16. Examining the Role of HR Practice and Employee Engagement on Employee’s Loyalty—The Sustainability Dimensions of Textile Industry in Bangladesh

Bangladesh’s textile industry has come a long way and emerged as a front-runner across the globe. The industry is expected to grow even faster than before and will continue to dominate in the fast paced global market in future too. Bangladesh is the second-fastest growing economy in South Asia where GDP growth rate was 7.11% in 2016. Despite the industry’s remarkable contribution toward its GDP (28.1%), there is a huge turnover of employees which may put this sector’s long-term development at stake. Employee engagement as an important HR practice assumes significance in this context to ensure employee loyalty in organizations. HR practices are prevalent in most of the organizations including the textile sector, but would require focus on long-term sustainability to solve the issues in organizations. The study adopted Gallup’s scale to assess the engagement level of employees by recognizing the rudimentary worth of exchange with employees and also how optimally reorganize and proficiently foster all phases of employee engagement so that they would become a productive workforce with lower intention to leave. Empirical findings of the study indicate that HR practices and employee engagement have positive impact on employee loyalty. The study suggests that management should focus on sustainability-driven change in practices in order to retain the talent pool in the long run and reduce turnover.