Best Workplaces in the Logistics and Transportation Industry of Sri Lanka for 2024

By Great Place to Work® in Sri Lanka  

Route to Success: Navigating Workplace Culture

Sri Lanka’s transportation and logistics industry is the lifeblood of the nation. It’s the invisible hand that keeps shelves stocked, communities connected, and the economy humming. The foundation for future success is strong; A strategic positioning, robust road network, world class ports and a strategic and comprehensive web of air and sea routes, efficiently connects Sri Lanka to global markets. The workforce behind the industry is diverse and multifaceted, possessing a wide range of skills, from managing complex routing and ensuring 24/7 operations to providing hands-on support. This combination positions Sri Lanka as a key player in the region.

Sri Lanka’s logistics sector has also seen a string of challenges, mirroring those faced globally. These include supply chain disruptions, rising fuel costs, the search for key talent and the need for infrastructure expansion/upgrades. Amidst these, the industry must prioritize the well-being of its human capital for enhanced labour productivity, crucial for its future success.

This study uncovers the current workplace culture and provides insights on how organisations can invest in their workplace health to propel Sri Lanka’s logistics and transport industry towards a prosperous future.

Study Summary

During this year’s study cycle, over 6000 employees from the industry were surveyed, with an average response rate of 92%. This study data helped to understand employee perception in the sector as well as determine the 10 Best Workplaces in the Logistics and Transportation industry who create an overwhelmingly positive and consistent workplace experience across the organization. Organizations that were Great Place to Work Certified™ from March 2023 to March 2024 were considered for this study.

Methodology for Selecting the Best Workplaces

Great Place to Work® is the globally recognized authority on studying and identifying Best Workplaces. Over the past 30+ years it has studied Great Workplaces and expanded its reach to over 150 countries and territories. Organizations utilize services to benchmark, understand key strengths and areas to improve on and act to drive workplace culture that supports organizational performance. The Sri Lankan study is based on the global model and a rigorous methodology, which has been researched, tested, and carried out in similar studies worldwide. 

The selection follows the global ‘Great Place to Work For All’ methodology. 85% of the evaluation is based on the experience of trust and employees reaching their full human potential as part of their organizations – no matter who they are or what they do. These experiences are analyzed in relation to each company’s size, workforce demographics and industry norms. The remaining 15% of the evaluation is based on all employees’ daily experiences of innovation, their organizations’ values, and the effectiveness of their leaders to ensure a consistent positive experience.

The measurement tool used to assess workplace culture is based on two lenses; Firstly, the Trust Index© employee perception survey is conducted to understand the employee workplace experience and constitutes 75% of the total organization score. In Sri Lanka, only organizations certified (Certification is valid for a period of 1 year) as a great workplace with more than a 70% minimum positive employee perception are considered for Best Workplaces studies in that year. Organizations are measured on whether employees Trust the people they work for, have Pride in work they do and share Camaraderie among people they work with. Secondly, the practices and processes in place to drive the employee experience are evaluated through a central submission termed the Culture Audit© which constitutes the remainder 25% of the total score. Results for listed organizations are audited to maintain accuracy and validity of their inclusion in the Best Workplaces List.

Study Overview

Figure 1 compares the Trust Index© (TI) average employee positive perception about their organization’s workplace culture. The TI is measured across 58 core global statements to provide an ‘analytical viewpoint’ of an employee.  

 Figure 1 – Trust Index© average employee perception 

The 2024 Trust Index© for Sri Lanka’s (SL) Logistics & Transportation (L&T) industry Best 10 Workplaces™ remains strong with an impressive 92%, exceeding last year’s average (91%). The rest of the workplaces in the Sri Lankan study averaged 84% maintaining last year’s score. The gap (8%) between the Best 10 and the Rest, highlights that there is still need for improvement for some organizations. The study results this year echo those of the last study for L&T, where Sri Lanka’s Best Workplaces outperformed Asian and global averages. 

Key Focus Areas

Figure 2 displays the five key focus areas measured by the Trust Index© employee perception survey that add up to the overall perception. These SL L&T workplaces continue to follow the norm of fairness being lowest and pride being the highest focus areas for employee perception.

Figure 2: Key focus areas of the Trust Index© employee survey

Seeing how Sri Lanka stacks up against regional and global counterparts is important to maintain competitiveness. Sri Lanka’s Best Workplaces in L&T consistently score higher than their Asian and global counterparts across all key focus areas. This translates to Sri Lankan employees feeling immense pride in their organizations compared to other countries (94% vs 88%). It is notable that at regional and global level pride is not relatively higher than other focus areas nor is it the highest globally. Among L&T Best Workplaces around the world camaraderie seems to play a more important role. 

Diving deeper into the area of fairness shows that it is the biggest gap between Best vs Rest (10 percentage points). Notably, the Best 10 L&T have employee positive perception higher than the Best 50 in all 15 sub focus areas except for one; impartiality, which rolls up to employees’ perception of fairness. This, in fact, is employees’ lowest perception across the sub-focus areas (Best 84%, Rest 74%) with a low perception around manager favoritism (Best 77%, Rest 68%) dragging perception down. 

Health Indices for Organizational Culture

Figure 3 highlights the key indicators of a healthy workplace culture and being a ‘Great Workplace For All’ employees. 

Figure 3: Organizational Culture health indices in the Trust Index© employee survey

The health indices are strong in both the Best and the Rest, but there are significant gaps of 10 points between the 2 groups for daily motivation, advocating the workplace and recognition efforts to make a change where the best lead the way. Perception around managers role modeling and organization quickly adapting to changes are two key areas that are linked to higher perception around ‘recognition of innovation’ indicator among employees of the Best 10.

Positive perception for long term association may only be an 8-point gap, but it is notably due to perception among the Best dropping by 2-points this year. It is still relatively the lowest in employee positive perception among the Best 10 and requires building up. Managers showing sincere interest in employees as people and providing a psychologically healthy culture are top contributors to retention among the L&T Best 10.

Innovation by All

One of the key outcomes of creating a Great Place to Work For All is creating and sustaining a high trust environment with the roots of an innovation culture that fosters contribution to continuous development by all employees in idea generation, sharing and implementation. An organization’s agility in adapting to change and celebration of innovation effort by employees regardless of outcomes are cornerstones of an innovation culture (Figure 3). These are essentially cultivated through roots of employee collaboration – where employees are involved in decision making (Best 91%, Rest 80%) and management genuinely acquires employee feedback before acting (Best 91%, Rest 84%). The spark of creativity is all important in being competitive and maneuvering a B.A.N.I. world successfully – especially in the ever-changing world of logistics and transportation. 

Key drivers among employees of the best 

Key Drivers are specific areas in the Trust Index© employee survey that have the strongest correlation with employees viewing their workplaces as great. These areas significantly influence an employee’s long-term emotional attachment to the organization. This year’s drivers of perception among the L&T Best 10 are shown in figure 4.

Figure 4: Key Drivers of perception among Best 10 

These results show that in the L&T industry there is a need to create a healthy and supportive work environment that is a psychologically safe space with leaders who exemplify positive behavior and credibility where employees feel valued as individuals and respected regardless of their position. In all these areas the Rest are 6-11 points behind, indicating that by prioritizing these key drivers, they can work towards cultivating a culture that engages employees similar to that of the Best.

Best vs. the Rest 

Figure 5: Key Differentiators between the Best 10 vs. the Rest

Best outperforms the Rest in forming a more positive employee perception around compensation; Fair pay, fair profit share and receiving unique benefits. The Rest lag 14-19 points behind in each of these areas. These areas may be emphasized due to the economic challenges faced by the country and decreased buying power leaving employees struggling to bridge the gap. Organizations can work towards ensuring that fair standards are set, and reward systems are aligned with performance. Prevailing issues should be addressed through transparent communication and equitable practices to improve perception. 

Route to refinement - Areas for Improvement 

The study highlights that fostering a welcoming atmosphere (Best 96%, Rest 90%), a deep-rooted culture of pride in one’s job, team, and organization (Best 95%, Rest 88%) and belief in management competence (Best 96%, Rest 88%) are key areas of strengths for the Best in L&T. 

Inversely, while Sri Lanka’s Best L&T workplaces achieve a strong overall Trust Index score, there are areas that have room for improvement for both the Best and Rest to make it a more consistent experience across the organization as detailed in figure 6. 

Figure 6: Areas for Improvement 

The external challenges organizations have been facing over the last few years have created a ripple effect on these areas. Migration has left a reduced workforce working through a higher workload with possible burn out. It is important to support holistic employee wellbeing and work life balance in terms of the ability to take leave when necessary. During uncertain times which require change, strong manager reliability in actions matching words and keeping promises becomes key. Over the last 5 demanding years in Sri Lanka many organizations have had to prioritize driving business objectives at a fast pace leading to stressful environments. Many employees perceive ‘fun at work’ to be needed back in the workplace to greater extent. It becomes critical to address the relatively lower perception now rather than later. 

Conclusion: 

Sri Lanka’s L&T industry shows promising signs of complementing the infrastructure and location-based advantages the country presents. The best workplaces boast strong leadership, and positive work environments. However, to truly thrive, the industry must prioritize building trust consistently across the board. Improvements are needed not only to bridge the gaps between Best vs Rest but also to elevate the entire industry’s employee experience. A truly innovative culture empowers everyone. Organizations need to build trust in the workplace and embrace innovation to unlock the industry’s full potential. By prioritizing these areas, Sri Lanka’s L&T industry can create a work environment that attracts and retains top talent, fostering a culture of innovation and propelling the industry towards a prosperous future.

Great Place to Work®’s mission is to help every workplace become a Great Place to Work For All so that organizations can maximize human potential through a High-Trust, High-Performance Culture that drives business, improves lives, and creates a better society. No matter where you are in your journey, you are invited to join in to discover and drive your employees’ positive perception and contribute to achieving the vision of making Sri Lanka a great place to work.

Please contact Great Place to Work© in Sri Lanka at +94 11 454 5594 or visit www.greatplacetowork.lk for more information.