Evaluating the Impact of Training and Development on Employee Commitment and Job Satisfaction: A Study of Apparel Plants in BOI Katunayake, Sri Lanka

Abstract

Training and development are essential for any business as they help positively contribute to the company, employees, and society. Therefore, some companies maintain a separate department for this purpose. Particularly, it is important to review the perceptions of sewing machine operators in the apparel sector towards Training and Development because the apparel companies invest more in training, and it is better to evaluate the benefits gained from training and development in terms of employee commitment as it helps to improve the quality of the garments and the productivity of human capital. Therefore, this paper investigates the Impact of Training and Development on Employee Satisfaction and Commitment of sewing machine operators of leading garment factories in Kaunayake BOI of Sri Lanka. This study used the survey method to collect data from the sewing machine operators, and a structured set of questionnaires was distributed among 200 employees. This paper evaluates how Training and Development determine the employee perceptions about the company and job in relation to their personal career interests. The effectiveness of the training programs related to job satisfaction was tested using the subjective ratings of the employees about the support gained from trainers, transferability of training, practice, and feedback provided by the trainers, consistency, meaningfulness, and enthusiasm. The satisfaction aroused through development was evaluated by the degree of promotions and development opportunities gained. Also, Employee satisfaction was measured by training, ability to accept challenges on the job, the support provided by training for the job, and personal life. Moreover, Employee commitment was tested through the willingness to recommend the company and willingness to retain because of training and development opportunities provided by the company. The Results of this study revealed that employees are less satisfied regarding the development opportunities as they do not get adequate promotions as they expect. Moreover, the results indicate that training programs should be more meaningful to build employee engagement. However, the results confirm that training is strongly and positively correlated with job satisfaction and employee commitment while the correlation of employee development with employee commitment and satisfaction records a low correlation. Also, the results proved that employee training and development has a strong and positive correlation with both employee satisfaction and commitment. In conclusion, this study aims to provide recommendations to improve the training and development of the selected company using theoretical applications in a way that can build employee engagement