Strategic Talent Management

Running head: TALENT MANAGEMENT AS A STRATEGIC PRIORITY Talent Management as aStrategic Priority Name of the Student Name of the University Author notes 1 TALENT MANAGEMENT AS A STRATEGIC PRIORITY Section 1: Abstract This research paper intends to analyse the talent management as astrategic priority in the context of Sun Life, a Hog Kong based company. In this regard, this research paper discusses the strategies of talent management and finds out the significance of the study in field of business, management and future studies. It focuses on the research aims, objectives and question of the study to reach to desired outcome. It identifies various previous studies on the topic of talent management and conducts the extensive literature review. The section of research methodology guides the way research should be conducted to get effective result. This research paper utilized both primary and secondary data along with the quantitative and qualitative data collection method to reach to findings of the study. Finally, itconcludes about the entire study. 2 TALENT MANAGEMENT AS A STRATEGIC PRIORITY Table of Contents Section 2: Introduction .................................................................................................................... 4 2.1 Introduction ........................................................................................................................... 4 2.2 Significance of the study ....................................................................................................... 5 2.3 Research outline .................................................................................................................... 5 Section 3: Research objectives and questions ................................................................................. 6 Section 4: Literature review ............................................................................................................ 6 Section 5: Research methodology and process ............................................................................. 12 5.1 Research design ................................................................................................................... 12 5.2 Research approach ............................................................................................................... 12 5.3 Research philosophy ........................................................................................................... 13 5.4 Data collection method ........................................................................................................ 13 Chapter 6: Findings of Analysis .................................................................................................... 15 6.1 Primary data analysis .......................................................................................................... 15 6.1.1 Quantitative analysis .................................................................................................. 15 One –Way ANOVA Test .......................................................................................................... 20 6.1.2 Qualitative analysis .................................................................................................... 22 6.2 Secondary data analysis ...................................................................................................... 23 Section 7: Conclusions .................................................................................................................. 25 References ..................................................................................................................................... 28 3 TALENT MANAGEMENT AS A STRATEGIC PRIORITY Appendix ....................................................................................................................................... 33 4 TALENT MANAGEMENT AS A STRATEGIC PRIORITY Section 2: Introduction 2.1 Introduction The full scope of human resource processes to onboard, attract, develop, retain and motivate better performing employees is called as talent management. The process of talent management intended to drive performance with the help of integrated people management practices. Thus, the process of talent management is considered one of the crucial functions of human resources (Vaiman, Collings and Scullion 2017) .The strategies of talent management have a profound role in implementing the practices of talent management. Moreover, it is essential for the companies to take into consideration the talent management strategies for the development of the organization. This research study has discussed the talent management as a strategic priority in the context of Hong Kong based company Sun Life. Talent management highlights the set of human resource processes that integrate with each other. It is necessary to capitalize atalent management strategy on its full potential. All the areas of human resource such as hiring, onboarding, performance management and retention comes under the talent management. Therefore, strategies of talent management enable the company like Sun Life Hong Kong to control its all the areas of human resource. A new approach of Sun Life Hong Kong drives employee engagement within the organization. It mainly helps the company to enhance the performance of the employees. According to (Krishnan and Scullion 2017), motivation, engagement and retention of the employees depend on the talent management strategies. Appropriate talent management strategies assist the companies to build a sustainable competitive advantage. In addition, it is difficult for the companies to imitate the strategies of talent management of other companies. As aresult, it allows to outperform their competition with the assistance of integrated system of talent management strategies within the 5 TALENT MANAGEMENT AS A STRATEGIC PRIORITY or organization. The retention of the high-performing employees is essential to achieve the key goals of the organization. The concerned study has emphasized on the new and innovative ways of achieving talent management strategy, which requires specific skills. 2.2 Significance of the study Significance of the study emphasizes on highlight the significance and benefits of the concerned study. This research study has investigated the importance of the talent management as a strategic priority in the context of Hong-Kong based company Sun Life Hong Kong (D ’Annunzio-Green and Teare 2018). The concerned study has also taken into consideration research theme such as the need for new and innovative tools of working to obtain astrategic approach to talent management. Thus, the outcome of the study has highlighted the significance of talent management within the organization. As per (Narayanan, Rajithakumar and Menon 2019), the contribution of this study to academic, management and business field cannot be denied. 2.3 Research outline Research outline helps to state about the structure the whole paper (D ’Annunzio-Green 2018). The chapter 1of the concerned study has utilized to introduce the dissertation topic with the assistance of research aims, objectives, questions and rationale of the study. Further, the chapter 2of this study has conducted literature review of the past studies on the same topic. The chapter 3 of the concerned study has ascertained about the methodologies including research design, data analysis plan and research approach. In addition to this, the chapter 4of the study has discussed results and outcome of the data analysis. 6 TALENT MANAGEMENT AS A STRATEGIC PRIORITY Section 3: Research objectives and questions Research aims helps to state about the purpose of the study, which has proved effective for the data analysis. In addition to this, the intension of the concerned study has also mentioned by the research aims. The research objectives of the proposed study are below:  To evaluate and investigate the effectiveness of the talent management as a strategic priority.  To scrutinize and illustrate new and innovative ways of operating to achieve strategic approach to talent management.  To find out and discuss the strategic approaches of Sun Life Hong Kong in the context of talent management. As mentioned by (Van Zyl, Mathafena and Ras 2017), research questions highlight the set of issues that is necessary to address in order to complete the research study. This concerned study related to talent management has been conducted on the basis of the flowing set of issues: Descriptive research question:  What is the effectiveness of the talent management as astrategic priority?  What are the strategic approaches to talent management of Sun Life Hong Kong? Comparative research questions:  What are the new and innovative tools of working to obtain strategic approach to talent management? Section 4: Literature review Theoretical framework 7 TALENT MANAGEMENT AS A STRATEGIC PRIORITY Figure 1: Theoretical framework Figure 1 shows the theoretical framework of the concerned research that helps to understand the talent management as astrategic priority for the Sun Life Hong Kong. The whole study has been represented with the help of this framework. Here, the dependent variable is employee engagement and independent variables are learning, developing and retaining employees. The relationship between these variables have represented in the concerned research. Talent management is asignificant aspect in the field of human resources. The demand for high-quality talent has increased in the global market as companies are facing the effect of competition for employee in an international market. Therefore, the talent management has emerged to be one of the biggest challenges facing companies on the international market. According to (Mohammed, Hafeez-Baig and Gururajan 2018), There are numerous driving factors such as knowledge development, globalization, increased competition and innovation, which have brought new era in the labour market. As a result, the emergence of talent 8 TALENT MANAGEMENT AS A STRATEGIC PRIORITY management practices in companies has become more turbulent, complex and contradictory compared to earlier. Therefore, itis necessary for the companies to adopt new strategies in order to manage talent within the organization (Uddin and Arif 2016) .The practices of talent management vary widely among organizations. Thus, it also influences the capacity of companies to retain employees. There exists a close link between the talent management and human resource management concepts like workforce planning, human resource development and strategic human resource management. Besides, the consideration of three independent variables and one dependent variable helps to understand the concerned study. The independent variables include learning and growth perspective, talent developing and talent retaining and dependent variable include employee engagement. This perspective involves corporate culture attitudes and employee training associated with corporate as well as individual self-improvements. As mentioned by (Latukha and Veselova 2019), metrics on the basis of this perspective allow the companies to focus on the growth of the employees through learning. Talent developing plays a vital role for the companies to retain superior talent. A set of integrated organizational human resource processes that framed to develop, attract, retain, motivate and engaged employees is known as talent development. The application of talent management practices assists to build a high-performance, sustainable organization that meet its operational and strategic objectives and goals. A set of policies and practices under the talent management assists in talent retention for the companies. New and innovation strategies offer effective ways to retain the employees for the organization. As per (Najm and Manasrah 2017), many companies around the world adopted talent management strategies that strengthen employee engagement. As aresult, the employees of such 9 TALENT MANAGEMENT AS A STRATEGIC PRIORITY companies feel passionate about their jobs. Furthermore, these employees are committed to the companies and put discretionary effort into their work. The implementation of the talent management as astrategic priority helps to build amodern work environment for the companies. Therefore, talent management strategies not only help the companies to develop talent, retain talent and work on employee engagement but also supports the growth of the organization. The companies may conduct the training under the learning and growth perspective to achieve sustainable growth. As stated by (Bj örkman et al. 2017), the adoption of new and innovative strategies to obtain strategic approach to talent management supports the transformation of the company. Sun Life Hong Kong took the path of transformation with the assistance of talent management strategies such as work-study and co-op opportunities and rotational leadership development program. In this context, it is necessary to mention that the rapid outbreak and spread of the global pandemic COVID-19 has changed the entire world. It has dramatically affected the businesses, industries and economies across the world. As the governments across the world put the restriction on the economies with the measures like lockdown and social distancing. As aresult, the companies were forced to implement remote working in order to maintain the quarantine restrictions imposed by the government. According to (Chung and D’Annunzio-Green 2018), in order to operate the remote working in aproper way, various companies have been reliant on human resources strategies to maintain employee engagement. It has helped the companies to keep the productivity high and add numerous workloads to numerous duties of human resource. In this regard, it is necessary to mention that employee engagement has always been priority for the Hong Kong based company Sun Life. The company has started its initiatives related to talent management strategies before the era of global pandemic COVID-19. Many efforts have taken by the company in the field of 10 TALENT MANAGEMENT AS A STRATEGIC PRIORITY human resource strategies combined with the entire journey of employee (Anlesinya, Dartey- Baah and Amponsah-Tawiah 2019). One of the major campaigns conducted by the company is employee engagement. Since 2019, the employee engagement campaign has strengthened with the help of 360-degree Staff Engagement to help the employees of the Sun Life Hong Kong to achieve lifetime satisfaction and live healthier working lives. As per (King and Vaiman 2019), the aims of this campaign of the company remained cultivate a caring and collaborating culture, employee first experience, foster transparent and engaging communication. These aims of the campaign can be achieved with the help of five aspects such as talent and culture, two-way communication, feedback-rich performance management, wellness and total reward. Employee-first experience is one of the vital steps towards retaining the superior employees for along time within the organization. The cultivation of collaborative and caring culture acts in favour of attracting and retaining high-performing employees. Work culture is acrucial aspect that influences the performance of the employees within the company. Further, communication plays a major role to create a positive work environment for the employees. It stimulates the transparency within all scales of the organization. As a result, it boosts the confidence of the employees on the operation of organization. As itboosts the confidence of the employees, they want to work for alonger period in that organisation. The company like Sun Life Hing Kong has focused on making effective communication within the organization in order to boost the employee engagement. In this context, the company has implemented feedback-rich performance management, which enables the employees to perform better with the assistance of feedback from their managers. Two-way communication is also an effective tool to incorporate the strategies of the talent management. As stated by (Hejase 11 TALENT MANAGEMENT AS A STRATEGIC PRIORITY et al.2016), two-way communication builds trust and transparency between the employees and employer. Wellness should be apart of the employee engagement. It is equally important for the company to focus on the mental, physical and emotional wellbeing of the company. Sun Life Hong Kong encourages the employees to come up with new ideas in order to create a better working environment. In addition to this, the decision making of the company also intends to support the wellbeing of the employees. The company invited its employees to co-design the new workplace as per their convenience. Furthermore, astaff recreation committee was also created by the company with the new and existing employees in order to organize annual events for all employees and their families. According to (Tafti, Mahmoudsalehi and Amiri 2017), aseries of just-in-time employee pulse surveys has helped the company to identify new demands from employees amid the ongoing global pandemic COVID-19. Hence, Sun Life Hong Kong has taken proactive measures in order to ensure that the employees are productive and happy. Additionally, it has also ensured that the employees get enough support from the management. The initiatives include enhancing safety precautions and hygiene for business-critical employees who have to work from office, applying the work from home arrangement, reimbursing employees for buying ergonomic home office furniture, personal and health products, special wellness day-offs and providing free professional counselling services and discounted COVID-19 tests. The company has prioritized the wellbeing and health of the employees at first amid pandemic crisis. The goal of the company is not only offering lifetime financial security to the customers but also to the employees. In this regard, Sun Life Hong Kong has provided necessary education and tools to the employees to lead ahealthier life through preventing the spread of the virus. As stated by (Paisey and Paisey 2018), it is noticed that various companies around the world have adopted the wellbeing as the key 12 TALENT MANAGEMENT AS A STRATEGIC PRIORITY driver of employee engagement. It is undeniable that drivers such as career growth opportunities, business transparency and employee development are equally important for employee engagement. Sun Life Hong Kong has covered all parts aspects of the employee engagement in their campaign. Section 5: Research methodology and process 5.1 Research design The techniques and structure of aresearch is identified under the research design section, which helps in the execution of the effective data analysis. As per (Painter ‐Morland et al.2019), a research study can be conducted on the basis of explanatory research design, exploratory research design and descriptive research design. Here, the features of the exploratory research design and explanatory research design are well-aligned with the topic of talent management. Therefore, the proposed study related to talent management as astrategic priority in the context of Sun Life Hong Kong has taken into consideration both explanatory and exploratory research design to conduct the data analysis. 5.2 Research approach The process of data analysis depends on the types of data that have been collected. As stated by (Pandita and Ray 2018), the section of research approach explains the data collection process under which the sorts of models and theories required for the analysis is mentioned. Therefore, the selection of the appropriate data for the research study depends on the research approach. The selection of the appropriate research approach and research strategy has helped to investigate the effectiveness of the talent management for the retention of employees by the company Sun Life Hong Kong. There are mainly two types of research approach that assists in 13 TALENT MANAGEMENT AS A STRATEGIC PRIORITY the completion of the study such as deductive research approach and inductive research approach (Li et al.2019) .The concerned study of talent management as astrategic priority has utilized the deductive approach to conduct the data analysis in order to get the desired outcome. In addition to this, this research study has incorporated the previous models and theories used by the past researchers for the same topic to complete the analysis. 5.3 Research philosophy A research study requires appropriate paradigm, which can be obtained from the research philosophy (Savanevi čien ėand Vil čiauskait ė2017) .Here, the concerned study has incorporated the positivism research philosophy as the topic of topic of research is well-aligned with the philosophy. Moreover, the utilization of the scientific method and language through the application of positive research philosophy has helped to keep the research free from the politics, values, ideology and passions. Therefore, the positivism research philosophy has contributed towards successful execution of the study related to talent management as astrategic priority. 5.4 Data collection method Data collection method is an essential part for the execution of the research study. As stated by (Bratton and Watson 2018), there are two types of data collection method such as quantitative data collection method and quantitative data collection method that can be utilized in order to conduct any data analysis. In the context of new and innovative strategies to obtain strategic approaches to talent management both quantitative and qualitative data collection method has been incorporated. This section highlights the use of the data and process to undertake the entire research study. The inclusion of the appropriate method is required for gaining effective result for the study. As per (Collings, Mellahi and Cascio 2019), there are two types of data collection such as primary data collection and secondary data collection. In order to 14 TALENT MANAGEMENT AS A STRATEGIC PRIORITY conduct the study of talent management strategies for the retention of the employees, the collection of the primary data and secondary data have been implemented. The secondary data has been collected from the secondary sources such as websites, and reports of the company. As the employees of the company have hands-on experience in the strategies of talent management, the primary data for the concerned study has been gathered from the employees of the company. The concerned study has utilized asample of 80 in order to conduct the analysis effectively. A sample size of 80 people is effective for apopulation of 100 people considering a95 % confidence interval. To assess the gathered data, adata analysis plan is required. The effective result for the proposed study can be obtained with the help of proper data analysis plan. In this context, the appropriate statistical tool such as SPSS software has been incorporated for the study of talent management as astrategic priority in the context of Sun Life Hong Kong. In the course of the study, some issues can arise in relation to the collection of authentic data, which should be taken into account in ethical consideration (Gallardo Gallardo and Thunnissen 2016) .The issues related to privacy have been avoided through the maintenance of privacy. Moreover, ithas also taken into consideration that the data should be prevented from the manipulation. The ethical consideration of the study related to talent management as astrategic priority has been helped in avoiding the limitations. However, the use of the restricted sample size due to the global pandemic COVID-19 has remained one of the vital limitations. In order to maintain business transparency, the company has offered transparent and fair reward policies with a100 % performance linked and formula driven annual incentive plan. Additionally, the company has also transformed its business through two-way communication between employees and senior leaders from corporate top-down hierarchy. Being acaring employer, the chief human 15 TALENT MANAGEMENT AS A STRATEGIC PRIORITY resources officers took the initiative to arrange coffee chat between different levels of employees and top management and senior leaders. The expansion of the business of Sun Life Hong Kong has also acted in favour of these initiatives. The company also decided to offer a talent development programme, leadership coaching and e-learning workshops to attract new and retain existing high performing employees. The company also planned to enhance leadership succession pipeline through emphasizing on gender balance diversity. For the quantitative process it was taken into consideration that the population of employees in the organization was 100. Thus at 95% confidence interval and with a5% margin of error, the sample size selected was 80. The sample of respondents selected for the survey was through random sampling. As this research study has included both quantitative and qualitative research questions, the surveys and questionaries have helped to complete the analysis. The managers of company have interviewed to collect information about the talent management as they have hands on experience. Chapter 6: Findings of Analysis 6.1 Primary data analysis 6.1.1 Quantitative analysis Introduction This section will show an elaborate interpretation of the study's data and visualize the differences in the variables. The fourth chapter would present the sample's various characteristics, measure the data's durability, and then continue with various tests. An individual sample t-test and One Way ANOVA would be used to examine the mean scores of the variables (Kosara 2019) . 16 TALENT MANAGEMENT AS A STRATEGIC PRIORITY Respondents' Socio-Demographic Analysis 80 people have been surveyed to conduct the analysis, and all be valid. Table 1:Sample's Age group From the analysis, ithas been found that 12.5% of people among the 80 respondents less than 30 years. Whereas there were 31 people of age between 30-40 .17.5% of people fall under the age group 40-50 years. Similarly, there are 31.3% of an employee of age group more than 50 years. Table 2:Sample ’sExperience The experience table shows the respondent's experience level, which means the previous years' experience. It has been very clearly visible from the above table that 31.3% of people were having less than 5years of experience. Similarly, 21.3% of people were engaged in that particular 17 TALENT MANAGEMENT AS A STRATEGIC PRIORITY domain for 5-10 years and gained the experience. Among these respondents, 16 people have experience 10-15 years. And the rest of the people have experienced more than 20 years. Hypothesis 1: Learning (such as organizational communication, support, Performance in decision making) has astatistically significant positive impact upon Engagement. 18 TALENT MANAGEMENT AS A STRATEGIC PRIORITY Table 3:Hypothesis 1 Here it can be seen that the independent variable here is learning. Furthermore, it would be able to estimate 59.1% of the dependent variable Engagement. The regression analysis findings are statistically important, p = 0.000 (Di Leo et al.2020). This independent variable, learning has asignificant strong impact on dependent variable, Engagement (beta =.813). So, the regression Equation can be written as: Engagement =0.665 +0.813 (Learning) Hypothesis 2: Retaining (such as work life balance, employee retention) has a statistically significant positive impact upon Engagement. 19 TALENT MANAGEMENT AS A STRATEGIC PRIORITY Table 4:Hypothesis 2 Here it can be seen that the independent variable here is retaining. It would also be capable of predicting 58.1% of the dependent variable Engagement. The regression analysis findings are statistically important, with p = 0.000. This independent variable retaining have a significant strong impact on dependent variable, Engagement (beta =.751). So, the regression Equation can be written as: Engagement =0.681 +0.751 (Retaining) Hypothesis 3: Developing (appraisal, development, extensive training, development program) has astatistically significant positive impact upon Engagement. Table 5:Hypothesis 3 20 TALENT MANAGEMENT AS A STRATEGIC PRIORITY Here itcan be seen that the independent variable here is developing. It would also be capable of predicting 54.4% of the dependent variable Engagement. The regression analysis findings are statistically important, with p=0.000. (Shreshtha and J2019). This independent variable developing have asignificant strong impact on dependent variable, Engagement (beta =.837). So, the regression Equation can be written as: Engagement =0.576 +0.837 (developing) One –Way ANOVA Test One-Way ANOVA tests that whether there is significance difference between the means of two groups (Judd et al.2017). Hypothesis 4: There is a difference in average engagement level for different age groups of employees. 21 TALENT MANAGEMENT AS A STRATEGIC PRIORITY Table 6:Hypothesis 4 The output table produces adifference in the mean of Engagement among the four age groups of people. The result is insignificant. The value of Fis 1.445, It leads to insignificancy with ap-value of .236 (which is greater than the .05 alpha level) (Liang et al. 2019) .This means astatistically insignificant difference in mean Engagement among four different age groups of employees. Hypothesis 5: There is a difference in average engagement level for employees with different experience level . Table 7:Hypothesis 5 The output table produces adifference in the mean of Engagement among the employees with different years of experience. The result from the ANOVA table is insignificant. The value 22 TALENT MANAGEMENT AS A STRATEGIC PRIORITY of Fis 1.695, It leads to insignificancy with ap-value of .175 (which is greater than the .05 alpha level). This means that there is a statistically insignificant difference of mean Engagement among the employees with different experience level. 6.1.2 Qualitative analysis To get an idea about talent acquisition, an interview has been conducted. In the interview, two managers were interviewed. The theory of talent development, according to one of them, is considered acornerstone of human resource management studies because it covers all facets of human resources through honing employees' skills and abilities through different approaches (Jose and 2019). Talent recruitment is very important to the organization. Given the sector in which he/she works, the company needs to have highly qualified workers (Walford 2018). The financial sector is crucial because it provides a wide range of goods with different types of benefits. As aresult of the shift from an asset to aknowledge-based economy, talent acquisition has become atop priority for business leaders (Karanja 2018). Organizations are entering anew period characterised by demographic uncertainty, increased globalisation, and acultural shift in the labour market, both of which are pressuring them to rethink how they attract, develop, and retain skilled employees (Alashmawy 2019). He has been working in his company for six years whereas average tenure of an employee in his company is above 8years. On the other hand, another manager said that he has been working in his organization for more than 10 years. He explained that his organization's goal is to keep high-skilled workers, and it has been effective in doing so since the majority of the employees in his company have been with the firm for more than ten years. According to manager 1, Talent recruitment is a complicated process that involves avariety of techniques. Sun Life is noted for having adiverse 23 TALENT MANAGEMENT AS A STRATEGIC PRIORITY set of talent acquisition policies. However, during the last year, the group has developed and applied aseries of plans. On the other hand, another manager clarifies that Employee acquisition is an essential part of talent management. If one cannot keep his or her staff, to whom will he offer instruction and capability development? As a result, the firm has changed its retention practices by offering enticing remuneration incentives and avariety of new benefits. Manager 1 mentioned that his organization offers in-house instruction to all staff, from executives to upper management. The preparation programmes have now become obligatory. The most important approach is to solicit input from workers daily. It has aided workers such as myself in receiving successful and appropriate instruction. On the other hand, employees were given the ability to participate in in-class boot camps, immersive learning workshops, and various online self-learning programmes, according to Manager 2. The road to advancement has been made even easier, and a Rotational Leadership Development Program has been implemented to attract new hires. 6.2 Secondary data analysis Theme 1: Talent management as astrategic priority Sun Life is aHong Kong Based company that operates in the area group and individual insurance, pension and health services. Culture and talent are one of the strategic areas of focus of the Sun Life Hong Kong. As stated by (Rutledge et al.2016), the company maintains its focus on attracting, developing and retaining the best talent in order to deliver their strategy. In addition to this, the company also continue to evolve its culture and talent. Therefore, culture and talent help the company to achieve excellence. As of 2018, the total employee strength of Sun 24 TALENT MANAGEMENT AS A STRATEGIC PRIORITY Life Hong Kong remained 37,000. Talent management strategies of the company helps to retain those employees. According to the 2018 Global Engagement Survey, the company maintained a positive company culture with overall score of 85 %, where the participation rate remained 88 % (Maheshwari et al.2017) . The employee engagement score of the company placed it among the top tier companies across the world. In this context, it is necessary to mention that the factors that contribute to the high score of the employee engagement include inclusion and diversity, total benefits and regards, belief in the services and products provided by the company to customers. The company also took initiatives such as asking views of the employees on the importance of sustainability. The incorporation of talent management practices makes the workplace sustainable, empowering and inclusive where employees can contribute to their full potential. Theme 2: Talent management strategies to encourage employee engagement The Hong Kong based company Sun Life decided to develop and attract a disproportionate share of top talent across the businesses. Moreover, the top talent of the company works in aculture that focuses on integrity and collaboration. Further, itemphasizes on treating customers and colleagues with respect and dignity. As mentioned by (Järvi and Khoreva 2020), talent management strategies should enable the company to offer in-house training and e- learning portal. In addition to this, it is also equally important for the companies to take into consideration tuition assistance, job rotation and leadership development for junior mangers to senior executives in order to boost the talent retention capacity of the company. As per (Naim and Lenka 2017), the companies should make itmandatory for the employees to complete yearly training on a range of topics. It is witnessed that business groups keep employees abreast of major developments. 25 TALENT MANAGEMENT AS A STRATEGIC PRIORITY In this regard, it is essential to mention the strategies taken by the company Sun Life Hong Kong include gamification or simulation, social learning and virtual classroom. These initiatives have helped the company to achieve its goals and objectives under the talent management. The company encourages two-way communication with employees. Moreover, it also seeks input of the employees with the help of several channels such as career planning sessions and performance reviews, 360-degree feedback programme, global engagement survey and social media channels. These strategies of the company enhance the degree to which employees are invested in Sun Life Hong Kong. It is effective to check the motivation of the employees that helps to contribute best. The employee engagement of the company can be strengthened through various ways such as make the employees know the contribution of their work towards corporate strategy, speeding up the ability to bring ideas to execution and ensuring processes that prevent hinders to managerial effectiveness. Section 7: Conclusions Talent management strategies are essential aspects of human resource management. The concerned study has been conducted on the basis of three independent variables and one dependent variable. The concerned study has emphasized on the inclusion of the new and innovative talent management strategies for the company Sun Life Hong Kong. Primary quantitative research has been incorporated to address the comparative research question, what are the new and innovative tools of working to obtain strategic approach to talent management? Primary qualitative research has been conducted to address the descriptive research question, what are the strategic approaches to talent management of Sun Life Hong Kong? In addition to this, another descriptive research question, what is the effectiveness of the talent management as astrategic priority has been answered with the help of secondary qualitative research. 26 TALENT MANAGEMENT AS A STRATEGIC PRIORITY As per the quantitative analysis with primary data, statistically insignificant difference of mean Engagement has been found among the employees with varied experience level. The independent variable reattaining employee has a significant impact on the dependent variable employee engagement. It can be drawn from the qualitative analysis that talent requitement is very important to the organization. It is noticed that the changes in global market have forced the companies to implement the talent management strategies in order to boost employee engagement. Sun Life Hong Kong initiated virtual classroom and social learning. According to (Glaister et al.2018), these strategies are beneficial for the retention of the high-performing employees .Over the past several years, the Hong Kong based company has taken numerous initiatives for the employee engagement. However, it is suggested for the company to focus on more strategic approaches to talent management in order to retain employees amid crisis and turmoil related to global pandemic COVID-19 (Tatoglu, Glaister and Demirbag 2016) .The data analysis using SPSS has been conducted with a limited sample size due to the COVID-19 restrictions. It is recommended to undertake the study on the proposed topic again in future with alarge sample size to validate the present result. Iget to know about the effectiveness of the talent management strategies for the success of the company. Moreover, Ican also state that this study has enabled to understand the ways through which talent management strategy can be implemented. While conducting the interview of the managers of Sun Life Hong Kong for the primary qualitative research, Iget to know about the talent management practices incorporated in Sun Life Hong Kong. The future study can be represented on the given topic to suggest improved talent management framework for the Sun Life Hong Kong. Thus, it will help the company in retaining employees in abetter way. Iwill 27 TALENT MANAGEMENT AS A STRATEGIC PRIORITY suggest the company to take more in-house training and skill development programs for the employees to strengthen the employee engagement. 28 TALENT MANAGEMENT AS A STRATEGIC PRIORITY References Alashmawy, A. and Yazdanifard, R., 2019. A Review of the Role of Marketing in Recruitment and Talent Acquisition. International Journal of Management, Accounting and Economics ,6(7), pp.569-581. Anlesinya, A., Dartey-Baah, K. and Amponsah-Tawiah, K., 2019. Strategic talent management scholarship: areview of current foci and future directions. Industrial and Commercial Training . Bj örkman, I., Ehrnrooth, M., M äkel ä,K., Smale, A. and Sumelius, J., 2017. Talent management in multinational corporations. 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Strategic HR Review . 33 TALENT MANAGEMENT AS A STRATEGIC PRIORITY Appendix Questionnaires Engagement1 At my work, Ifeel bursting with energy Engagement2 At my job, Ifeel strong and vigorous. Engagement3 Iam enthusiastic about my job. Engagement4 Iam proud on the work that Ido. Learning1 The organization maintains an open and effective communications channels in all directions Learning2 The organization supports good and creative ideas. Learning3 The organization supports employee ’sparticipation in decisions making Learning4 The organization hold workshops to enhance employee ’sknowledge Retaining1 The organization can retain our best performers Retaining2 Creating aculture of employee retention Retaining3 Iam able to balance work priorities with my personal life Retaining4 Turnover is tracked across divisions, locations, talent levels and managers Developing1 extensive training and development programs in conducted by the organization Developing2 The organization creates developmental opportunities for subordinates. Developing3 The organization follows plans and programs for developing employees. Developing4 Appraisals are conducted for development of employees Interview 1 How the company view talent management as astrategic priority? The company pose great importance on talent management. It is for the company to have highly skilled employees considering the industry in which it operates. Financial industry is a critical one as it contains various products offering various kind of benefits. The company focusses on developing its products in order to remain competitive in the market. Due to this reason, ittries to keep highly skilled employees as much as possible. Ihave been working in this company for 6years whereas average tenure of employee is above 8years. Employees are less inclined towards leaving the job. As far as my career in this organization is concerned, Ihave 34 TALENT MANAGEMENT AS A STRATEGIC PRIORITY acquired more than 25 skill training over the span of 6years. The company always try to develop its employees. Imust mention that the policy of training have greatly added to the revenue of the company. What are the strategies taken by the company in last 1year to encourage retention of talent? Talent management is a complex thing and it is done by implementation of various strategies. Sun Life is known for its wide range of talent management strategic policies. However, in past 1year is considered, the company has formulated and implemented number of strategies. The company has provided in – house training to all the employees from executive to higher management level. The training programmes have been made mandatory. The most crucial strategy is taking feedback from employees regularly. It has helped the employees like me to get effective and relevant training. The company has included online training programme. Finally, it has focussed on cultural aspect significantly. 35 TALENT MANAGEMENT AS A STRATEGIC PRIORITY 2 How the company view talent management as astrategic priority? In my opinion, Sun Life puts immense priority on talent management. Ihave been working in this organization for more than 10 years now and Ihave observed that over the years the company has increased spending on employee development. The company has specifically designed aprogramme for employees ’growth. The name of the program is WeSHINE Program. Currently, the company is spending much on orientation program for new joiners. Every year, the company is coming up with something new for employee development. The objective of the company is to retain high skilled employees and the company is successful enough in doing so because most of the employees are working this company more than 10 years. The company has strict employee retention rules. Therefore, I must say the company is strongly after talent development. What are the strategies taken by the company in last 1year to encourage retention of talent? One of the key aspects of talent management is employee retention. If you cannot retain your employees, to whom will you provide training and develop skill. Due to this reason, the company has improved retention policies by providing attractive remuneration packages and various new allowances. Apart from that, the company is giving more importance to social life of employees as well. The company is taking feedback from employees more frequently in order to improve office environment and training modules. Employees got the opportunity to attend in – class boot camps, virtual learning sessions and various online self – learning programs. The career growth path has been made much clearer now and Rotational Leadership Development Program has been introduced to encourage new employees.