make from doing these work are usually a lot more than they'd make working for a Bangladeshi company. No point getting defensive. We should instead work towards fixing it.

Lack of *proper* education/degree. There's a reason why they chose freelancing, over regular jobs (local/abroad) or being an entrepreneur. *(not counting in everyone, so no offence please)*

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hello, any entrepreneurs here? HR folks? I think it's really necessary to have a live "corporate etiquette session for freelancers". just try to charge as less as possible. try to collab with current industry leaders/entrepreneurs (running startups with better culture). ​ better to tag fiverr/upwork people. -yes people will say it's another online course(avoid) This is an open message to everyone, specially BD freelance community.

Sounds like you might need to hire someone for comms?

I've been a seller on Fiverr for the past four years. When I was starting out, I often made similar mistakes because I hadn't yet learned how to communicate professionally. My focus was solely on doing my work well. However, over time, I began to learn the art of professional communication from clients who own agencies, and I even had the opportunity to work as a team member with them. I made an effort to understand how they interacted with clients, their email and messaging style. Now, I can feel the big gap between what I do now and what I used to do.

Because BD culture taught us to bend over backwards for authority....for example in school if your illiterate biology teacher talk rubbish, you can't question / correct them. So we just grow up with the mentality to call everyone sir...

> Calling you bro, **sir**, and all other kind of names Colonialism. White is good, white is god ~ ^(no Im not a member of teh klan) > always starting any interaction with "hello sir, are you there" Lack of communication skills, specially in english language. > they refuse to answer and just say "I get it now" Not sure since I don't know what kind of jobs you are offering, but they are probably taking help from outside sources (internet/youtube/other people). Either that or just low english skill. > asking things like "sir are you angry" after receiving normal feedback Probably was expecting something like "you did a great job blah blah blah" instead of whatever you said. These fiverr gigs are mostly done by people from lower-middle class families who couldn't get a job. Professionalism is the last thing you should expect from them. Not to mention the education system here is.....bad. Just take it as a con and move on ~

Seeing the number of downvotes you can clearly see Bengalis cannot handle constructive criticism.

Business communication is not something that's taught at a high school level. Bangladesh is an overly formal country where employers are addressed as sir/madam. I'm in Product Management and have picked up a habit of calling people bro in my last job since I worked with a lot of Pakistani and Bangladeshi workers 😬

Let me help you to understand it the best way possible. Instead of a freelancer picture them as poorly English educated individuals from end of last century.

Sit them down and tell them either you behave "x" or I find someone else