Public sector focus on HR not very promising: IPM
The Institute of Personnel Management Sri Lanka (IPM) President asserted that public sector does not pay much attention to developing their human resources, which if done properly would contribute immensely to the country’s economy.
“In my view, t he value of HR development is yet to dawn on the public sector that is expected to make a crucial contribution towards the prosperity of this nation. As a result, the nation has not been able to achieve the full potential of the country’s public sector workforce, which is nearly 1.5 million,” leading HR professional Rohitha Amarapala said at The National HR Conference (NHRC) hosted by IPM under the theme “HR for National Prosperity”.
Amarapala said that the private sector however has paid more attention to its human capital. “Fortunately the focus of HR within the private sector is more promising even though we still have a long way to go in order to realize the true potential of our human resources”.
Asia Pacific Federation Human Resource Management and Bangladesh Society for Human Resource Management President and renowned HR professional Musharrof Hossain agreed with Amarapala by stating that Bangladesh itself does not have a proper HR Act. The event’s keynote speaker, Micro Holdings Ltd CEO and Chairman Dr. Lawrence Perera insisted that the private sector must take the wheel. “Developing the country is not only building skyscrapers and highways but humans, specially in the private sector. It isn’t rocket science, we can train our people. But we should not wait for politicians to do that.”
He further added that the country must focus on resources it has – the HR, rather than always talk of non-existing resources. Freight Links International (Pvt) Ltd Vice President Ravi Edirisinghe was also of the view that human capital of the private sector could add more value to the economy. Nevertheless, Public Policy, Postgraduate Institute of Management Programme Director Dr. Lloyd Fernando insisted that the government must take control.
“There is a partnership between public and private sector whether you like it or not. Private sector is the engine of growth but the engine driver is the government. There’s always a need for a partnership. There should be a good understanding, and the government must be able to drive the engine forward with a shared vision along with the private sector,” stressed Dr. Fernando during the panel discussion.