Relationships between Human Resource Practices and Work Engagement During the COVID-19 Pandemic Situation in Life Insurance Industry in Sri Lanka

Abstract

Every organization are facing new challenges like financial turbulence, heightened performance Pressure, new technologies, an increasingly diverse workforce, and globalization of business to attain competitive advantages over others during the COVID-19 pandemic. Work engagement is the best tool to achieve it. So organizational leaders have the ability to attract, engage, develop and retain talent in the workplace. However, it is a big challenge for them. Therefore, employees who needs to improve their goals and achievement by developing work engagement will be influenced by their perception of Human Resources practices. Therefore, this research examines the relationships between human resource practices and work engagement during the COVID-19 pandemic situation. This study attempts to identify “The relationships between human resource practices and work engagement during the COVID-19 pandemic situation in Life Insurance Industry in Sri Lanka” For the quantitative survey, a total of 201 questionnaires were collected and the population of this study was employees who are working in Insurance Industry in Sri Lanka. The effective response rate is 73%. The results show that the Covid-19 pandemic positively influenced employee engagement in the Insurance Industry. The hypotheses of this research cover the impact and relationship between employee engagement, , work from home, Health, Safety and Wellbeing, training and development & employee communication activities; Thus, research findings remind organizational managers should work as leaders and explore the transformational leadership styles to improve the productivity of employees and thereby it will eventually improve employee’s organizational commitment. The results of this research are thought to be very helpful in future studies and it can be conducted as a case study for other industries. Correspondingly, it can be conducted based on other Human resource activities with employee engagement in the insurance industry can be changed and it will be beneficial for the development of employee engagement.