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Human Resources Challenges in Apparel Industry in Sri Lanka

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 Global Journal of Management and Business Research: A
Administration and Management
Volume 20 Issue 2 Version 1.0 Year 2020
Type: Double Blind Peer Reviewed International Research Journal
Publisher: Global Journals
Online ISSN: 2249-4588 & Print ISSN: 0975-5853

Human Resources Challenges in Apparel Industry in Sri Lanka

By Dr. Indumathi Welmilla
University of Kelaniya
Abstract- This study aims to identify the human resources challenges existing in the apparel
sector of Sri Lanka and provide recommendations to secure with managing the barriers to go
ahead with future sustainability in the industry. The research approach is qualitative and followed
the case study method. Face to face interviews was the method of collecting data by following a
semi-structured questionnaire for the research, and the data analysis method was the thematic
analysis. The finding demonstrates nine core human resources challenges in the apparel industry
in Sri Lanka.
Keywords: apparel industry, high competition, human resources challenges scarcity of labor, less
attractiveness, poor work ethics.
GJMBR-A Classification: JEL Code: O15

HumanResourcesChallengesinApparelIndustryinSriLanka

Strictly as per the compliance and regulations of:

© 2020. Dr. Indumathi Welmilla. This is a research/review paper, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons
Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 Unported License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/), permitting all non-commercial
use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
 Human Resources Challenges in Apparel
Industry in Sri Lanka
Dr. Indumathi Welmilla

Abstract- This study aims to identify the human resources in new textile parks, various incentives, and training
challenges existing in the apparel sector of Sri Lanka and programs. (Anand & Kheterpal, 2014).
provide recommendations to secure with managing the The budget proposal published for the year
barriers to go ahead with future sustainability in the industry. 2015 stated that the Sri Lankan government is intending

2020
The research approach is qualitative and followed the case
to reach to top ten high-quality garment manufacturers
study method. Face to face interviews was the method of
collecting data by following a semi-structured questionnaire for
in 2020 with the earning of US $ 10 billion. Sri Lanka

Year
the research, and the data analysis method was the thematic focuses on its future challenges in the apparel industry
analysis. The finding demonstrates nine core human resources and how to overcome them to reach up to the country’s
challenges in the apparel industry in Sri Lanka. expectations. The main strengths in the Sri Lankan 45
Keywords: apparel industry, high competition, human apparel industry are highly literate workforce, strategic

Global Journal of Management and Business Research ( A ) Volume XX Issue II Version I

resources challenges scarcity of labor, less location, favorable infrastructure, product quality, and
attractiveness, poor work ethics. development in speed solutions. (Derasingha, 2017)
However, the Sri Lankan government is looking
I. Introduction to become the top ten high-quality garment

S
ri Lanka’s apparel industry widely began to grow in manufacturers in the year 2020,its dream outlining the
the country after the open economic policy of plan for 2020 mission says that the expectation is to
1977 (Industry Capability Report, March achieve GDP of US $ 150 billion by maintaining the
2017).With the implementation of a free financial plan, unemployment rate less than 3%(Budget Proposals,
more foreign investment came into Sri Lanka due to 2015).
trade-friendly environment factors. Sri Lanka became a The new trends in the global garment industry
more attractive country for the apparel industry due to with the aim of more productivity concepts and cost
the open economic policy, and Multi-Fiber minimizations become another challenging factor in the
Arrangements (MFA) (Dheerasinghe, 2009). The MFA is apparel industry in Sri Lanka (Ranaweera, 2014). Labor
a system of quotas designed to protect garment turnover and increased rates of absenteeism are now
industries in first world countries by slowing down the become a g crisis in the apparel industry and were
speed of globalization (Institute of Policy Studies, 2005). evidence that those have limited the industry to reach
The apparel industry became one of the leading their expectations (Abdur & Atm, 2015).
contributors to the export revenue of the country and is The human resources area as the human
well known and expert in this industry due to the high- resources factor is critically more important to the
quality garments at competitive prices and holding organization. More effective and profitable organizations
ethical practices backed by legislations. build-up by talented, qualified, and trainee employees,
Sri Lanka is contributing to the apparel industry, thus the employee issues in an organization are well
mainly in the Asian region, and now India, China, known as the lifeblood of an organization (Thammita,
Vietnam, Bangladesh, and Cambodia became more Seedevi, Jayarathna, Welianga, Madushanka, 2010).
competitive countries to Sri Lanka. After the MFA, many Therefore, when an industry is facing challenges, it is
developing countries in the Asian region, such as more important to pay attention more to the human
Pakistan, Bangladesh, China, India, and Sri Lanka, resources asset.
engaged in the apparel industry massively It is worth to note that Sri Lanka has recorded a
(Dheerasinghe, 2009). high unemployment rate of 12% in 1992 and 4% in 2016
India becomes a leading country in the global that shows slightly decrease, but it still archives the
apparel industry, and they expect to accomplish $ 80 highest trend to the departures for foreign employment
billion from textile and apparel exports in 2020 (Anand & opportunities, and during the period starting from 2001
Kheterpal, 2014). Government of India is working on to 2015 there has been upward trend for moving to the
their 11th five-year plan and its included substantial overseas employment opportunities by the skill workers,
investment in apparel and textile trade and investments unskilled workers, and other categories.
(Samarasinghe, Ariyadurai, & Perera, 2015).
Author: Senior Lecturer, Department of Human Resource Management
Faculty of Commerce and Management Studies, University of Kelaniya, There is a severe challenge to the apparel
Sri Lanka. e-mail: iwelmilla@kln.ac.lk industry in Sri Lanka. Therefore, it is necessary to

© 2020 Global Journals

 Human Resources Challenges in Apparel Industry in Sri Lanka

examine the future and its challenges critically to find out leaving the industry for migration opportunities in Sri
the solution in the long term stability of the apparel Lanka. (Liyanage & Galhena, 2014).
industry in Sri Lanka. Moreover, the Sri Lankan apparel Kelegama and Epaarachchi (2003) stated the
industry is actively connecting with the working reasons for high turnover and absenteeism of apparel
population; therefore, this study aims to explore the workers are due to the poor working environment,
Human resources challenges associated with the worker stress, and poor social local perception of the
apparel industry in Sri Lanka. apparel workers. These factors caused the low
productivity of the sector and highly contributed to
II. Literature Review inadequate human resources practices in the industry.
The export-oriented production of the As per the view of Kotawatta (2013), responsible parties
readymade garment industry in Sri Lanka has begun in manage workers who begin in the apparel industry have
the 1970s and expanded rapidly after the introduction of to have a hard power to control the labor towards
2020

trade liberalization of the economy in 1977. In the early organizational success in the short term and long term.
era, direct foreign investment marked as a more The innovations and technologies oriented
Year

important factor in industry establishment and growth, methods have made new information, capacity, and
but lately, domestic capital became similarly necessary. ability necessities of the human asset in the apparel
46 The MFA set up a quota system, and it granted an industry (Lohar & Gopal, 2013). Information, capacity,
assured market for countries such as Sri Lanka, India, and ability necessities for the employee asset,
Global Journal of Management and Business Research ( A ) Volume XX Issue II Version I

China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Korea in the European Computers, internet, automated machinery have
Union, the USA, and Canada (Kelegama & Epaarachchi, become major innovative products in the apparel
2003). According to Thilakaratne (2006), during the late workplace (Lohar & Gopal, 2013). The industry has
1990s, the apparel industry grew at 18.5 % per annum, welcomed these new techniques, but the Indian apparel
and the export-led expansion of the industry led to the industry has indicated that the same has created
replacement of tea by garments as the nation’s largest challenges in the industry. The main problems they have
foreign exchange earner. The development of the Sri identified due to technological changes are ongoing
Lankan clothing industry has been remarkable in terms developments in the human capital and talent
of its contribution to GDP, exports, foreign exchange requirements of the jobs (Lohar & Gopal, 2013).
earnings, and employment generation. Thilakaratne Futhrmore, Anand & Keterpal (2014) have stated that by
(2006) further discussed that a considerable proportion giving more training opportunities internally to develop
of the apparel factories in Sri Lanka are small and the use of machinery and equipment at the workplace is
medium scale. However, the small and medium scale increasing productivity. Low educated or lack of
industries export merely about 15 % of the total exports, technical education of employers are harmful to the
and the industry is dominance by a few large firms, Indian apparel industry (Lohar & Gopal, 2013). The
which claim to about 85 % of the total value of exports sexual harassment wasprevalent in the garment
(Dheerasinghe, 2017). factories, and there were high gender base
The highly trainable, skilled, and literate discriminations in this industry (McMullen &Majumder,
workforce is one of the most important factors that has 2016).
contributed to the high development of the Sri Lankan High Employee turnover is a common problem
apparel industry. (Samarasinghe, Ariadurai, & Perera, for the apparel industry, and there are key factors
2015).In the global economy, the Sri Lankan apparel affecting employee turnovers such as the frustration of
industry has faced a significant challenge in the employee, limited career development opportunities,
strengthening competitiveness. (Ranaweera, 2014). As for own betterment and peer’s behaviors (Farooqui
described by Gavranovic(2018), most of the industries &Ahmed, 2013). Even though there is sufficient literature
now a day are facing such difficulties as profoundly available on employee turnover, there are no precise
changing technology, globalization, unpredictability, and models to find out why employees leave their working
turbulence. So it is worth to perceive the situation places (Lee & Mitchell, 2001).
concerning the Sri Lankan apparel industry as it is the Bangladesh's economy has been highly
highest sector contributing to the Sri Lankan economy. considering the ready-made industry, and employee
As a significant organizational element, human turnover, deeply related to the organization's
involvement is desirable to discuss due to several productivity, and this has become a major human
human resources problems such as high turnover, resources problem in Bangladesh ready-made garment
absenteeism, and these problems now have become factories(Sikdar, Sarkar & Sadeka, 2014).The insufficient
vast barriers to achieve the organizational objectives in income of the employees becomes the prime reason to
the apparel industry. (Kotawatta, 2013).The average quit from employment, and they had gone for higher-
employee turnover in an apparel factory is nearly about paying jobs and also, that people who are not happy
60 percent per annum and 20 percent skilled persons with the job duties, risk and challenges caused

© 2020 Global Journals

 Human Resources Challenges in Apparel Industry in Sri Lanka

employees to quit from the employment (Shamsuzzoha industry and also the human resources challenges
& Shumon, 2010). faced by the enterprises. The interviews end with
Women harassment, employee discrimination, comments from the interviewees on the studied object.
child labor has become growing problems in the The main questions were supported by probing
Bangladesh garment industry. (Ullah, Sunny & Rahman, questions to ensure that all required details captured.
2013). In the Cambodian, lower training levels and The main interview questions and the probing questions
educational levels have become a constraint to the labor were developed based on the theories available. Table 1
productivity of the garment industry (Natsuda, Gota & shows sample questions that use to explore the study's
Thoburn 2010). Furthermore, in this country, the poor aims.
working condition has lead employees for unrest Interviews were provided the necessary depth
situation (Gabriel, 2015). information for this study. Although it was a hard job to
interview some of the interviewees, it was essential to
III. Methods

2020
serve the purpose of the study. At first, Interviewees
Given the objective of this study, the researcher were requested by a phone call to reserve their valuable

Year
conducted thirty-five qualitative interviews with the time to give an interview date and time. Before starting
human resource managers in the apparel factories in Sri the interviewing process, the first researcher introduces
Lanka. The population of this study was the human herself and explains the interviewee the purpose of the 47
resources managers in the apparel factories of Sri study and aim. After confirming the formal consent of

Global Journal of Management and Business Research ( A ) Volume XX Issue II Version I

Lanka. For the study, the researcher has selected thirty- the participants and satisfying the ethical requirements
five apparel factories as the sample by using a of confidentiality, the researcher recorded interviews and
convenience sampling method. taped the transcribed interviews into a format suitable
As the research was trying to address a fact for N- Vivo processing (Silverman, 2013). In this case
that is related to human resources, which is very much study method researcher has been chosen the thematic
subjective, and high weight on the qualitative nature of analysis as it is a widely used qualitative data analysis
data. Thus the researcher used both primary and method. Mainly thematic analysis method identifies the
secondary data. The basis of this research approach is patterns of meaning across the dataset that provides
to collect primary data by interviewing the human findings to the study’s aims.
resource managers of the purposively selected apparel The researcher followed the basic guidelines
exporting companies in Sri Lanka. However, the given by the thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2008)
researcher also realized the importance of collecting first read the content of the interview recorded during
secondary data while analyzing the primary data the face to face in-depth interviews. The process of
because all the secondary data has complemented the converting recorded data/notes into a word-processed
primary data and so possibly increased the acceptance document took 1 hour and 45 minutes to transcribe. In
of the primary data. the next step, each sentence of the interview
In the questionnaire, there are some structured transcription was coded in a systematically according to
and semi-structured questions used to collect primary the main numbering of the semi-structured interview
data through the interviews. The initial questions provide questions. Highlight the key points and quotes to the
general perceptions about the Sri Lankan apparel illustrated points by giving concepts with labels given to
industry, and it is followed by some queries that aim to line by line. The ideas similar in sound were merged and
provide facts that affect to the apparel industry. The next developed the concepts at the end of the open coding
few sets of questions aim to provide a deeper process of each interview transcription.
understanding and an inside picture of the apparel
Table1: Sample questions from the interview protocol

Sample Questions
1. What kind of challenges faced by human resources management in the Sri Lankan apparel industry?
2. Could you please share with me what human resource challenges associated with your organization?
3. Being one of the famous apparel factories in Sri Lanka, do you have any human resource challenges and
how you find difficulties with those challenges?
4. What are the steps you have taken so far to overcome the HR challenges?
5. Could you please share with me any other remedial actions you would like to see to overcome these
challenges?
6. Do you have any understanding of the other Asian countries about the situation?
7. Could you please list down the identified challenges?
8. How have you been identified these challenges?

© 2020 Global Journals

 Human Resources Challenges in Apparel Industry in Sri Lanka

IV. Findings b) Negative social image/less attractiveness

Few respondents explained to the study that
In this section, the researcher report findings there is poor social recognition for the people who are
and broad concepts by following study aims. All human working in the apparel industry, and that perception
resources managers/operational managers responded reduces people’s interest in looking at the apparel
to the survey were faced with identified challenges when sector job opportunities. This lousy reputation was given
working in the apparel industry in Sri Lanka. Finally, the to the newcomers by the media, and different studies
researcher was classified the human resource conducted from time to time and previous incidents
challenges under nine categories such as; Scarcity of happened in the garment industry around. There is poor
labor in the industry, High Competition from the rival social recognition for people in the apparel industry.
enterprises and parties, Poor work ethic including Thus, this is one of the most disadvantaged to keep
absenteeism and turnover, Lack of technological experienced core employees in apparel companies.
2020

development, Longstanding legislations and extreme Therefore, employees are looking for jobs in other
social compliance requirements, Different management sectors after sometime. Due to these things, the apparel
skills on the people management, Negative social
Year

industry faced significant challenges in human resource

image /less attractiveness to the industry, Different management practice. The following quote supports this
48 attitudes and decision making by the people and Lack view:
of health and safety needs and awareness on sexual
well being. Yes, there are labor shortages, poor social recognition on
Global Journal of Management and Business Research ( A ) Volume XX Issue II Version I

apparel jobs.
a) Scarcity of labor In Kelegama’s (2009) study, he has identified
Excess demand for work becomes a severe that poor social recognition given to the apparel
concern and challenging factory for the apparel sector. industry-oriented job opportunities in Sri Lanka. Another
All respondents have pointed out that they struggle with study has noted in his work that the reason for not
the shortage of employment, especially in the attracting the labor into the apparel industry in Sri Lanka
operational level job categories. In the previously because of poor social recognition it gained (Hancock,
conducted studies also indicated that there was a sharp Carasta this, Georgiou, & Oliveira, 2015). Garments
drop in the apparel employments after 2003 (Kelegama, workers did not get social status and were neglected
2009). Labour is the necessary input to the apparel from society as a lowly recognized profession is the
sector, and with the lower retention rate of the other challenge in the apparel industry in Sri Lanka. The
operational level workers, demand for labor has been literature mentioned above also supported the
increased day by day and a higher labor shortage of researcher’s finding in this study, and the negative
40%recorded in Sri Lanka (Central Bank Report, 2017). social perception of the Sri Lankan apparel industry has
All the respondent reported that they faced difficulties become a challenging problem in human resources.
about the labor shortages, and there are no people for
c) Different attitudes and decision making of people
them to recruit event, as shown in the following quotes:
Employee working attitude is also an essential
The first critical challenge is enrolling people. When factor to consider to take the human resource
it’s come to the apparel sector, machine operators management decision of a company. Employee working
are crucial. As per my knowledge, the main issue is attitude changes organizational culture, develop
recruiting people. It is now challenging to employ skill employee commitment, trustworthiness, efficiency, and
laborers for factory operational jobs. effectiveness of job tasks, etc. Poor employee attitude
There are many vacancies currently in the enterprises creates unresolvable problems in the human resource
Sri Lankan apparel industry due to a lack of suitable process of apparel companies in Sri Lanka. Different
replacements. It’s tough to fill this gap between the types, ages, social groups of employees are working in
required human resources and the current resources apparel companies since they have poor attitudes that
that we have. have to tolerate and corrected when managing people
in the apparel industry. Therefore, the failure of
Dheerasinghe (2009) has identified that the lack employee attitudes is the primary human resource
of labor becomes a challenging issue in the Sri Lankan challenge. The following representative comment
apparel industry. Further revealed has been made, and illustrates this challenge:
it discussed that many Sri Lankan operations moved out
of the country to the other Asian countries due to the In garment factories can be seen as different attitudes
scarcity of labor. In the present context, the majority of the employees. It is complicated to convince them
believed that there is a high demand for work, but the to work. Some are arrogant and hard-core people.
supply of the workforce is a critical challenge due to the There are some areas in and around factories and
scarcity of labor. those areas reckoned as very horrible and arrogant

© 2020 Global Journals

 Human Resources Challenges in Apparel Industry in Sri Lanka

villages. People are coming from those areas also not doing casual nature jobs; there are ample of people
willing to adhere to the other instructors, superiors, with them.
and not respecting other supportive members and The finding of the study proved that how
always make demands for their satisfaction only. different attitudes of the people change their mind-set in
Some employees are lazy from their nature, and the apparel industry jobs. The literature explained that
they expect a comfortable work-life and get monetary the factors influenced views rose from socially, own
benefits. There are many unemployed youths in the rural experience, and learning. (Cherry, 2017). In this study,
distance areas in Sri Lanka, but it is still challenging to respondents have described what the expectation of the
bring them to the garment industry due to their poor new job seekers are, how the attitudes changed the
attitudes. However, youth people wish to dress nicely behaviors of some employees from socially, the job was
and engage in work with fewer responsibilities, as picked by the job seekers with their short term decision
described in the following: makings, and so on.

2020
The biggest issue now in the industry is an employee d) Lack of strong work ethic with high absenteeism and
is looking for a comfortable, relaxing job opportunity. turnover

Year
Even though we provide different types of financial High employee turnover and absenteeism in the
and none financial benefits to attract them still, it is operational workforce was another identified human
challenging to retain the labor leakages and attract resource challenge by the respondent in the Sri Lankan 49
newcomers. apparel industry and highly discussed. Employee

Global Journal of Management and Business Research ( A ) Volume XX Issue II Version I

The majority of females are working for the turnover is a foremost problem for apparel companies
apparel industry in Sri Lanka. Available literature also because that directly connected to the high human
proved that almost 70% of the Sri Lankan workforce resource management cost on recruitments, training,
contains inactive women and central causes behind this etc. Available literature proved that the average turnover
fact were women leave their jobs after marriage, of an enterprise was 60% per annum, which is high
maternity leaves and look after the education needs of (Samarasinghe, Ariadurai,Perera, 2015).
their children. Following is explanatory and showed how Absenteeism is the other significant challenge in
female participation had been declined based on their all enterprises as per the respondents. The majority of
or their relatives’ decisions. female employees are working in the apparel industry.
Five years before, it was 90% female and 10%, male. Female employees usually show big absenteeism
But now we started hiring many males for female- problems due to family matters, maternity leave, etc. All
oriented jobs; therefore, current representation is these causes to increase employee absenteeism rates
female 65% and male 35%. and employee turnover rates and it is a human resource
Yu Ru Hsu (2011) stated that there is a negative challenge, as a quote of a respondent:
relationship between work-family conflicts and job There is vast absenteeism of the operational
satisfaction. Personal issues connected with the family workforce, and it cannot be controlled or find out any
and members deemed employees to think that their solution yet. Employees are giving various types of
working environment is not favorable, and rigid rules are reasons and some long absences finally ending with
there to control them. Employees had several personal the turnover of the employee. One of the critical
issues at home when they were staying outside from reasons we find out is the majority are the borders;
home for employment, so they find it challenging to therefore, their loveable in the families such as kids,
manage it correctly. Some employees are coming to husband, parents, relatives are living in the villages.
work from their homes, and they also struggle when they Some family members are sick due to aging and
have personal problems to be solved. Employees tried nobody to take care of them.
to off from the job duties and resolved their matters, but It was found that there was poor work ethics in
there is pressure coming to them back again on their practice in the garment industry of the employees and
absences from the authorities in the enterprises as there became a human resources challenge too. These
are different leadership styles, and those vary from people have less focus on career development. Mostly
enterprise to enterprise. Therefore, employees finally lower-level employees are working only to earn. They
decide to work in free working arrangements where they were not much interested in developing a proper career.
have not stayed with rigid rules and regulations. Therefore, their absenteeism rate is high and less
Temporary employment helps employees to stay out of commitment to the workplace and it is another human
strict rules and regulations and work only when they resource challenges faced by apparel export companies
want. Therefore, employees were attracted to temporary in Sri Lanka.
operating companies in the apparel industry. For Labour turnover and absenteeism become a
example: pervasive crisis in the apparel context, and these
The recent issue in the contract labor/casual workers. challenges limit the organization's development and
We are struggling to hire people, but the people are expectations. In the Sri Lankan apparel industry,
© 2020 Global Journals
 Human Resources Challenges in Apparel Industry in Sri Lanka

turnover, and the absenteeism of the employees enterprises, and several reasons were lying under the
become more barriers (Kotawatta, 2013). This literature hardship to attract new employees in the company.
proved the researcher’s finding in the study, and finally, Those were competitive salary paid by the enterprises,
the poor storing work ethic, including the absenteeism different types of facilities such as shift hours, welfare
and turnover, become the challenges to the apparel benefits.
enterprises in Sri Lanka. In the first ear of the newcomers engaged in the
industry zone, it is hard for them to adopt the
e) Technological development
environment as well as to the boarding environment. In
Few respondents have identified that Human
this situation, what organizational offers and employee
Resources challenges as highly dependent on labor
requests were not in line and created dissatisfaction with
involvement jobs rather than on automated machinery
the new comer’s mind. It is hard to pay a high salary to
and high demand for labor exist as a result. Still,
employees work in the apparel industry since the
enterprises demand laborers and struggling without
2020

management of the apparel industry had to face

meeting expected labor demand. The interviewees
problems with employee turnover because of salary.
reported that during the last four decades in the Sri
Year

There is a high tendency for employees to worked in

Lankan apparel industry, there had not seen any
casual work or daily paid wage nature jobs. All these
noteworthy technological development in the apparel
50 jobs are temporary and available only vacancy is
sector, and demand is still there for manually operated
existing in the enterprises. Informal human resources
machinery:
Global Journal of Management and Business Research ( A ) Volume XX Issue II Version I

laborer suppliers are prevalent in the garment industry,

The reason behind the high demand for sewing and more employees are joining with these sectors even
machinist is the manually operated machinery, which they were not paid superannuation benefits or statutory
I have highlighted in your previous question. payments. They expect the daily sum of money to be
Innovation is a nessential success in the earned and manage today’s living expenses.
business environment. These people are less Respondents explained that attitudes of the employees
responsive to the innovative requirements of the apparel and early stages in the apparel industry employees
company. Therefore, supervisors were hard to adapt the worked and aimed to receive something big to arrange
employees to new systems and technologies their future family activities after completion of the
implemented. However, these core employees are not consecutive five years and earned the gratuity:
much positively responding to innovations because they
The biggest issue now in this industry is an employee
are not having much knowledge about the importance
is looking for easy, relax job opportunities. Even
of innovation. Thus the novelty is one of the main
though we provide different types of financial and
limitations faced by the human resource department of
none financial benefits to attract them still, it is
apparel companies in Sri Lanka.
challenging to retain the labor leakages and attract
Ranaweera (2014) showed that innovation is the
newcomers.
key to the Sri Lankan apparel industry in long-term
sustainability. Enterprises face challenges due to rapid The current trend is now employees going for casual
changes in technology (Agbor, 2008). The apparel nature jobs. There are vast numbers of employees
industry becomes a very competitive sector in the world practicing this method, and we can see there are
economy and Sri Lankan economy; therefore, to reach many informal suppliers too. These workforce
the 2020 mission, it is required to in line with the global agencies are not complying with the existing labor
technological trends. Machinery upgrading to be in line legislation, but still, the workers are preferred to resign
with the universal latest technology gained a competitive from their permanent jobs and join with the workforce
advantage and made a lot of monetary savings, which jobs.
will help to demand at a competitive price. To obtain a The apparel industry is highly competitive and
productivity workforce and become price stressful. A large workload develops unfavorable
competitiveness, the Sri Lankan apparel industry must working arrangements for employees. Therefore, most
invest in the technology, and it identified as a need in employees were unable to meet the target in the job,
the Sri Lankan apparel industry. As explained in the which was also caused by employee high labor turnover
study, results necessary technological advancement will in the apparel industry and joined with the temporary
ease the work-life, stress, and pressure of the garments work provided by the casual labor suppliers.
workers and provide an excellent solution to the scarcity
Kelegama (2011) revealed that competition had
of the labor.
been built up by the temporary labor suppliers and other
f) High Competition from the rival companies and rival enterprises established in the Sri Lanka export
others processing zone. This factor further increased the
The respondents have given their concern demand for labor, and enterprises should have to play a
about the difficulty of attracting newcomers to the competitive play to survive in the industry.

© 2020 Global Journals

 Human Resources Challenges in Apparel Industry in Sri Lanka

g) Different management skills in people management were restricted by the longstanding legislations. The
The leader is the main person in a company. upgrading of these requirements needs to meet the
They are responsible for managing the human resource present conditions.
of the company as well. Poor leadership leads to a lack
i) Lack of Health &safety facilities and awareness on
of success in a company. Leaders’ attitudes and
sexual wellbeing
behavior must be different based on the organizational
Aforementioned by the respondent’s majority of
culture, industry, and other factors. All leadership styles
employees were staying in boarding houses and
would not be applied to manage the human resources
working for apparel companies in Sri Lanka. That means
of apparel companies in Sri Lanka. Respondents have
the majority of employees were staying out of their
seen significant leadership style mismatch with facts of
homes. This situation created poor health and safety
the apparel industry. Therefore, some apparel
issues for employees. The majority are boarded
companies were not successful. Weak leadership
employees as per the respondents, and they find

2020
attitude influence on reducing the job satisfaction of
difficulty in lodging with basic needs matching their
employees of the apparel industry. It should be
expectations and budget. Most of the new female

Year
something in another way, and they should drive the
employees have faced issues with less knowledge
people to the expectation and should be smarter to
about sexual wellbeing, and early marriages resulted in
change the employee attitudes into the “I CAN” 51
sexual exploitation, which finally led to stop the
concept.
employment from their jobs. The following quotes

Global Journal of Management and Business Research ( A ) Volume XX Issue II Version I

In Dharmasiri’s study (2012), he explained well
support this view:
about this people management skill in the current
context, and it said that being strategic in managing Employees also faced difficulties in their boarding
human resources is very important. This study as well due to safety problems, high living costs, and
proved that people who manage their human resources expenses. Therefore, they started to shift to distance
at a different level in an apparel enterprise and they area factories. Especially female faced difficulties in
strategically focuson managing their people. their barding and, some females got into a
relationship with crummy people and fallen into the
h) Longstanding Legislations and extreme social problems. These factors resulted in parents in the
compliance requirements suburbs to think about not allowing their children to
Due to the political and legal environment that go out from their hometowns to the garment industry
different labor laws came into action in Sri Lanka areas like Katunayake and get boarded and work.
regarding human resource management. All companies On the other hand, there is develop an
have to obey to follow the labor laws of Sri Lanka and unfavorable working condition around the lack of
social compliance standards to survive and make experience of unskilled laborers. Therefore, it is obvious
delighted their buyers/customers. Furthermore, to have a high labor turnover. Labor turnover is
companies had to allocate specific expenses such as associated with and influenced by senior recruitment
tariffs and barriers when exporting apparel to other cost, selection cost, and training cost. Likewise, internal
countries. Finally, all these add to the high production human resource cost and production cost incur the lack
cost and reduction of profitability of manufacturing. of experience /awareness of newcomer laborers in
Some companies faced considerable hardships with apparel export companies in Sri Lanka.
lower-level net profit margins. Therefore, it is time to Laborers coming from far away distant places
rethink about legal practices and social compliance were logged in the boarding and were abundant with
standards currently in practice from ages eras ago with many problems financially, mentally, and physically as
the changes of the time. Losing out GSP+ discussed in the new locations are hard for them to adopt. As a
the literature showed how Sri Lanka face difficulties and result, they have to face many social issues that
how other Asian countries developed a lot with these describe in this study. Another researcher identified that
reliefs. health and safety become a challenge for the apparel
The apparel industry is in line with rigid rules industry (Thatshayini & Rajini, 2018). The researcher of
and regulations in the working environment from some this study identified that not meeting the basic
compliance & quality expectations. To meet customer expectations of the employees in their health and safety
quality standards, apparel companies had to follow needs, they found difficulties and adapting to the new
strict rules and regulations. However, employees are not urban, they were automatically addicted to some severe
interested in these rules and regulations. Therefore, problems.
refusal of rules and regulations cause quality issues of Respondents said about high turnover, and
the production and other employment issues in the absenteeism resulted inmulti-taskers employees who
apparel sector. As discussed in Samarasingha et al. are having additional responsibilities. To fulfill carder
(2015), the labour legislation in Sri Lanka is very shortfall in the operations, the factories put newcomers
complex. As a result, working hours, types of contracts in the workflow even with a lack of experience, but filling
© 2020 Global Journals
 Human Resources Challenges in Apparel Industry in Sri Lanka

up the vacancies is of utmost importance instead of motivate the employee to work in the organization and
absent employees. Also, the lack of knowledge of new the ability to manage the workload appropriately. As a
employees in the apparel industry causes to increase result of that employee gets appreciation and
errors in the working environment and quality issues of recognition from the workplace. Therefore, train and
apparel production. As a result of the incompetence of develop employees to avoid existing HR challenges in
unskilled labor leads to considerable cost and problems the workplace.
in the final production output of apparel companies. Salary or financial benefits are the primary
Most employees work in the apparel industry purposes of the lower level of employees of the apparel
and are young, where these employees have issues due industry. Therefore, employee incentives are the leading
to early marriage and sexual wellbeing. They faced employee motivational factor of the apparel industry.
hardships in managing work life and personal life. Financial incentives attract and retain employees of the
Therefore, these employees left the job in a short time, organization. Furthermore, employees tend to attend
2020

create issues in the working environment, increase work every day. As a result of economic incentives that
absenteeism, etc. All these issues explain Human apparel companies can reduce employee absenteeism
Resources challenges in the workplace and affected the and an employee turnover of apparel companies in Sri
Year

smooth operation of the enterprise. Lanka. As described by Mathis & Jackson (2007),
52 The apparel industry of Sri Lanka has high employee turnover means leaving an employee from the
employee turnover rates; thus, companies recruit existing place to other organizations, and it is a
employees every day because they showed a higher combination of both voluntary and involuntary leavers.
Global Journal of Management and Business Research ( A ) Volume XX Issue II Version I

number of vacancies in any day. However, recruitment Therefore, providing attractive financial incentives to
was critical due to salary, working time, rules and employees of apparel companies in Sri Lanka will
regulations, interest to carry out temporary jobs, increase productivity.
competition, and other factors. The majority of All the apparel companies provide a competitive
employees were staying in boarding places since they salary, benefits, and facilities to employees. Employee
took some time to adapt to the new environment. These attracts to the organization which offers higher facilities.
types of personal matters were also caused by the To more facilities that employees tend to work
reduction of productivity of employees and increase committed and high quality. Therefore, another
high employee turnover and absenteeism. recommendation for the apparel companies in Sri Lanka
is to provide sufficient facilities in monetary and none
V. Conclusions monetary forms to employees.
a) Summary and Implications The working environment is another factor that
The primary purpose of this study to identify the creates a proper workplace for employees. Employees
human resources challenges faced by the apparel leave the company due to a poor working environment
industry in Sri Lanka. Current research has been with stress, high workload, etc. The working environment
identified scarcity of labor, less attractiveness to the should be friendly to employees who work to achieve
apparel industry jobs, different attitudes, and decisions given organizational targets. Therefore, supplement a
made by the people, lack of strong work ethic including favorable working environment in the organization lead
turnover and absenteeism, lack of technological to reduce the HR challenges.
development, lack of health and safety needs and Apparel companies update with different
inadequate knowledge in sexual wellbeing, different technologies from time to time to meet the quality of
management skills on people management, high productions.
competition from the rival enterprises and parties and Further, companies introduce several quality
longstanding legislation and extreme social compliance systems and processes to complete the work in apparel
requirements become the barriers to the apparel companies efficiently. These systems contribute to
industry in Sri Lanka. Also, these challenges have reduce employee errors, train employees to work in a
negatively affected the operational process of apparel particular quality, get additional benefits to target
enterprises. achievements, etc. These types of activities help to
Training and development are helping to trains motivate the employee to work in full commitment.
the employee to perform well in the organization. Mentoring changes employee behavior and
Training and development increase employees' personal attitude in the workplace, positively change employee
and professional skills and knowledge to carry out their thinking towards the organization. Employee work-life
job without errors. According to Lohar & Gopal (2013), balance, solving of family matters during the work, and
raising the employment strength is mandatory for employee personal development are possible to done
smoother operation with a competitive advantage. The by using mentoring programs. Employee motivation will
survey findings have shown that the majority of reduce the human resource challenges of the apparel
respondents are low-educated or not getting any companies in Sri Lanka.
technical education. Also, training and development
© 2020 Global Journals
 Human Resources Challenges in Apparel Industry in Sri Lanka

Communication is an active process that can communication and management activities of the
be solved problems in any place. Effective management of apparel company.
communication communicates about essential Apparel companies gained positive initiatives
massages among employees and employees & such as to pay a good salary, provide employee
organization. Proper communication helps to deliver benefits, flexible working arrangements for shifts, the
organizational objectives with employees and employee establishment of a child daycare center inside the
expectations with the organization. Export Processing Zone, and an induction session
Apparel industry workers have a poor image organized by the Board of Investments (BOI) in
from society due to several reasons such as wrong particular time frames in the Export processing zone in
imagination about the behavior of apparel industry Sri Lanka. Excellent salary, employee benefits made
workers, problems faced by apparel employees, etc. All employee motivation with monetary. Further, flexible
these adverse facts made the false image of the apparel working arrangements and daycare center facilities help

2020
industry. Therefore, effectively conducting employee to manage their work-life balance. Induction session
management in the garment industry of Sri Lanka, when enables to train and motivate the employee to work in
providing necessary counseling services to employees the organization and identify working culture when they

Year
to change their minds to make correct decisions, are entering to the new job. All these activities are useful
strengthen employees to face ongoing problems, and to develop a positive attitude of employees to work in 53
build a proper image on garment workers will be the garment industry where management was able to
addressed the HR challenges. overcome existing human resource challenges.

Global Journal of Management and Business Research ( A ) Volume XX Issue II Version I

The flexible working arrangement is essential to However, still, some issues are remaining human
encourage the employees to work in an organization. resource challenges in the business context. Therefore,
Apparel industry workers are mostly women who are the proper assistance of employee authorities over
responsible for working in the home, children, parents, come other human resource challenges effectively.
and family. They are holding responsibilities at home Further, employees have suggested ways to
and in the workplace. Flexible working arrangements overcome human resource challenges in the future.
create considerable satisfaction and time allocation for Apparel employees were having issues with their
employees to manage work-life balance. Therefore, reputation in society since they could like to build an
develop flexible working schedules in the apparel image on the apparel workers. There are several
companies in Sri Lanka is a recommended solution. methods to introduce attractive schemes to apparel
Women have a considerable problem of look workers for their development, such as provide loans for
after their children during work time. Daycare center favorable interest rates and provide special discounts to
facilities are significant to them to manage work and buy products from duty-free. Most employees who are
family matters effectively and successfully. working in the apparel industry would attract to salary,
Establishment of a child daycare center activities is a benefits, and incentives. Therefore, the promotion of
method to develop in the industrial zone of Sri Lanka. industrial zones salary, bonus, and incentive schemes
To overcome these human resource challenges cause to attract new employees towards apparel
that companies have to make several decisions such as companies in Sri Lanka. Most apparel companies are
employee training and development, employee not even following basic labor laws since. Thus
incentives, provide facilities to employees, a supplement monitoring the workforce of suppliers by government
of a favorable working environment, and introduce new bodies in a systematic way can reduce human resource
technology or processes or systems or concepts. challenges.
Further, if managers make potent actions such
as providing more training, employee mentoring, VI. Limitations and Future Research
practical workplace communication, employee The findings reported in the present study
management, and build a proper image of garment must be considered in light of the limitations regarding
workers will overcome existing human resource its qualitative nature. The human resources challenges
challenges. Training and development activities reduce of the garment industry presented in this study are
employee errors in the working environment and limited to the Sri Lankan context; samples from other
motivate the employee to work in the company, which countries might reveal different human resources
leads to reduce employee turnover. Employee challenges.
mentoring is also another employee motivational In future research, longitudinal studies might
method to make them work a long time in the apparel explore how human resources challenges change
company. Effective workplace communication ensures during the peak business period. Finally, the study was
employee internal communication, collaboration, and limited to human resources challenges in the garment
work relationships. Employees would like to work in industry; thus, future research should explore the human
proper working condition with the appropriate workplace resources challenges in other sectors.

© 2020 Global Journals

 Human Resources Challenges in Apparel Industry in Sri Lanka

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