Talent Retention Strategies in Different Organizational Contexts and Intention of Talents to Remain in the Company

Abstract

This article presents a case study of two companies operating in the Brazilian market;one in the electrical energy sector, and the other in the pharmaceutical sector, both of whichappeared on the list of 150 Best Companies to Work for in Brazil in 2012, and have stated thatthey consider retaining talents to be essential to their Human Resources strategies. Thesecompanies identified the professionals they considered to be talents, through the applicationof a questionnaire to the employees, with 51 statements, the results of which were used toanalyze the link between retention factors and intention to remain in the company. Togetherwith the application of the multiple regression technique for associations between the variables,the retention factors, measured by means of the employees’ perceptions, were qualitativelylinked to the practices of talent retention adopted by the companies. Among the results, it ishighlighted that the retention factors explained 86% in company A, and 83% in company B, ofthe variation in the variable “intention to remain in the company.” It was observed that thetalents are determined by the management model of each company, and that the employeeswho were considered talents based on their current performance, together with those withpotential to be considered talents in the future, represent 20% of the company’s staff. Basedon the results, we believe that before implementing a talent retention strategy, companiesneed to understand the influence of the macroeconomic scenario on the job market; the socialinfluences that impact on employees’ career expectations; and the individual personalities ofthe talents.