The challenge in public universities in Uganda is that university non-teaching staff are disengaged and take their jobs for granted, hence never make an effort to serve to the satisfaction of students and other stakeholders. This study examined whether talent management strategies employed by the universities were a game changer for work engagement of the non-teaching workforce in public universities. Specifically, the study tested whether talent management in terms of talent attraction, talent development and talent retention had a relationship with work engagement of the non-teaching workforce in public universities. The study employed a correlational research design on a sample of 201 non-teaching staff. Data was collected using a questionnaire survey. The findings revealed that talent attraction and talent development had a positive significant relationship with work engagement of the non-teaching workforce. However, talent attraction had a negative and insignificant relationship with work engagement of the non-teaching workforce. It was concluded that talent attraction strategies in terms of selective recruitment and selection, and talent development in the form of performance appraisal, training and promotion are game changers for work engagement of the non-teaching staff. However, weak retention strategies hamper employee engagement. The study recommends that managers of universities should implement game-changing talent attraction strategies and talent development practices to enhance work engagement of the non-teaching workforce. It is also recommended that university managers should strengthen talent retention strategies to promote work engagement of the non-teaching workforce.