Human resource challenges for Sri Lanka: Today and beyond

On account of eliminating terrorism Sri Lanka is moving to a new phase after 61 years of independence. It heralds an excellent opportunity to maximize the true potential of Sri Lanka to unleash higher and sustainable socio-economic growth. In this overall challenge, Sri Lanka in general and the Government and all stakeholders, should urgently and collectively address the need to shape and build a competent human resource base to lead the country at all levels efficiently and effectively.

By Dinesh Weerakkody
We often hear politicians saying unemployment has reduced drastically, working conditions in general have improved and the brain drain is not a big issue for our economy.

However, many Trade Unions claim the general working conditions have not changed significantly in the last decade or so. It is, therefore, worth evaluating the conditions of work in Sri Lanka, the quality of working life in Sri Lanka, the terms and conditions for our migrant workers abroad and whether we are doing enough to retain the best and the brightest talent in the country.

The Minister of Labour proclaimed some months ago that wages would be increased by Rs.2,000 and any business which closed down would be forced to pay compensation by selling their assets. Is this business friendly?

One issue, which we need to bear in mind, is the open economy introduced in the late 70s has opened out the country and given more opportunities in the formal sector for our youth. This is especially so for the female population of this country. The formal industry has also moved to the rural areas. President Ranasinghe Premadasa in the early 90s made it possible for more rural youth to secure employment in and around their villages without having to move to city suburbs where they had many drawbacks in integrating with urban society. This plan would have borne more fruit, if the social infrastructure were also put in place to back the 200-garment factory programme.

Migrant workers
We all know the government today survives largely thanks to huge increase in Dollar remittances from the Gulf States. Let us look at the migrant workers and what exactly the state support for them is. How many of them really derive the maximum benefit of all their suffering and harassment? At this moment, how many of them are languishing in jails abroad? How many come back and find that the monies which they sent back home have been squandered? How many come back in coffins and how many come back mentally and physically destroyed? For many, going abroad to work is a necessity because we have very limited opportunities for unskilled people and the money they can make is insufficient to meet their basic family needs. Therefore, many of them get pushed to go to the Middle East to secure a better future for their family. However, often when they return they go back to being what they were before – an economically valueless soul who has brought back some money, which vanishes very fast. This is surely an area that needs to be addressed by the NGOs and the state to minimise the social and economic fallout.

Unemployment
We are often told that the unemployment situation is being dealt with adequately and that there is a drop in unemployment. Whether this is true of the formal sector is debatable. Election platforms have become a day for politicians to get the attention of the public on their political grievances and to advertise themselves as the saviours of the country. Often these utterances create expectations among people which will most likely be forgotten within a few days – the problem for many of them is that an insecure, low paying, difficult job is better than no job at all.

Skills development
Has the position improved for workers of this country after 61 years of independence and if so who is to blame for the lapses and who is to take credit for improvements? On the side of the shortcomings, we could perhaps identify the lack of facilities for workers to upgrade themselves. Many who upgrade themselves and move up in the social ladder do so, thanks to support given by their employers or by using their own funds to acquire new skills and knowledge.

Some years ago, the government and the private sector had a vision of a partnership through a Skills Development Fund, which still exists but the schemes that were envisioned never bore fruit, thanks to politicians taking control. In many countries, Trade Unions play a significant role in upgrading their members and making them employable so that they do not feel insecure in a fast changing world with jobs becoming redundant by the hour.

On the other hand, we see some Trade Unions deliberately moving companies towards closure and encouraging workers to take compensation. Some times it is suspected that they negotiate having in mind a percentage that they could receive when the company is closed. There are over 1,600 Trade Unions in the country and the Labour Ministry reports that barely 400 of them send Annual Returns to the Ministry. These Trade Unions collect subscriptions from their members and we hope that they account to their members for the monies collected. It is said that some of these Trade Unions do not pay EPF and ETF to their staff and that their working conditions are far from what they expect other employers to maintain.

Private sector
Then, have businesses done enough to justify the change to an open economy?
The statistics show that the gap between the ‘haves and have-nots’ have widened some more. Of course, this is not only true of Sri Lanka. Across the ocean, India has greater problems with serious poverty on the one hand and a super rich group, and a growing middleclass who are demanding the best of services from the sate.

In Sri Lanka, the professionals and technical people are at a premium and in order to retain them their salaries are becoming totally uncontrollable in terms of fixing reasonable differentials in a structured scale. This is why giving opportunities for workers to upgrade themselves and assisting them to do so is an imperative. It would also help the country to attract the right kind of investment and help the workers who are at the lower end of the scale to secure better pay.

Although the Minister of Labour wants everyone to be paid more, the world does not function that way. Who pays for it, the taxpayer and the consumer? If employers cannot pay the increase, they can only close down, and again the government would like the big brother, see that they get compensation squeezing out the last cent from the employer. Many of these employers who would be closing down have rather significant debts to banks and have mortgaged their assets to the banks.

It would be good to analyse what employers in these circumstances have done and what sorrow and suffering workers as well as investors faced when factories are closed. The other big worry we have is the movement of skilled talent from Sri Lanka to developed markets. That is having a heavy toll on business growth and capacity. What should we be doing as a country to retain our trained talent?

Government’s role
Winston Churchill 43 years ago observed that ‘the empires of the future will be empires of the mind.’ Many top economies of the world would be lost without our qualified professionals, and many governments are still very happy to attract our best and the brightest people. Most governments are easing restrictions on the entry of qualified people.

One of the best programmes for drawing in good human capital was initiated in the 80s by the Singapore government. The initiative helped Singapore to attract some of our best brains and even today continues to go out of its way to attract and import foreign talent. For a start, the government now that the war is nearly over should focus on wooing our professionals working abroad by making it very attractive for them to come back.

However, the government’s effort will all depend on whether the country is backed up by a vibrant economy and managed professionally. A combination of sensible government policies and economic liberalisation could work wonders for us. Our best bet would therefore to woo back some of our top Sri Lankan expatriates who have gone abroad to make their money but still feel the tug of their home country.

We need to introduce attractive incentives that can entice them to return and to retain our existing talent. In addition to this, the government should initiate a programme in consultation with the private sector to equip our university graduates with the required skills set to ensure that our graduates become employable to fill our short-term skill gaps. As the global HR Guru Professor Dave Ulrich pointed out during his visit to Colombo, “Retention of top talent is a key resource for any company or country and retention comes when people feel that their needs are being met. This would require collaboration of government policies, union and labour employee advocates, industry leaders, and academic institutions coming together to create a positive work environment for skilled employees.”