Employee Turnover in Chemical Retail: Why Are Our Staff Leaving for Vague Reasons?

I work in a chemicals retailing company. It is a B2B company. We have about 40 staff and 20 contract personnel. We are a profit-making organization, and our salary structure is in line with the market.

Employee Turnover Concerns

In the period between 15 Mar and 30 Apr, we lost six people, all of them with experience ranging from 6 to 30 months. This has affected our operations, and we are in the process of finding replacements. The interesting aspect is that none of them left for a better-paying job; all of them departed for various vague reasons. I am concerned and seeking suggestions to improve the scenario.

Introducing the "Exit Interview" Questionnaire

Please introduce the "Exit Interview" questionnaire to employees who are leaving. First of all, you have to find out and examine the reasons behind their decision to leave the company. Once you have identified the reasons, please sit with your management and try to work out solutions.

Thanks,

R K Nair

You must have come across the statement that "many a time, people leave a boss, not the organization." If you are a good company, just check on this aspect as well. It was rightly mentioned by Mr. Nair to introduce an exit interview system. You need to get fair feedback from outgoing employees on the reasons for their exit, analyze them, plan, and implement suitable corrective actions wherever possible. Apart from salary, please ensure your other HR policies and practices are at par or better than similar industries in your area.

You have received some good ideas from the others. I suggest you also create (or fine-tune if you already have it) an exit interview feedback form. Conduct a process study of employee processes to understand the time taken, service delivery quality, etc., are good. There are other ideas that, if you like, you can discuss with me offline, either on the phone or via email.

All the best.

Regards,