The number of employers who believe that employee retention is a problem has doubled in the last 6 years, putting concern about retention on the majority of employers' minds. And because the economy has picked up again and the job market has become favorable to the job seeker, job-hopping and turnover will only continue to increase.

Employers are rightfully concerned: replacing employees can cost about 50-60 percent of that employee's salary, and lost productivity, onboarding time, and the potential for a wrong fit with a need to rehire can contribute to further costs. This can be a terrific blow to the bottom line, especially in industries or areas where top talent is particularly valuable and hard to find. So, taking measures to engage and retain employees is not only a good idea, it's an imperative. How can employers best promote a culture of retention? While no one can force an employee to stay, HR leaders can help foster a culture of retention through the strategic use of HR technology.

Technology for Onboarding
There has been an increasing emphasis on the 'candidate experience' in recruiting over the past several years, but I would argue that we can't stop at just optimizing the technology we use for entering a potential candidate into our systems:

HR needs to focus dually on the candidate experience and the employee experience, the latter of which starts when the employee signs the hiring agreement and shows up on the first day of work.

About one third of people who began their jobs less than six months ago are already searching for a new job. Why should such a large number of people-people who were most likely enthusiastic about being hired-begin planning their exit so soon after they signed the paperwork?