Hiring the right talent is crucial for an organisation to create a strategic differentiation in the market. As per a survey by Mercer-Mettl, Indian companies were planning to hire 31% more employees in 2019. 74% of these employers stated that it was a challenge to find candidates with the right skills.

As important as it is to hire the right people, it is equally important to retain the current workforce. Organisations spend a great deal of money, time and effort when they hire and induct a candidate. When a talented employee leaves, it creates multi-facete dripples in the organisation. Firstly, the continuity of work gets impacted. Secondly, it is a no mean feat to find a suitable replacement in the market. As per a study by SHRM, it may cost anywhere between 50%to 200% to replace an employee. Lastly, every employee who exits the door leaves an unsettling air behind. The colleagues start contemplating if they are in the right place.

Let' dig a little deeper to understand the reasons why employees leave. 

• A study conducted by Hayes Group found that 74% of employees would take a pay cut if offered their ideal job. Money is no longer the most motivating factor for the millennials.
• Gallup found that engaged employees had 60% lesser chance of changing their jobs for at least a year.
• Another study by Gallup found that 53% of employees would prefer a role that offered work-life balance and personal well-being. The same study also concluded that 88% of employees would switch to a job that allowed them to work remotely or offered flexible timings.

Organisations often feel that employees leave in search of better compensation. However, there is much more to it. Employees who are satisfied and engaged in their current jobs have much lesser chances of leaving. An engaged workforce is also more productive in their current roles and can help the companies in achieving their goals.

Here is how you can drive engagement in your organisations and reduce employee turnover.

• Empower your employees - Allow your talented employees to do their jobs as they deem fit. Creating a culture of trust and openness can go a long way in engaging your workforce. You can also empower them by providing information on their fingertips. Core HCM solutions offer easy access to all kinds of information. Adapt mobile-first and cloud to further simplify the problem. Besides, it can also help in aligning your employees with the company's goals.

• Create an open culture - Employees appreciate a platform where they can raise their voice and collaborate with other colleagues. You can integrate a social platform to your existing system where employees can share their ideas and contribute to challenges faced by other teams. You can go a step further and allow them to communicate     anonymously. The HR team can take pulse interviews to keep a tab on the health of their organisation.  

• Invest in their growth - Employees appreciate an organisation's efforts to invest in them. Give them ample opportunities to grow by offering cross-functional roles and training opportunities. Promoting from within will also help you in achieving higher productivity as the new incumbent is already familiar with the company ethos. It will     also help to give them clarity on their career paths and the work they need to do in order to reach the next level.

• Provide benefits - Benchmarking with your competitors can help you in identifying the benefits that your employees may appreciate. Apart from monetary benefits, offer other incentives such as flexible timings, work-from-home and paid leave holidays. Millennials have a singular focus on maintaining their work-life balance, and such     benefits can reduce your turnover rates.

• Use technology - Powerful analytics tools can help you in detecting early warning signals. For instance, frequent absence from work may indicate dissatisfaction. Similarly, analytics can be used to identify any red signals from exit feedbacks. HR managers can use these tools to get insights and valuable information about the overall wellbeing of their organisations. 

The millennial workforce appreciates an open and free culture at their workplaces. Changing your company's working environment will take time. However, you can use technology to your advantage. You can significantly enhance your engagement levels and reduce your turnover with the use of advanced digital solutions.