THE IMPACT OF RECRUITMENT AND SELECTION, REWARD AND RECOGNITION, TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT, PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL, AND CAREER DEVELOPMENT ON EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT: A CASE STUDY OF PROJECT-BASED EMPLOYEES AT ABC ENGINEERING AND CONSTRUCTION COMPANY, SRI LANKA

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.