HRM331 Talent Management Assignment: Strategic Prioritization of Employee Engagement Areas to Retain Gen Z Talent at Innova Code, Singapore

Case of Innova Code (this is a fictional case)

It’s 8:30 a.m., and you’ve just logged into your home workspace when you notice a text message sent at 6:30 a.m. from your boss, Mr. David Lin, the Chief Operating Officer of Innova Code, a fast-scaling, 100-person software company that you recently joined as a talent strategist, learning and development lead, and employee engagement specialist.

Switching quickly into work mode, you read David’s urgent message. The company is facing a serious challenge in attracting and retaining talented young tech professionals, particularly Generation Z software engineers, designers, and product managers who will commit to Innova Code’s long-term mission and innovation roadmap.

“If we don’t address this talent issue immediately and prioritise how we’re using our HR budget, we’ll struggle to deliver on our product pipeline — especially our next-gen AI integration. This could delay our upcoming software release and jeopardise our Series B funding round. We need to be decisive about how we engage and grow our people.”

David knew from your hiring interviews that you had strong views about Gen Z workplace expectations and the shifting dynamics in tech. He’s asking you to prepare a proposal by the end of the week outlining how the HR budget should be allocated to maximise engagement and retention. Your recommendations will be part of a task force meeting where leaders from People & Culture, Engineering, and Product will consolidate their ideas into a final prioritisation list.

Innova Code is a 5-year-old tech startup that specialises in cloud-based productivity tools for digital-first businesses. Competing with other fast-growing firms across the Asia-Pacific, including Singapore, Vietnam, and Indonesia, the company prides itself on agility and innovation. However, its young, diverse team — mostly in their 20s and early 30s — is showing signs of disengagement. High turnover in the engineering and design teams has
raised concern.

David suspects that this generation, shaped by the digital age and post-pandemic work culture, values flexibility, purpose, and rapid development over traditional incentives. He’s aware of the so-called “Great Realignment” — a wave of rethinking priorities among younger workers — and doubts that offering higher pay or quirky benefits like “gadget stipends” will be enough.

Instead, David believes that true engagement, development, and belonging are what will drive performance and loyalty. Once the team decides which areas of the HR budget to focus on, Innova Code can invest in more strategic learning programs, career growth pathways, wellbeing support, or inclusive team practices to help people thrive.

In his message, David mentioned that a list of potential investment areas will be shared soon, and he wants your ranked priorities before the task force meets later in the week. You know you’ll need to reflect deeply, draw on research and trends in talent management, and be ready to advocate for the three areas you believe will have the greatest long-term impact.

Question 1 (Total 40 marks):

General Research on How Each Area affects Employee Engagement Your boss has identified FIVE (5) key areas that are relevant to employee engagement, which is a key component of talent management. By applying theories and principles of talent management issues, analyse how each area contributes to employee engagement in
general. In other words, do research on how each of the FIVE (5) areas will affect employee engagement in general.

Question 2 (Total 60 marks):

Employee Engagement in Context of Innova Code Now, use the table below to rank in order the areas of focus (1 = most important, prioritised, 5 = least important, least prioritised). Do this in the context of Innova Code. In other words, consider the context, situation of Innova Code, and rank in order of importance, the areas of focus for employee engagement.