Abstract:

The present economic state of the world has enhanced the importance of talent management, as organizations realize that intellectual capital is fundamental to competitiveness.  However, the retention of talent remains a major challenge of organizations today. Talent mobility that is effective has been identified as a critical lever for companies to enhance employee retention, productivity and engagement. As such, this study investigated talent mobility as a management strategy on employee retention in selected SMEs in Ogun State, Nigeria. Descriptive research design and stratified sampling technique were employed; questionnaires were administered to 289 respondents and linear regression was utilized to test the hypotheses. Results showed that talent mobility has significant effect on employee retention and it validates the efficacy of talent mobility to retain talents. It is recommended that SMEs’ management should harness the potential in talent management by moving employees from one job role to another within the organization or to positions where vacancies exist. Furthermore, organizational policies must promote job rotation to enrich employees’ job knowledge and performance.