Second only to the quality of your actual product or service, employee satisfaction and retention is perhaps the most critical element to running a successful business.

Countless resources go into locating potential employees, interviewing them and training them, so the high turnover rate that has come to characterise the growing and powerful millennial workforce is troubling.

Already comprising more than a third of the workforce, millennials are twice as likely to be bored at work than their older colleagues, leading many to look for greener pastures.

In addition to being a source of frustration for HR professionals and company executives, the rapid millennial turnover rate costs the economy a whopping $30.5 billion annually.

The high turnover rate doesn’t necessarily mean that millennials lack a sense of commitment towards their careers. Quite the contrary, they want to build lasting careers and be taken seriously by their employers.

Unfortunately, many employers overlook this when offering perks like an eclectic office space and annual company retreats to the Caribbean to employees instead of sending clear signals that productivity and loyalty will be rewarded.

One perhaps surprising key to retaining millennial professionals may be to offload mundane, process-heavy tasks to software robots for execution – using robotic processing automation (RPA).

>See also: Inside the virtual workforce: an army of software robots revolutionising enterprise innovation

And while it may seem counterintuitive to integrate software robots alongside employees to boot job satisfaction, this technology can assist in each stage in the life cycle of an employee, from attracting new recruits, ensuring an engaging and satisfactory workplace, and priming them for leadership roles in the company.

Recruitment advantage

Tried and true legacy systems, which despite their slow operating speeds, have been perfectly sufficient, until now. Not so for millennials: a PWC study found that 59% of millennials consider employer-provided technology and tools important when considering a job.

Forcing new hires to use old and outdated systems is a surefire way to scare off potential recruits and frustrate employees in the long run. Robotic processing automation is a relatively young technology, but one that has great potential to drastically optimize the work output of employees and make task fulfillment easier, faster and smarter than ever before.

Enterprises already know that to stay relevant they need updated applications and methods. But despite the investment these companies make in increasing and optimising their employees’ productivity with the latest enterprise applications, the majority of employees’ time is still spent on tasks that are mundane and easily automated.

New recruits, particularly millennials, will be looking to see how an enterprise utilises advanced technology to make their work not only more efficient, but fulfilling as well. By incorporating new systems that offload the dull and monotonous tasks, employers can showcase their use of technology as a means to place value on employees and their time.

Keeping the work interesting

The millennial workforce is not willing to compromise on their expectations. They want challenging tasks and opportunities that allow them to use their analytical skills, creativity and technical prowess. The mindless, lengthy and repetitive processes like filling out complaint forms and rote data entry that so many millennials are instructed to execute leave them feeling underutilised and undervalued.

This is where automation can come in handy to boost morale and the business as a whole. By leveraging RPA services, labour-intensive but dull tasks can be offloaded to software robots so that employees are free to focus their valuable time and energy on work that requires a human touch and keep them invested in their work product.

Enabling workers to spend their time completing worthwhile and challenging tasks will go a long way towards staving off workplace boredom and ensure a happier office.

>See also: Make way for the automated workforce

The path to leadership

Don’t just show them the money. While 44% of millennials agree that competitive wages and other financial incentives make an employment opportunity more attractive, it was the second of the top three priorities, according to the same PWC study.

In fact, the top three priorities had nothing to do with salary. For most millennials, the opportunity to climb the career ladder, and a high level of training and professional development programs are the first and third attractions, respectively.

An unfortunate reality of most entry-level jobs is an overabundance of low level and fairly monotonous tasks. Traditional thinking assumes that new hires need to “pay their dues” and “put in their time in the trenches” in order to master the more intricate details and procedures of the enterprise. While nothing can replace experience, this also happens to be one of the best ways to drive out millennial employees.

Marrying robotic processes with this millennial class enables them to jump right into the tasks that they were hired to do, while relegating the mundane to the machines. This will create an immediate feeling of value and will ensure that simple mistakes are avoided, which pays dividends to the more senior employees.

Fast-paced integration not only prevents millennials from feeling sidelined in their new position, but provides them an opportunity to demonstrate their capabilities, putting them in prime position for advancement and leadership roles.

Millennials are a generation born and bred on technology that they rely on to keep their personal lives running smoothly. The same can be said for corporate life. Pass the boring buck to the robots and free up your human employees for the creative, impassioned and personal aspects that they crave.

Sourced from Harel Tayeb, CEO, Kryon Systems