Abstract:
Employee engagement is highly recognized as an important factor that influences
the performance of an organization, particularly in the engineering and
construction field, which is a project-driven industry in enhancing productivity,
and improving collaboration while reducing turnover. At ABC Engineering and
Construction Company in Sri Lanka, the decline in employee engagement has
caused a reduction in employee motivation and project delays. Understanding
how Human Resource Management (HRM) practices contribute to employee
engagement is essential to address these challenges. The study aims to evaluate
how employee engagement at ABC Engineering and Construction Company is
affected by HRM procedures, encompassing recruitment and selection,
performance appraisal, rewards and recognition, training and development, and
career development. A positivist, quantitative explanatory research design was
used. A structured questionnaire based on a five-point Likert scale was distributed
to 150 randomly selected employees through systematic random sampling within
a total population of 300 in the company’s Western Province division. SPSS
software was used to analyse collected data through descriptive statistics,
Pearson's correlation, and multiple regression analysis. According to the
correlation data (r = 0.877 to 0.918; p < 0.05), Strong positive correlations can be
found between each HRM practice and employee engagement, showing the
strongest correlation by reward and recognition (r = 0.918). Descriptive analysis
states the most valued practice as training and development. The regression model
states that the HRM practices account for 89.1% of the diversity in employee
engagement (R2 = 0.891, p < 0.05), with each practice having a considerable and
favourable effect. Findings of the study show that enhancing HRM practices can
improve employee engagement, widely boosting the organisational performance,
especially in training and development, as well as recognition areas. The study
also recommends improving performance evaluation, career development as well
and reward systems. According to the study, consistent utilisation of HRM
practices in the company is required to increase employee engagement.
