People and Organisations

  The Changing Employee Behaviour in Sri Lankan Organisations                                                         through Social Media.   The fast development of social media has largely transformed the behaviour of employees in the Sri Lankan organisations resulting in both opportunities and challenges to human resource management (HRM). Platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook, and Tik Tok are no longer personalized platforms since the number of active social media users in Sri Lanka is more than 7 million by 2025 (DataReportal, 2025). They are now actively involved in the process of determining workplace communication, attitudes, and performance. Quantitatively, approximately 68% of Sri Lankan workers access social media at their workplaces, and this has a positive and negative impact on productivity (Kumarasinghe, 2024). Although its...

  Global HR vs Local Culture: Can Sri Lankan Organisations Find a Balance between the two?   It is a complicated task in an economy that is becoming more and more globalized, and the challenge of global HR practices is to get them in harmony with deeply held local cultural and cultural values. Multinational companies (MNCs) established in Sri Lanka tend to bring about standardised HR practices, including performance-based rewards, competency frameworks and diversity policies, to enhance efficiency and competitiveness. Nonetheless, such practices do not necessarily fit in the collectivist and relationship-oriented work culture of Sri Lanka. Quantitatively, Sri Lanka has experienced a gradual increase in foreign direct investment that has culminated to about USD 1.7 billion in 2024 (Central Bank of Sri Lanka, 2024). This expansion has enhanced the existence of international HR models. However, surveys of employee engagement show that almost two-thirds of employees in S...

     Women in Leadership in Sri Lanka: Breaking the Barrier or New Challenges?   Despite the fact that women constitute over 51% of the population in Sri Lanka, women are under-represented in the leadership positions (Department of Census and Statistics, 2025). The labour force participation of females is approximately 33% as of 2024, which is still lower compared to the world average and indicates that much of the female talent is underutilised (World Bank, 2024). The disparity is even more evident at higher-levels, and women occupying just approximately 13.4 % of board seats in listed companies, even though this is gradually improving over the last few years (International Finance Corporation, 2025). This disparity can be interpreted in terms of the Glass Ceiling Theory , which describes the process, according to which organisational obstacles that are not apparent deny qualified women an opportunity to further their career to a higher rank. In Sri Lanka, wom...

  Do Managers Really Matter? Leadership vs Employee Performance Debate   In modern organisations, the question “Do managers really matter?” remains central to strategic Human Resource Management (HRM). Traditional perspectives position leadership as a key driver of performance. However, more recent research suggests that employee capability, organisational systems, and context are equally important. This debate is especially relevant in fast-changing, global environments where adaptability and employee empowerment are essential. From a quantitative perspective, evidence shows that effective leadership can explain up to 30% of the variation in team performance (Gallup, 2023). In addition, organisations with highly engaged managers report 21% higher profitability and 17% higher productivity . Despite this, opposing views argue that strong performance is often driven by well-designed HR systems, advanced technology, and skilled employees, rather than direct managerial in...

    Always On Banking: the Unspoken Work-Life Crisis in the Sri Lankan Financial sector. The banking industry in Sri Lanka is still undergoing a high rate of digitalization in 2026. Though this transformation has enhanced efficiency in services and accessibility by the customers, it has also posed an increasing Human Resource Management (HRM) problem: the erosion of work-life balance. The growth of online space and the demands of around-the-clock service has added extra pressure on staff and prolonged working hours outside of the regular office hours. According to the recent statistics, about 65% of the banking staff members claim that they work longer hours, and almost 40% report being contacted after-hours due to work-related issues (Central Bank of Sri Lanka, 2024). This is an indication of a change towards the culture of always-on work.     The Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) Model can be used to analyse this issue (Bakker and Demerouti, 2017). Here, jo...

Drugs and Alcohol in the Workplace: A Hidden HR Issue in Sri Lanka?   Substance abuse at the workplace has emerged as a huge Human Resource Management (HRM) issue, in a changing socio-economic environment in Sri Lanka. Whilst it has been neglected, recent trends have shown that alcohol and drug abuse have a negative impact on productivity, workplace safety and organisational culture. Strategically HRM wise this problem relates to the legal, social and psychological aspects and organisations need to respond to it more proactively and in a balanced manner. The quantitative data demonstrates the magnitude of the issue. The National Dangerous Drugs Control Board (NDDCB) found that approximately 92,000 people were drug users in Sri Lanka, in 2023, most of whom were working-age citizens (NDDCB, 2024). In addition, the World Health Organization (WHO) states that almost 5% of global productivity loss is attributed to alcohol use in the form of absenteeism and presenteeism (WHO, 2023). In ...

  Sri Lanka’s Workforce Transformation by 2030       With Sri Lanka going through constant economic and structural change, the future of the labour force has emerged as the key issue of organisations and human resource practitioners. The process of globalisation and technological upheaval in combination with evolving employee demands is changing the people management practices. Calculating the number of jobs reshaped by 2030, World Economic Forum (2023) estimates over 1 billion, and organisations are strongly advised to redefine workforce competencies and strategic human resource approaches. The digital capability is a trending demand quantitatively. PwC (2023) stated that 83 percent of employers in Sri Lanka have placed importance on digital literacy, whereas international statistics indicate that over 60 % of jobs will require high-technological levels of skills. To an increasing degree, artificial intelligence, data analytics, and cybersecurity skills ...

      Will the Salary Remain the primary motivator of Employees in Sri Lanka     In the context of businesses in Sri Lanka operating in a fast evolving economic and organisational environment, knowledge about employee motivation is getting more complicated. Although pay has always been seen as the main driving factor, modern day evidence is pointing to a more balanced and multidimensional approach to employee engagement and satisfaction. The quantitative findings show that the importance of salary remains great. Pay is the biggest factor leading to job satisfaction among about 75% of the employees (Sri Lanka Human Resources Development Institute, 2026). Also, the trend of labour migration recorded by the Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment indicates that financial incentives are still relevant in the employment choice, especially when wage differentials are considered globally. These insights affirm that salary is one of the elements of employment relationshi...