Engagement is the sticky factor that keeps employees at their organizations. Research shows engaged employees are more likely to stay at their organizations. That's why when addressing turnover, leaders need to look at what they're doing on the engagement front.

Leaders can apply those same learnings from 2020 to retain great employees in good times and bad times. Here's how:

Understand what's causing turnover

Two things. Some turnover is predictable. And some of that turnover is preventable.

When you start to dive into the data, there is sometimes evidence that an employee was going to leave before they ever took off for "greener pastures." Maybe they applied for a promotion and didn't get it. Or maybe they told their coworkers they were disappointed they weren't recognized for completing a big project. There are times employees communicate that they may be looking to leave.

In connection with that communication, are the reasons employees leave. The top three reasons employees said they left their organizations are:

• Lack of career growth
• Lack of fair pay
• Feeling unrecognized or unappreciated

What do these three reasons have in common? They're all actionable — and they're all connected to helping employees feel valued for their contributions. Organizations might have made some adjustments that would have convinced the employee that they wanted to stay.

When we start to be intentional with our retention strategy, it's important to understand why employees want to leave. This means listening to what they're saying and understanding what might be causing disconnect between your organization and your employees.

Listen to what employees are telling you

If our goal is to retain top employees, it's not enough to know what caused a good employee to find another job. Leaders need to have their fingers on the pulse of how employees are feeling. This knowledge helps guide the organization to make meaningful changes that improve the employee experience.

HR industry expert Josh Bersin recommends making employee listening a cultural value.

To do this, organizations need to deploy an in-depth listening strategy that is more than just an annual check-in. It means getting employee feedback throughout the employee journey such as when a new employee starts, after a promotion, or significant change.

As you're analyzing this data, ask the following questions:

• Where are there inconsistencies?
• What red flags are showing up?
• How can you address them?

Then, add some color to the data by combining it with information gathered from frequent 1-on-1s with managers. By focusing on engagement, performance, and growth, these conversations can help leaders dig into key issues and address turnover faster.

Connect the dots across the organization

Acting on the insights you gather is good. Combining those insights with other data will help you see the big picture and uncover other actionable information you wouldn't know otherwise. Discover what is trending, who is leaving, and where turnover is the highest.

By slicing the data and analyzing it from different angles, you'll have a better understanding of what is happening across the organization and how you can address problems.

Drill down deep and analyze the data by:

• Tenure
• Department
• Gender
• Race/Ethnicity
• Age

With this information, you'll be better equipped to take targeted action, improve the employee experience in nuanced ways, and retain your best employees.

Invest in effective action

Knowing the ins and outs of the organization's turnover story doesn't magically cause turnover to stop. Organizations must act to change the ending.

Sure, turnover happens. But to become an employer of choice, organizations need to reduce the turnover that is preventable. When you're planning to act on the intelligence you've gathered, follow these best practices:

1. Include the entire team. Retention isn't an HR issue. Everyone plays a part, especially your managers. Review data with managers and empower them with training and resources to have better performance and growth conversations.
2. Pick a couple of easy wins. Identify a few changes that will improve the employee experience that will be simple and quick to implement.
3. Create a plan to tackle big items. You can't do it all at once. Pick some big-ticket items to work on throughout the quarter or year.
4. Connect changes to employee recommendations. Help employees feel that they're a valuable part of the team by showing them their input matters.
5. Monitor progress. Complete the feedback loop with employees to measure the impact.

Related: Stock options tied to retention, but employees want more financial guidance

If organizations want to get serious about retention, they need to look to re-engage their workforce. By understanding the organization's turnover, creating a listening strategy, evaluating the data, and acting to better the experience for employees, leaders will be able to reduce turnover and show their employees that their organization is a great place to work and grow.

Anne Maltese, director of people insights at Quantum Workplace