Employee Engagement and Sri Lankan Apparel Industry


Employee Engagement and Sri Lankan Apparel Industry


Figure: 1 : Sri Lankan Apparel Factory
As per labor demand survey report in Sri Lanka for 2017 published by ministry of national policies and economic affairs, sewing machine operators are the most in demanded labor category, in fact they represent 30% from overall labor demand in the country and high as 300,000 to 200,000 in numbers for last 5 years. Labor shortage is the biggest drawback in Sri Lankan apparel industry which is contributing vastly to Sri Lankan economy. According to EDB annual report of end 2018 Sri Lankan apparel exports leading ahead with 32% of all with 5.30 billion Rs. annual exports. The reason for labor shortage is not that the adequate number of people available in the country but the attraction of new labor cohort towards the industry. Misconceptions, attitudes and social respects towards industry have negative impacts for new labor generations. Fernando, F (2017) cited in Wijesekara, M (2017) Chairman of the Sri Lanka Apparel Exporters Association says a “job in a garment factory is what your teacher threatened you would have to resort to, if you didn’t study well”. According to Wijesekara, M. (2017) Many of the machine operators have no plans to stay long in the industry, they want to earn enough to pay back a family loan or to earn for their dowry and wedding expenses. Some leave as soon as they complete five years of employment, when they become eligible for a gratuity allowance.The pressure form society also making the workers discourage to join apparel industry, example apparel workers mainly the young girls are insulted by nomenclature them “Juki girls”. All these evidence taking us to the conclusion of many apparel workers in the Sri Lankan industry not properly engaged with their jobs as they are choosing this unwillingly & reluctantly.
By refereeing the labor churn & shortage in the industry, we can predict that the most of employees will be falling in to the second and third levels of employee engagement as described below,
Figure 2 Levels of Employee Engagement
Source: https://twitter.com/letsbuzzz/status/1073132140940926977/photo/1

1)     Engaged
2)     Not Engaged
3)     And Actively Disengaged

Figure 2 Levels of Employee Engagement
Source: https://twitter.com/letsbuzzz/status/1073132140940926977/photo/1
 
Most often employee engagement has been defined as emotional and intellectual commitment
to the organization (Baumruk 2004, Richman 2006 and Shaw 2005). With discussed circumstances Sri Lankan apparel workers will be finding it difficult to develop this emotional commitment.
Kahn (1990) defines employee engagement as “the harnessing of organization members’ selves to their work roles; in engagement, people employ and express themselves physically, cognitively, and emotionally during role performances”. The cognitive aspect of employee engagement concerns employees’ beliefs about the organization, its leaders and working conditions.

Conclusion:
As a developing and debt trapped economy, Sri Lanka still must need to be contingent on apparel sector’s exports to their GDP. To achieve the projections by EDB of 11.075 billion rupees’ turnover from apparels by year 2025, authorities must look in to the labor shortage issue very seriously and the ways of attracting young labor crowds by changing the notions even the educated workforce can develop their live standards by serving this sector. And it is paramount important to retain the present work force by improving their engagement towards the jobs as well as the organizations. Authorities must work with local HR bodies and company HR personal to develop worker engagements for the betterment of the country.
Table 1: Export targets for Apparels in Sri Lanka
Source: Export performance indicators Report by Export Development Board of Sri Lanka 2018.


Refferences:

Ø  Labor Demand Survay Report, (2017); [Online]
Available at; http://www.statistics.gov.lk/industry/Labour_Demand_Survey_2017_Report.pdf
Accessed on; 9th January 2020

Ø  Export Performance Indicators of Sri Lanka 2009-2018, (2018); [Online]
Available at; https://www.srilankabusiness.com/exporters/export-statistics.html
Accessed on; 9th January 2020

Ø  M.Wijesekara (2017), Sri Lankan Garment Factories Boost Wages and Benefits as Labor Shortage Looms [Online]
Available at; https://globalpressjournal.com/asia/sri_lanka/sri-lankan-garment-factories-boost-wages-benefits-labor-shortage-looms/?utm_content=bufferbe5bc&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer
Accessed on; 9th January 2020

Ø  Kahn, W.A. (1990) ‘Psychological conditions of personal engagement and disengagement at
work’, Academy of Management Journal, Vol 33, pp692-724.
Ø  Baumruk, R. (2004) ‘The missing link: the role of employee engagement in business success’,
Workspan, Vol 47, pp48-52.

Ø  Shaw, K. (2005) ‘An engagement strategy process for communicators’, Strategic
Communication Management, Vol 9, No 3, pp26-29.

Ø  Richman, A. (2006) ‘Everyone wants an engaged workforce how can you create it?’
Workspan, Vol 49, pp36-39.




Comments

  1. Sameera Madhawa Thalakotune January 9, 2020 at 5:31 PM

    From their humble beginning as a single retail store in the heart of Colombo’s commercial district, the Hirdaramani Group has diversified in recent years to encompass the apparel, leisure, power, information technology and retail industries, stamping the respected Hirdaramani standard on each. Today they boast a rich and diverse heritage with over 60,000 employees spread across six countries and six industries, each adding their own thread to the company’s story. Good start kelum, i'm really interesting.

    ReplyDelete
  2. VirajJanuary 10, 2020 at 8:24 AM

    In overall the points are quite detailed and well explained. There are few points which did not go deeply. It is better if those areas have more in detail. Most of the sections are well defined. but overall explanation is good.

    ReplyDelete
  3. UnknownJanuary 12, 2020 at 12:06 AM

    More important things are explaining by simple and usable way to understand. Great as people can understand and apply

    ReplyDelete
  4. Dr Amila Shashanka RatnayakeJanuary 14, 2020 at 9:29 PM

    What are factors for employee engagement of the apparel industry? What should the authorities realistically address? I was trying fond out in your blog.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Lasitha IndrapalaJanuary 17, 2020 at 6:41 PM

    I like to add these things to your article, Four things are important when we conversation about employee engagement, commitment, motivation, loyalty, and trust. Their level decides the quality of engagement of an employee

    ReplyDelete
  6. Chandana kumaraJanuary 18, 2020 at 5:45 AM

    More important things ypu shared through your blog post. Good article

    ReplyDelete

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