According to Branham, Leigh (2005), the seven hidden reasons make employees leave:
The job or workplace was not what the employee expected. Employees have unrealistic expectations when they are hired, have misconceptions about the work or are sometimes misled during the interview process.
The mismatch between job and person. Those who hire often assume that because a job is at a lower level, anyone can do it, forgetting that excellence can be found in all jobs and that it is worth taking time to assess who has the right stuff to succeed, in every job in an organization.
Too little coaching or feedback. Way too many managers still practice once a year coaching at the annual performance appraisal. Many old school managers adopt a parent to child mindset with their employees, sometimes leading to behavior that motivates compliance but not commitment. Other managers fear the confrontations that arise from giving corrective coaching.
Too few advancement and growth opportunities. This is the No. 1 frustration of younger top performers. When employees rate today's managers on leadership competencies, the ability to develop direct reports ranks near the bottom.
Feeling devalued and unrecognized. These include not being paid fairly, not receiving a simple thank you for a job well done, being treated with disrespect, being ignored, being put down instead of valued for being different, not getting the right tools and resources to do the job, and having to work in an unacceptable work environment.
Stress from overwork and work-life imbalance.
Loss of trust and confidence in senior leaders.
Wu Lisa (1988) also explained some causes affect corporate workers quit. There are opportunities for advancement such as limited, lack of recognition, unhappiness with managers, problem in salary and benefit and bored with job.
Following the result of survey by Talentnet and Mercer in 2017 about the turnover rate of organizations in Vietnam, the retail industry is in the top three with the lowest bonus. Specifically, retail (14.8%), logistics (12.5%) and education (9.6%). It shows the fact that most companies in the retail industry now have low rewards. So the employees will be convinced when competitors in the industry approached and invited them to work. They are attracted to another job with higher rewards. For this reason, the turnover rate in the retail sector is higher than the other sectors in industry.
As the causes make increasing meal cost in Celadon Tan Phu, AEON Binh Tan, Canary Binh Duong and AEON Long Bien are metioned in above, there are three possible causes such as no career opportunities, overload working and stress. Besides, not recognized for contribution, low increasing salary rate, loss believe in management way, job duties boring/not challenge are also the causes for current problem in AEON.
In contrast, misconceptions about the work and mismatch between job and person do not affect to manager’s decision leaving. This table below shows the level of influence of causes. This caculation is based on data conducted from survey with respondents.
The respondents are people, who are responsible for management in AEON Vietnam Co., Ltd. The caculation of Mean, Standard Deviation and Coefficient of Variation are conducted from survey as below:
Factors Mean Standard
Deviation
Coefficient of Variation
No career opportunities
4.5 1.74 0.39
Overload working 3.5 1.50 0.43
Stress 4.2 1.68 0.40
Low increasing salary rate
2.9 1.37 0.47
Loss believe in management way
1.7 0.96 0.57
Not recognized for 4.3 1.69 0.39
your contribution Job duties
boring/not challenge
1.9 1.04 0.55
Misconceptions about the work
1 0 0
Mismatch between job and person
1 0 0
Other reasons 2.4 1.20 0.50
Table 3 – The Mean, Standard Deviation and Coefficient of Variation of causes (The data was conducted from result of survey in AEON Celadon Tan Phu and AEON Binh Tan)
Based on figures are caculated above (see in Table 3), there are many real causes make experienced managers quit their job, which affect to lack of experienced managers in AEON Vietnam Co., Ltd. In all of them, no career opportunities (Mean = 4.5), not recognized for contribution (Mean = 4.3), stress (Mean = 4.2) and overload working (Mean = 3.5) have the highest mean. It shows four factors affect experienced managers quit job strongly.
In reality, there are many cases experienced managers left company. It can be mentioned the Head of Administration Department’s story that she had an old colleague, whom just quit job in AEON. The reason for his leaving is “he did not find any career opportunities to get high position in company. In this company, when one person tries to work to get target and has some potential strengths, he or she can be promoted to get high position. But the level of position is limited. Japanese people will have responsibility for high positions and hold the key role in Board of Directors. It is very difficult for Vietnamese employees to get these positions”. This story tells that opportunities for high level position is need to be cared by company. Following Daria Ionova (2016) view “Opportunity for career advancement: growth within an organization boosts self- esteem and makes a person feel that his efforts are recognized and appreciated”. The results are presented by Daria Ionova (2016), it also confirms that promotion opportunity is the factors influencing job satisfaction. Given that a lack
of opportunity for manager’s growth is one of the leading causes of reducing employee satisfaction. Reducing employee satisfaction is a signal to recognize that employees might be frustrated by a lack of opportunities. They do not see any career advancement and promotions, what managers see as are given growth and development opportunities.
Besides no opportunities, stress and work overload are also impacts affect the senior managers do not stick to their company. Both of individual stress and work stress make employees do not keep balance in their life and their works. However, in this thesis, it does not focus on individual stress. “Workplace stress can be caused due to excessive workload, isolation, long working hours, harmful work environments, less autonomy, complicated relationships among co-workers and management, harassment by management, annoyance and lack of opportunities or motivation to advancement in one's skill level” (Banerjee Sudatta and Mehta Payal, 2016). Qureshi et al. (2012) argued that perceived work overload leads to increased stress and lower job satisfaction. In AEON’s case, 90% respondents agree that they have to work overtime and 70% said that they work over 8 hours per day. It means the managers in AEON are working more time than law’s standards.
One more strongly impacts cause the experienced managers in Celadon Tan Phu, AEON Mall Binh Tan, Canary Binh Duong and AEON Long Bien left company is not recognized for contribution. Following Maslow's hierarchy of needs was written by psychologist Abraham Maslow in 1943 in A Theory of Human Motivation, the recognized for contribution is in top of pyramid. It is a meta need of people. A person is in a high position in company, they want to dedicate themselves to the company.
When their talents are given and after that they do not receive any suitble the recognitions, they will be disappointed. And when there is no satisfaction with the job or the company, these managers easily leave the job when they have new opportunities from another company to offer them.
In contrast, AEON Celadon Tan Phu and AEON Mall Binh Tan also have many other causes for managers to leave the company such as the allowance for employees who have long time working in company is low. The rate of increasing salary per year is a
No career opportunities
Overload working
Lack of experience to control situationExperience managers quit job
Stress
Lack of recognized and valued contribution
small firgure. It is about 5% in total salary if an employee has more than one year working in AEON Vietnam. One of the hidden causes that employees quit job is loss of trust and confidence in senior leaders. Japanese managers/Board of Directors have ways to control the staffs based on their cultural. Nevertheless, almost Vietnamese managers and staffs have different methods to manage. So they sometimes conflict with the others and do not have the same ideals to solve problem. The result of this conflict is almost the employees quit job. The other ones stay at company but their satisfaction level goes down. However, this thesis does not concentrate on these causes above, because they do not affect strongly to this problem. Mean of Low increasing salary rate factor is 2.9 and Mean of Loss believe in management way factor is 1.7 This diagram shows the updated causes the central problem:
Diagram 3 – The updated causes
Based on the previous initial cause and effect map and the above developing, has been developed updated cause and effect map as below:
No career opportunities
Symptom
Central problem
Overload working Lack of experience to control situation
The increasing cost for meal The increasing quantity. Experience managers quit job
Stress
Lack of recognized and valued contribution
Diagram 4 - The updated cause and effect map