EMPLOYEES PERCEPTION TOWARDS TALENT MANAGEMENT STRATEGY AND STAFF RETENTION AT DELOITTE & TOUCHE, KENYA

Purpose: The purpose of the study was to find out the perceptions of employees towards talent management strategy and staff retention at Deloitte & Touche, Kenya. Methodology: This study has adopted the form of a descriptive survey design. The population that was targeted for the study was the 400 employees that work in Deloitte Kenya offices. Therefore the sample size was 80 employees who were at the offices of Deloitte Kenya, who were selected using stratified random sampling which was done using R software. The study made use of primary data that was collected through the use of a questionnaire. Descriptive statistics which include mean and frequencies have been used for the purpose of performing data analysis. The mean scores have been used to rate the factors in order of their importance. After data collection which was carried out through the use of questionnaires, this data was prepared for purposes of analysis by having it edited, sorting out any blank responses that were noted, coding these responses, categorizing it as well as keying it into the statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) software so as to be able to analyse it. Results: The study found thatremuneration, training and career development; organizational culture, reward and recognition all have a significant and positive association with staff retention. Unique contribution to theory, practice and policy: The study recommends that both benefits and salaries of employees should be commensurate according to the efforts. In addition the bonus pay to employees should be structured in a manner to motivate employees. This will help in improving employee retention.


1.1Background of the Study
Talent is one of the critical success factors of an organization. Talent management in professional services firms is therefore one of those areas that challenges many organization. Being able to attract, find, develop and retain talent that is the right fit is time consuming exercise that continues to take up significant amounts of the efforts that management make in managing talent. Once the right talent is found, policies and significant efforts must be made to retain that talent. According to Bergeron (2004) talent management strategy is a conscious plan that is put into action, outlining how the organisation acquires, develops through learning, retains the employees and organises the talent needed to execute the strategy to meet its business needs. On the other hand retaining staff includes understanding what motivates them which in many organisations management are not able to identify. Talent management attempts to stimulate employee retention in organizations and this runs true for professional services whose main asset are the employees. In many instances, employees that are encourages and provided with opportunities to develop professionally as well as grow in their careers are many times more likely to become long-term loyalists of the firm. Retaining the best employees is of particular importance as it assist organisations retain workers who possess the relevant knowledge, requisite skills, and outstanding abilities. Any companies that do not embrace a strategy for their talent management that can be said to be effective are likely to experience significant employee exits in many instances to firms that are competitors. This can then lead loss of any competitive advantage as a result of inefficiencies from operations (Sun 2012).
This study was anchored on the broad theoretical perspectives of job embeddedness theory, social exchange theory and expectancy theory. According to Mitchell et al. (2001) job embeddedness theorizes that an employee will usually continue in the employ of the organization so long as the incentives to stay there exceed or match what they expect. Employee's decisions whether to remain in the company or exit from an organisation stems from the Job embeddedness theory. Saks (2006) indicated that the social exchange theory provided the theoretical rationale for engagement of employees in organisations. The theory contends that there are obligations which are generated within a succession of any interactions amongst parties who can be described as having reciprocal interdependence. In the goal theory, the performance of employees and their motivation is higher when individuals are able to set specific goals, as well as where goals are accepted even if they are difficult, and also in instances where there is feedback on performance (Armstrong, 2012). Expectancy theory underpins that people are highly motivated when they know what is expected of them to be rewarded, that the reward is achievable and that the expected the reward can be said to be worthwhile (Vroom, 1964).
Retention are initiatives or strategies that organisations put in place to encourage employees to continue working in the said organisation for as long as they can. A strategy on retaining employees can be said to be effective if there is a logical way in which the employers put in place an environment that that inspires the current employees to remain in the employ of the organisation, by ensuring that the diverse needs of these employees are catered for in the policies and practices of the organisation (Workforce Planning for Wisconsin State Government, 2005). These practices which include policies that are employed by organisations to inspire and encourage workers to remain in any organization are what are referred to as the employee retention strategies. Deloitte Kenya has a well-developed model for career development and employee retention program that commences from recruitment at the selection stage which aims to develop potential identified into performance. This model clearly describes how career development programs aim at improving employees' skills to enhance employee retention. Deloitte provides personal and professional support from competent coaches both within the business and from externally recognized organizations. Deloitte Develop -Deploy -Connect model shows that retention tends to rise when an employee's talent are developed within the company, and when they are offered challenging jobs that connects to their colleagues and the company's larger goals (Deloitte, 2014).

Research Problem
In challenging times, organizations are under tremendous pressure to contain costs, at the same time, they must manage rapid change as globalized markets react so quickly and they must continue driving towards long-term business goals. Organizations that invest in talent management of their employees are unlikely to lose them to competitors (Kataike, 2013). However employees who are committed to an organisation that also manages its talent provide organisations critical competitive advantages including lower separation through turnover as well as increased productivity. The most perpetual challenge in most organizations today is lack of a well-structured career development and training programs, reward and recognition programs in order to achieve talent management. In addition there are many organisations where employees feel intimidated and hence are unwilling to offer feedback to supervisors or senior management hence ineffective communication within the organisation at all the levels resulting in organisations not being able to achieve employee talent management (Hajieh, 2013).
Recent survey on staff retention by Deloitte Kenya found out that the biggest challenge facing most companies in Kenya is lack of employee retention within their firms. Poor employee engagement according to the survey is as a result of ineffective career development and training programs and infective recognition and reward programs (Deloitte Kenya 2014). In addition the survey showed that workers had strong dissatisfaction with their work with most indicating that they were not involved in the decision making processes affecting their work. There was also an indication of not being happy with the remuneration package despite being technically competent to perform duties. According to Mbae (2014) the decision making should be more inclusive so that relevant members of staff provide input to decisions that affect them.

Research Objective
The general objective of this study was to find out the perception of employees towards the talent management strategy and staff retention at Deloitte & Touche, Kenya.

Job Embeddedness Theory
According to Mitchell et al. (2001) job embeddedness theorizes that employees will continue in the employ of organization as long as the incentives to remain there equal or exceed their anticipated outcomes. Employee's decisions on whether remain in the company or leave are influenced by job embeddedness. When an employee is said to be embedded in a job, they are less likely to depart from the organization and as a result this has a positive impact on the staff performance. Organizations should put in place policies that encourage employees to Journal of Strategic Management ISSN 2520-0461 (Online Vol.1, Issue 1 No.1, pp 18 -35, 2016 www.ajpojournals.org 22 have job embeddedness to reduce staff turnover and hence contribute to staff retention. HR professionals and should put in place policies that cover the three dimensions of job embeddedness; links, fit and sacrifice to create an environment that encourages job embeddedness;. The links dimension depicts the relationship that the employee has with their fellow employees in the organization. By having healthy working relations in the workplace, job embeddedness is cultivated in the employee and is realised by ensuring employees have team work. The second dimension which is fit, is the match between what and employee has and what they do and their workplace. Therefore, the HR practitioners and strategists should create policies that fit with the organizations goals and plans as much as possible to the individual staff needs such as career goals, personal values and plans for the future hence encouraging employees to feel tied that they belong in the organization and hence resulting in retention of staff who in turn have increased performance. The third dimension is sacrifice as is constituted in the job embeddedness theory. This dimension of sacrifice is defined as the loss that an employee will feel and bear when they make the decision to depart from the organisation. When the individual leaves the organization they feel the loss of stimulating projects, benefits that appealed to them, reasonable compensation, relationships built with colleagues who they have meaningful associations with as well as chances of career progression. Therefore, job embeddedness theory is relevant to this study since job embeddedness is beneficial to organizations in formulating their talent strategies specifically relating to employee retention as it empowers the organisation with information relating to the reasons why employees opt to continue in their employ and are therefore able to formulate retention strategies that suit the organisation (Mitchell et al., 2001). Saks (2006) submitted that the social exchange theory provides a strong theoretical justification for engagement of employees. The theory contends that there are obligations which will usually be generated within a succession of any interactions amongst persons who can be described as having reciprocal interdependence. According to the theory relationships develop over a period of time into mutual fulfilling commitments that are loyal and trusting so long as the involved parties follow interact within the norms agreed upon. It involves an interchange or compensating interactions such that the responses or deeds of one of the parties in the relationship are as a result of those of the other party (Armstrong, 2012).This is in line with the description of engagement by Robinson et al (2004) who state that this is a mutual relationship that is made of trust and respect between an employer and employee. To be able to build this form of engagement, the senior executives as well as the management and supervisory team of an organisation should build channels that can be used to communicate expectations to employees that are clear and extensive and that are aimed at empowering the employees of their competence at whatever levels they serve in the organisation, as well as create a working environment and organisational culture that supports engagement success. According to Balain and Sparrow (2009), social exchange theory best describes engagement because it perceives the feelings of commitment as well as loyalty and discretionary effort as all being ways in which employees reciprocate that the employer is good. Wilden et al. (2010) surmised that candidates with extensive prior working experience were more critical of business signals relating to their brand yet on the other hand they appreciated Journal of Strategic Management ISSN 2520-0461(Online Vol.1, Issue 1 No.1, pp 18 -35, 2016 www.ajpojournals.org specific organizations' commitment to their profession advancement more than less experienced candidates. These findings emphasise the fact that employers need to convey suitable messages about the organisations brand to the market which encompass the potential recruits and that general information is unlikely to be believed whereas specific information provided to the market is more likely to be more convincing (Fyock 1993;Huang et al. 2011;Wilden et al. 2010).

Empirical Literature
Stanislavov and Ivanov (2014) conducted a study on building employee engagement and how the organizational culture in the Bulgarian gaming industry was shaped by its leaders. The objective of this study was to explore how leadership styles impacted employee engagement as well as organizational culture. It was also aimed at gaining an understanding of how these variables affected the performance of organisations. Through in-depth interviews, the participants from three Bulgarian gaming enterprises enumerated their views of how their former and present casino managers formulated organizational culture and built employee engagement. The findings from the study were that levels of employee engagement as well as organisational culture were significantly impacted by any changes in leadership. Visionary management styles resulted in high levels of employee engagement whereas commanding and pacesetting management styles created the lowest. The impact on employee engagement in a succeeding management style was impacted by the preceding style. For example an affiliative style had a controversial influence where it followed a visionary leadership style having a negative impact on engagement, and if it followed a commanding style, it had a positive impact. The research concluded that there existed a flaw in the Goleman's leadership model.
Naidoo and Martins (2014) conducted a study on whether there existed any relationship between engagement of employees and organizational culture. The outcomes of the study were that employee engagement had significant influence on a number of success outcomes in organisations. Although there are numerous studies on whether there exists any linkage between employee engagement and other variables that influence organisational success, there is limited scientific research on what impact the culture of an organizational as on employee engagement. There was a quantitative study carried out in an ICT firm in South Africa that involved the completion of the South African Culture Instrument and the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale by 455 employees. The results showed that all dimensions of organisational culture have a positive correlation with engagement of employees. The outcomes of the regression analysis insinuated that the variables that have the strongest statistical influence on employee engagement were processes, objectives and goals of management and the leadership. Since there is a direct relationship between the performances of organisations with employee engagement, it is only sensible for management to put in place policies that support growth in employee engagement by proactively building a progressive organizational culture. Jilani and Juma (2015) conducted a study at Williamson Tea Kenya Limited (WTKL) on influencing employee engagement using contingent rewards as a strategy for manufacturing companies. According to this study employees provide crucial competitive advantages when they are involved in what they do and are committed to their organisations resulting in higher productivity and lower employee turnover. The study was done at WTKL, Kericho County. The main objectives included, investigating how employee engagement affected the structure of contingent rewards, assessing how employee engagement was influenced by the implementation of contingent rewards and establishing how employee engagement is influenced by the employees' viewpoints of contingent rewards. This was a descriptive Bartlomiejczuk (2015) did a research on the effect of recognition programs on employee engagement and how multinational companies organised such programs to drive results. According to the study as the competition for the best talent continues to heighten, one of the critical components of an organisations rewards strategies includes employee recognition. Many HR practitioners are now prioritising and giving top attention to employee engagement with many believing that recognition has a vital role in nurturing engagement. While it is not a new phenomenon that recognition is critical for employee engagement, it is now becoming a strategic priority as many organisations work towards the alignment of organisational objectives and goals including desired behaviours to employee recognition. The surmises that an organisation can exert positive change in its working environment through recognition programs. This practice is no longer a nice-to-have practice but one that if executed well, is a driver for a high performing organisation aiming to grow its bottom line which also results in a case of improved engagement of employees.
Ahmed (2015) conducted a study on career development and employee commitment and engagement at Nairobi City County Government. The study was based on a descriptive survey research design. The study found that career development practices which include career planning, coaching, counselling and mentoring greatly influenced employee commitment and engagement at Nairobi County Government. The study concludes that that the County government has a policy that governs career development for its staff and has put in place coaching practices in developing staff for future positions as an organization. Career counselling which is also a fundamental HR policy is applied to a greater extent in the County. In the county management suggests specific strategies to accomplish work objectives by providing junior employees with specific guidance for achieving career goals. The study recommends that the County Government should formulate appropriate career development policies to adequately address the training needs.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
This study has adopted the form of a descriptive survey design. The population that was targeted for the study was the 400 employees that work in Deloitte Kenya offices. Therefore the sample size was 80 employees who were at the offices of Deloitte Kenya, who were selected using stratified random sampling which was done using R software. The study made use of primary data that was collected through the use of a questionnaire. Descriptive statistics which include mean and frequencies have been used for the purpose of performing data analysis. The mean scores have been used to rate the factors in order of their importance. After data collection which was carried out through the use of questionnaires, this data was prepared for purposes of analysis by having it edited, sorting out any blank responses that were noted, coding these responses, categorizing it as well as keying it into the statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) software so as to be able to analyse it. Conclusions including generalizations regarding the population were inferred from the analysis derived from SPSS emanating from the frequencies produced in the analysis as well as inferential and descriptive statistics. The descriptive statistics used in supporting these conclusions related to mean scores, frequencies as well as standard deviation. With regards to inferential statistics, these were correlation analysis and regression.

Demographic Characteristics
The results revealed that 45% were male and 55% of the respondents were females. This implies that most of the respondents are women. The results further showed that 36% of those who responded were in audit, 32% in advisory, 16% in tax and 16% in Internal Client Services (ICS). The respondents were additionally requested to specify what age range they belong to. The results revealed that 52.2% were between ages 25 -30 years, 17.4% were between ages 30 -35 years, 13% were younger than 25 years, 8.7% were aged between 35 -40 years while another 8.7% indicated they were aged 40 years or older. The results further showed that 30.4% of those who responded had worked for 4 -7 years, 29% had worked for 1 -3 years, 23.2% had worked for less than on year, 8.7% had been in the employ of the firm for 8 -10 years, 7.2% had served the firm for 11 -20 years and 1.4% had served for over 20 years. From the responses received, there were a number of employees whose service at Deloitte exceeded 8 years and therefore had valuable information to share on the talent and staff retention strategy over a period of time. Table 1 summarises the respondents' views on remuneration and staff retention with 66.7% of those who responded agreeing with the statement that the salary and benefits were commensurate to efforts. 71.00% of respondents indicated that they agreed with the statement that the firm offers good remuneration to all staff. The results further revealed that 59.4% of respondents agreed with the statement that bonus pay is satisfactory and commensurate to effort.

Remuneration and Staff Retention
On the five point Likert scale, the average mean of the responses was estimated at 3.58 indicating that majority of the respondents at a minimum agreed with most of the statements. These responses were however varied as is shown by a standard deviation of 1.04. The respondents were required to indicate their range of salaries. From these results, 23.2% indicated that their salary ranged between KES 80,000 -100,000, 18.8% indicated their salary ranged between KES 151,000 -180,000, 15.9% indicated the range between KES 250,000 -500,000, another 15.9% indicated their range of salaries to be between KES 101,000 -150,000, 13% indicated a salary range of between KES 191,000 -250,000 while another 13% indicated that their salary was above KES 500,000. Therefore most of the respondents are paid a salary range of between KES 80,000 -100,000.

Level in the Firm
The respondents were also required to indicate their level in the firm. The results show that 39% of the respondents were associates/analysts, 32% indicated that they were seniors/ consultants, 25% indicated that they were managers while only 4% indicated that they were directors. This implies that most employees in Deloitte belong to the associate/analyst level.

Organizational Culture and Staff Retention
The respondents were requested to give responses to the questions on organizational culture and staff retention. The results as tabulated in further showed that 69.6% of those who responded did agree with the statement that work is organized such that teamwork is encouraged and used to get work done, rather than delegation and hierarchy. The results further revealed that 68.1% of respondents agreed with the statement that work is structured in such a way that each individual can tell the relationship between what they do in their day to day job and the goals and objectives of the firm.
On the five point Likert scale, a 3.58 average mean was obtained indicating that majority of those who responded agreed with majority of the statement though the responses differed as is reflected by the standard deviation of 1.00.

Reward and Recognition and Staff Retention
The respondents were asked to respond to the questions on reward and recognition and staff retention. From the results in table 4.5, 72.4% of respondents agreed with the statement that Journal of Strategic Management ISSN 2520-0461 (Online Vol.1, Issue 1 No.1, pp 18 -35, 2016 www.ajpojournals.org employee appreciation for better performance is excellent. The results further revealed that 84.1% of respondents agreed with the statement that non-financial benefits such as training, recognition, study leave offered to all staff are sufficient and satisfactory. The results further showed that majority of the respondents (81.10%) concurred with the statement that employee appreciation and recognition is done regularly and with fairness. The results further revealed that 55.0% of respondents disagreed with the statement that housing allowance provided is consistent with the living standards in Nairobi. The results further showed that majority of the respondents (87.0%) agreed with the statement that retirement benefits provided to staff provide a sense of job security.
On a five point scale, the mean of 3.63 of the responses indicates that majority of those who responded agreed with many of the statements even if the answers differed as is shown by a standard deviation of 1.03.

Training and Career development and Staff Retention
The respondents were requested to answer on questions concerning training and career development and staff retention. The outcomes in table 4.6 showed that majority of those who responded totalling 88.4% (46.40%+ 42.00%) agreed with the statement that there exists a training policy in the firm. The results also showed that majority of those who responded at 88.40% agreed with the statement that there exists career progression/path of employees in the firm. The results also showed that majority of those who responded who comprised 71.00% agreed with the statement that training provided is relevant and motivates staff to work harder. The results further indicated that majority of those who responded comprising 71.00% agreed with the statement that there is a coaching and mentorship program for all employees which adds value to the staff. The results also showed that majority of those who responded, who were 71.00% agreed with the statement that scholarship and sponsorship are available for all staff without discrimination. The results further showed that majority of the respondents at 75.3% agreed with the statement that they are highly motivated by the training opportunities in Deloitte.
On a five point scale, the 3.93 mean of the responses signifies that majority of those who responded were concurred with majority of the statements even if the responses differed as is shown by a standard deviation of 0.97.
Journal of Strategic Management ISSN 2520-0461(Online Vol.

Annual range of training programmes attended
The respondents were asked to indicate their annual range of training programmes attended in any annual period. The results revealed that 42% indicated that the number training programmes attended were more than 5, 35% indicated that the number of training programmes attended were between 1 to 2, 16% indicated that the number of training programmes attended were between 3 to 5 while only 7% indicated that they had not attended any training. This implies that most of the employees in Deloitte had attended annual trainings.

Staff Retention
The respondents were asked to respond to the questions on staff retention. The results showed that majority of those who responded who were 56.5% agreed with the statement that they have no intention of leaving their organization in the future. The results indicated that majority of those who responded who were 73.9% agreed with the statement that they would encourage their colleagues not to leave the organization in the future. The results in addition showed that majority of those who responded who were 73.9% agreed with the statement that they work hard to meet their target to avoid being laid off.
On a five point scale, the mean of 3.64 of the responses suggests that majority of those who responded agreed with a majority of the statements even if the responses differed as is shown by a standard deviation of 1.11.

Inferential Statistics
Inferential analysis was carried out to generate the model of fitness as well as the correlation results and analysis of the variance and regression coefficients.
None 7% 1 to 2 35% 3 to 5 16% More than 5 42% Journal of Strategic Management ISSN 2520-0461 (Online Vol.1, Issue 1 No.1, pp 18 -35, 2016 www.ajpojournals.org Table 6 below shows the correlation analysis results. These results showed that remuneration and staff retention are significantly related and have a moderately strong positive correlation (r = 0.527, p = 0.000). The table also intimated that organizational culture and staff retention are significantly related and have a moderately strong positive correlation (r = 0.676, p =0.000). It was further determined that reward and recognition and staff retention were significantly related and have a weak positive correlation (r = 0.622, p = 0.000). The results also r that training and staff retention were significantly related and have a moderately strong positive correlation (r=0.627, p=0.000). This denotes that an increase in any unit of the variables results in improvement in staff retention.  Table 7 portrays the fitness of model of the regression model used in explaining the study phenomena. Remuneration, organization culture, reward and recognition were observed to be satisfactory variables in staff retention. This was supported by a coefficient of determination, R square of 67.8%. This intimates that reward and recognition, organization culture, and remuneration explain 67.8 % of the variations noted in the dependent variable which was staff retention. The results also insinuate that the model adopted to demonstrate that there exists a relationship of the different variables was deemed to be satisfactory. In statistics significance testing the p-value denotes the level of relationship between the independent variable with the dependent variable. If the critical value also known as the probability value (p) which is statistically set at 0.05 is lower than the significance number found, then the conclusion reached in explaining the relationship would be that the model is significant; otherwise the model would be considered as being not significant. Table 9 provided the outcomes on the analysis of the variance (ANOVA). The results of the overall model was that it was statistically significant. In addition, the results implied that staff retention, remuneration, reward and recognition programs as well as organization culture as independent variables are suitable predictors of staff retention. This was reinforced by a reported p value of (0.000) which was less than the conventional probability of 0.05 significance level as well as an F statistic of 33.66 which was greater than F critical (Fα = 2.31) and therefore the null hypothesis was rejected and thus talent management strategy influences staff retention. Regression of coefficients results in table 4.10 revealed that remuneration and staff retention are positively and significant related (r = 0.246, p = 0.005). These findings were consistent with that of Wilden et al. (2010) who established that there is a positive association between remuneration and staff retention.

Regression Analysis
The table further indicates that organizational culture and staff retention are positively and significant related (r=0.351, p=0.001). These findings agree with those of Naidoo and Martins (2014) who found that organizational culture and staff retention are positively and significant related.
It was further established that reward and recognition and staff retention were positively and significantly related (r = 0.327, p = 0.002). These findings agree with that of Mukulu and Gachunga (2014) who found that rewards and recognition strategies have a greater role in influencing the retention of bank employees Lastly the study established that training and staff retention were also significantly and positively related (r=0.212, p=0.003). These findings agree with that Dockel (2003) who found that investment in training is one of the ways to show employees how vital and critical to the organization they are.

Conclusions
Based on the findings above, remuneration, training and career development, organizational culture, reward and recognition all have a significant and positive association with staff retention.
One may also conclude that organisations with good remuneration of employees encourage retention. In addition, organisations where the work of employees has been organized in a way that each individual can tell the association between their role in the organisation and the organisational goals and objectives are assured of employee retention.

Recommendations
Based on these research findings, the study recommended that salaries and benefits of employees should remain competitive within the market to enhance retention. In addition, the bonus pay to employees should be satisfactory. This will help to improve retention of employees.
The study also recommends that firms should encourage cooperation across different service lines of the firms.
In addition firms should have clear and consistent set of values that regulate the way the firm does business. Team work should also be used to get work done rather than hierarchy. This will help to improve retention of employees.
In addition the study recommends that employees should be appreciated for better performance. Firms should also offer satisfactory and sufficient non-financial benefits such as reward, recognition, study leave offered to their employees. Employees should also be given better retirement benefits to enhance job security.
Lastly firms should have training policies and career paths for all employees. From the study, not all respondents felt that the training and career development opportunities were available to them. The training provided should be relevant so as to motivate employees to work harder and thus enhancing their retention. Scholarships and sponsorships should also be made available to all employees.