Private sector struggling to retain talent amid increased migrations

Long queues at Immigration and Emigration Department to obtain passports

• “Competing for or retaining talent is not easy to manage anymore”- Hemas Group CEO Kasturi Chellaraja
• Record 161,394 new passports issued during this year up to now
• Labour economist Dr. Ramani Gunatilaka blames lack of progress made in improving quality of employment for youth migration

By Nishel Fernando
Sri Lanka’s private sector is struggling to retain talent amid an exodus of talented workers moving abroad, eyeing better financial prospects, a recent panel discussion held in Colombo revealed. 

According to a leading corporate leader, the young talent holding higher educational qualifications such as masters degrees are now leaning towards moving abroad, creating brain drain in the country, driven by the financial crisis, which has led to a record level of inflation and uncertainty.

“Retention is a challenge when you are competing with another country. Now, you see an exodus of very talented young people going out of the country. We see people just taking up any opportunity that is coming on their way, which is not within their career aspiration but purely for financial benefits, in order to meet their financial obligations. Competing for or retaining talent is not easy to manage anymore. Retention has become a huge problem now,” Hemas Holdings PLC Executive Director/Group CEO Kasturi Chellaraja Wilson told a panel discussion organised by UN Women in Colombo last week.

According to the Immigration and Emigration Department, record 161,394 new passports have been issued during this year up to now, making up 42 percent of total number of passports issued last year.

Leading labour economist Dr. Ramani Gunatilaka partially blamed the lack of progress made in improving the quality of employment for the current exodus in youth migrations, due to stalled reforms.

“The quality of jobs has not improved for a very long time now. That’s been a reason for the brain drain. 
After the second wave of liberalisation in the country’s in 1990s, we have not seen any serious reforms taking place in the economy,” she pointed out.

Adding on to her point, leading industrial economist Prof. Sunil Chandrasiri opined that although many in the country are often speaking of welcoming the Fourth Industrial Revolution (IR 4.0), in reality, much of the economy is yet to reach the Third Industrial Revolution (IR 3.30).