Research Symposium-2013

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Browsing Research Symposium-2013 by Subject "Apparel Industry in Sri Lanka"

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    Effects of job stress on intention to quit among operational level female garment workers in Sri Lanka
    (Uva Wellassa University of Sri Lanka, 2013) Kotuwage, A.L.
    Apparel manufacturing is a highly labor intensive industry. Hence, dealing with labor is always challenging and difficult to predict by nature. At present many apparel manufacturers across the country are facing hardships in labor turnover, absenteeism, low job satisfaction and issues in recruitment and attracting talented employees. This problem of labor turnover became crucial because it will lead to many other issues such as increase requirement cost, training cost, difficult to meet deadlines ect. According to the pioneers in the field, job stress is the one of the cause which vastly influences on this problem. Stress is the psychological and physical state that results when the resources of the individual are not sufficient to cope with the demands and pressure of the situation (Michie, 2002). Hence, Level of job and stress can affect both individuals and organization. A number of work related stressors have implications on the development of depression and other psychological disorders. Marshal & Cooper (1979) elucidated outcomes of stress are poor physical health, poor mental health and organizational symptoms. Maheshwari in 1998 pointed out major consequences of stress which are psychological effects (sleep disturbance, sexual disturbance, depression, forgetfulness, irrational thought, anger and stress situation), behavioral effects ( smoking, alcohol abuse) accident (violence, appetite disorder, quarrelsome nature) and physiological effects ( heart disease, and smoking). As of the late 2000s (decade), the Sri Lankan textile industry contributes 39% to the industrial production of the country and represents 43% of the country's total exports. Since the 1970s, the industry has grown to become the country's largest single source of export revenue. Most operational activities in garment factories are done by female workers. Therefore operational level females can make severe impact on the organization’s performance and ultimately its survival. Executives at garment firms believe the industry is merely experiencing a bad image problem, but union officials say women are staying away because they get little respect and income from working long hours (Samath, 2011).According to S.Ahangamage from the women’s centre –Sri Lanaka, female workers are leaving the garment sector and seek job as a domestics in the Middle East (Samath,2011). Hence, the current study attempts to find out the level of stress and intention to quit their jobs among operational level female workers in garment factories of Sri Lanka. Methodology Labor turnover and absenteeism are two major problems of the industry today. The garment sector has recorded average labor turnover rates of around 55% per annum; with the highest rate of 60% being recorded for factories in the Western province, and the average absenteeism of the industry is 7.4% per month, with the highest rate of 12% being recorded for factories in the Northern Province. The reasons for high turnover and absenteeism are poor working environment, worker stress, and poor social image of factory workers (Kelegama & Epaarachchi ,2003).