Talent management and retention in events companies: Evidence from four countries.

Abstract

A variety of social, economic, and political factors (such as enhanced labor mobility, refugees' phenomenon, and immigration) have led to a volatile business environment and a changing labor profile in the events industry. Against this highly competitive and volatile background, events management businesses must deal with the challenging task of effectively attracting, managing, and retaining their talented employees contributing to their competitive advantage. This study aims at exploring talent management and retention strategies in the events industry. Using a qualitative approach, data were collected with semistructured interviews from four countries: the UK, the US, Greece, and Australia. Participants in this study recognized the strategic value of effective talent management. The findings suggest that the main strategies to retain talent in the events sector in the Western context include a friendly and open access culture, teamwork, mentoring, leadership, compensation, succession planning, and training and development as the key strategies to retain talent. More importantly, events companies should focus on staff engagement; highly engaged employees are more aligned with the company's vision and culture. This enables managers reduce staff turnover and enhance job satisfaction.