The Labour motivation of construction industry in Sri Lanka

Abstract

Construction is the fourth highest sub sector in Sri Lankan economy which contributed 8.1% of overall GDP in year 2012. Labouer is an important resource in construction because it is the one that combines all the other resources namely materials, plant and equipment, and finance in order to produce the various construction products.Labourers on civil engineering projects are frequently confronted with problems that could lead to demotivation; thus, join and retain them in construction field in Sri Lankais a key challenge. Thus, the research problem is articulated for this study as:why construction labourers do not motivate to join and retain in the construction field in Sri Lanka? Survey research methodology was used to investigate the research problem. Structured questionnaire was used data collection in this study. Sample of 60 construction labourers was obtained across construction sites of ICTAD certified medium scale construction companies, which are located in Colombo area in Sri Lanka. The phenomenon of ‘labour motivation in construction’ was examined through self-administered questionnaire. Percentage and Relative Important Index (RII) data analysis techniques were used to analyse the data. The results indicated of top six significant factors for lack of motivation for construction work force: lack of income; poor retirement benefits; difficulties in understanding technical drawings; temporary nature of the job; hard working; and, lack of social recognition; thus, most important demotivating factors in the eyes of construction workers in Sri Lanka. Mitigating these de-motivators through effective motivation strategies will increase motivation of construction labourers to join and retain in construction field; thereby, improve productivity of construction work force.