People & Organization

Managing Employee Terminations in Sri Lanka: Are Organisations Getting It Right? The employee termination is a very sensitive act in Human Resource Management (HRM). In the Sri Lankan organizations, it is not an internally made decision by a HR team, it’s a legal process governed by the Termination of Employment of Workmen Act (TEWA). This process makes it as an important thing for an organisation to handle the termination of an employee carefully and vey responsibly. The Termination of Employment of Workmen Act (TEWA) says that the organizations with or more than 15 employees cannot be terminate at the moment. A confirmed employee without an employee consent or without an approval from the Commissioner General of Labour cannot be terminated.  Structured process for employee termination Above image shows the proper procedures in termination decisions.  This law is designed to protect the employees from unfair dismissal. Some of the organizations are using alternatives ways to ...

Can Data Replace Human Judgment in HRM Decision-Making? Most of the companies have started using information and data analysing in modern HR management decisions. Information is used to improve the process and reduce errors in People hiring and performance review (Gartner, 2022). This transformation has upgraded the HR management more planned and decisions are based on evidence. Can data completely replace the human decisions in HR management. The difference between information based and human decision-making is shown below. Information based decisions compared with Human view decisions Information based HR model gives benefits in workers performance, involvement and turnover (Gartner, 2022). This helps in HR management to make decisions based on information rather than assumptions. According to CIPD (2023), Hiring process and performance management can be done fairly and steadily by proper information. Here we can see an example of how organisations use HR analytics. Use of people ana...

The Future of Work: Are Organisations Ready for Changing Employee Expectations? The nature of work is changing too fast, and companies are feeling the pressure to keep up with new employee expectations. Today’s labour force is not only focusing on salary, but also values flexibility, meaningful job, career growth and a healthy balance between personal and professional life  (World Economic Forum, 2023) . This shift creates new challenges for the Human Resource Management team (HRM), especially when it comes to maintaining engagement and retaining people in work. Changing expectations of the modern workforce Most companies are facing a problem between employee expectations and employer providence. With reference to Deloitte (2023), most organisations are struggling with effectiveness, and it impacts the change in workforce expectations. For example, employees are expecting a secure career path with aligned learning progress. Companies are using old methods which focus on short term ...

Organizational Culture and Employee Performance:  The Missing Link In HRM?  In Sri Lanka most of the companies spends a lot of money and time on performance reviews, training and workers involvement systems in HR management. But the outcomes are not as expected in the reality. The main reason for this is company’s culture. Mostly this is not concerned in the modern work environment. Unexpectedly this influences how workers perform and behaviour. Organizational culture is sharing set of values, behavior, and how people interact with each other in the working environment. Even a strong HR system could be affected by a weak or negative culture. Workers must feel comfortable in the workplace to share opinions and responses. If the work zone fails to provide the space required, then they can’t develop. According to CIPD (2023) when there’s a positive work culture, then the workers will be fully involved and perform well. Visible and hidden aspects of organisational culture To boost...

From Annual reviews to continuous feedback: Rethinking Performance Management Performance management is an important part of HR management. Most of the companies use yearly performance to review employee performance. But this method is questioned in the modern working environment. Many workers believe that annual reviews are old, not suitable always and their actual day-to-day performance also influences less. Employee performance is changing day to day in Sri Lankan industries like BPO, Manufacturing, and services. If companies depend only on the annual reviews, then it can lead to lapses in communication, late responses, and chances for improvement will be missed. Therefore, most of the organizations are adopting into progress by steady response systems which help managers and workers to interact frequently. According to CIPD (2023), Regular performance sharing can help workers get highly involved, clarity in their vision and support in their growth. The change from the traditional t...

Why Employees Leave: Beyond Salary – Rethinking Retention Strategies in Sri Lanka In Sri Lankan sectors such as BPO, Manufacturing, retail, and services have a big issue that workers resigning is increasing. Even though salary is considered as the number one reason that workers resign, It’s much more complicated in real life. Most of the reasons why workers want to resign are not only for better pay, but also because of lack of growth opportunities, poor management, low involvement and working environment culture and illustrated below. Key factors influencing employee turnover beyond salary One of the biggest problems in Sri Lankan companies that they are not highly focus on developing their workers. Particularly, Young professionals seek clear path in developing their career and improving skills. When workers don’t get sufficient training and chances for growth, then they look for better jobs. According to Armstrong (2021), Hiring people is not only the concern for effective HR manage...

Bridging the Skills Gap in Sri Lanka:  The Role of HRM, People Analytics, and Employee Well-Being in Enhancing Engagement and Productivity In Sri Lankan industries like BPO, Manufacturing, and Services have a big issue in the skills gap. As sectors evolve with digital tools and new job requirements, companies are struggling to find suitable candidates with relevant technical and soft skills. When they don’t find the suitable candidates, it makes workers lose interest in work, less output and work – life balance. The image below briefs what HR needs to analyse with the company's requirements and the capabilities workers need.  skills employers need and skills employees currently have In Talent resource management’s view, filling these blank needs a structured plan and also it should be a match with the company’s requirements and the candidate’s capability. What Armstrong (2021) says regarding this matter is HR management is the important for planning, training & developi...