TALENT MANAGEMENT PROGRAMS

Organizations Improving Retention by committing to Talent Management programs

Table of Contents

Introduction3

Aim of study3

What is talent management?4

Why is talent management important?8

Recruiting and retaining talent9

Employee engagement13

Organizational outcomes16

Driving and restraining forces influencing the policy and practice of talent management16

Business Case23

Drivers of Employee Retention and Turnover24

Why employees leave25

Why employees stay27

Key Retention Strategies and Best Practices27

Effective practices27

Broad-based strategies30

Targeted strategies30

Implementation31

Laying the groundwork31

Benchmarking32

Dealing with some common problems33

Costs and return on investment33

Auditing and evaluating34

Conclusion34

References37

Organizations Improving Retention by committing to Talent Management programs

Introduction

“Talent management” has emerged as the latest “it” word in the human resource management (HRM) lexicon. A 2007 search of the term talent management on Google™ revealed approximately 5,750,000 hits, with talent management solutions, talent management tools, talent management software and talent management guides dominating various HRM periodicals and websites. Despite this apparent popularity, and like so many other HRM trends, a precise definition of talent management remains somewhat elusive. Further, there appears to be a disconnect between the fervour with which talent management is being proselytized by practitioners and its treatment within the academic community. Indeed a recent on-line search of peer reviewed academic journals through ScholarsPortal™ revealed a scant 57 articles on “talent management”. Providing a critical review of the talent management literature, Lewis and Heckman (2006) raised significant concerns about both the lack of common definition and the lack of evidence underpinning its practice.

Aim of study

The aim of this study is to address these shortfalls by clarifying what is meant by talent management, why it is important, and what large multinational hospitality organizations might do in support of its effective implementation. Emphasis is placed on the relationship between talent management, recruitment and employee engagement. The article begins by briefly exploring what is meant by talent management, in both the popular and academic press. We then argue why talent management is a particularly important concept for all organizations and for hospitality and tourism in particular.

Associated with this is a discussion of key characteristics of the industry that contribute to recruitment and retention challenges. Next is an overview of practitioner views on the driving and restraining forces influencing talent management policy and practice. As part of this discussion, several relatively novel HRM concepts - employer branding, employee value propositions and the pursuit of non-traditional labour sources - are reviewed. The article concludes with suggestions on what steps hospitality organizations might take in support of the implementation of a strategic talent management strategy including the call for the increased use of research evidence in informing HRM practice.

What is talent management?

Lewis and Heckman (2006, p. 139) conducted an extensive and critical review of the talent management literature both in the professional and academic press and found a “disturbing lack of clarity” concerning its definition. They did, however, identify three primary conceptions of the term. The first is that talent management is comprised of “a collection of typical human resource department practices…such as recruiting, selection, development and career and succession management” (p. 140). From this perspective, they argued that talent management may be little more than a ...