Role ambiguity of junior incumbents at logistics service provider h

UNIVERSITY OF ECONOMICS HO CHI MINH CITY

International School of Business
------------------------------

CAO MINH HIEP

ROLE AMBIGUITY
OF JUNIOR INCUMBENTS
AT LOGISTICS SERVICE PROVIDER H

MASTER OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION

SUPERVISOR: DR. PHAN THI MINH THU

Ho Chi Minh City, Year 2021



TABLE OF CONTENTS
TABLE OF CONTENTS ...............................................................................................i
ABBREVIATIONS ...................................................................................................... iii
LIST OF FIGURES ......................................................................................................iv
LIST OF TABLES ........................................................................................................iv
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ..........................................................................................1
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ...........................................................................................2
1. INTRODUCTION .....................................................................................................3
2. SYMPTOMS ..............................................................................................................6
2.1. High Employee Turnover Rate of Group with Less Than 3 Years of
Experience .................................................................................................................6
2.2. Low Seniority of Working Incumbents .........................................................10

2.3. Increasing Overtime Hours ............................................................................12
3. PROBLEM IDENTIFICATION ............................................................................14
3.1. Problem mess ...................................................................................................14
3.2. Problem validation ..........................................................................................22
3.2.1. Role Ambiguity ..........................................................................................22
3.2.2. Unsatisfactory Compensation and Benefits ..............................................24
3.2.3. Less Career Advancement .........................................................................25
3.2.4. Diversity of Choices ..................................................................................26
3.3. Justify the importance of main problem .......................................................27
4. ALTERNATIVE SOLUTIONS .............................................................................30
4.1. Cause Validation ............................................................................................. 30
4.1.1. Complex Organizational Structure ...........................................................30
4.1.2. Complex Content in Job Description ........................................................32
4.1.3. Information Biases in Applicants/ Incumbents .........................................34
4.1.4. Inefficient Communications from Leaders ................................................35
4.2. Alternative Solutions .......................................................................................37
4.2.1. Solution Set 1 ............................................................................................ 37
4.2.2. Solution Set 2 ............................................................................................ 41
4.3. Selection of Solution Set ..................................................................................43
i


4.4. Action Plans in Organization ......................................................................... 44
5. CONCLUSION ........................................................................................................ 50
6. SUPPORTING INFORMATION .......................................................................... 51
6.1. Interview guide 1 ............................................................................................. 51
6.1.1. Transcript 1: Ms. N.C.B............................................................................ 51
6.1.2. Transcript 2: Ms. N.T.N ............................................................................ 52
6.1.3. Transcript 3: Ms. T.T.B ............................................................................ 53
6.1.4. Transcript 4: Ms. N.H.N ........................................................................... 54

6.2. Interview guide 2 ............................................................................................. 55
6.2.1. Transcript 5: Ms. A.H.V............................................................................ 55
6.2.2. Transcript 6: Ms. N.T.V ............................................................................ 58
6.2.3. Transcript 6: Mr. T.V.T ............................................................................ 61
6.3. Interview guide 3 ............................................................................................. 63
6.3.1. Transcript 7: Ms. N.H.N ........................................................................... 63
6.3.2. Transcript 8: Ms. V.K.N............................................................................ 65
6.3.2. Transcript 9: Ms. L.D ............................................................................... 67
REFERENCES ............................................................................................................ 69

ii


ABBREVIATIONS
No.

Abbreviation

Meaning

1

AM

ante meridiem (before midday)

2

BOD

Board of Director

3

CS

Customer Service

4

FTE

Full-Time Employees

5

HR

Human Resources

6

HRBP

Human Resources Business Partner

7

KAM

Key Account Manager

8

KPIs

Key Performance Indicators

9

OT

Overtime

10

PDP

Personal Development Plan

11

PM

post meridiem (after midday)

12

SOP

Standard Operations Procedure

13

USD

U.S. Dollars

14

VCML

Vietnam-Cambodia-Myanmar-Laos

iii


LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1.1. The organization chart of Logistics Service Provider H Vietnam................ 4
Figure 2.1. Employee turnover rate of CS Fashion during 2018-2020 ........................... 8
Figure 2.2. Working ratio of CS Fashion during 2018-2020 ........................................ 10
Figure 2.3. Overtime working hours of employees of CS Fashion ............................... 13
Figure 3.1. The initial cause-and-effect tree of CS Fashion ......................................... 18
Figure 3.2. The updated cause-and-effect tree of CS Fashion ...................................... 28
Figure 4.1. The Cause and Effect Diagram of Role Ambiguity.................................... 36
Figure 4.2. The Alternative Solutions for Role Ambiguity .......................................... 42

LIST OF TABLES
Table 2.1. Groups of employees of CS Fashion .............................................................. 7
Table 2.2. Overtime working hours of employees of CS Fashion ................................ 12

iv


ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Without the valuable guidance as well as support of several individuals, this paper would
not have been completed. The author, therefore, would like to express his sincere thanks
to those who, in one way or another, contributed their enthusiastic assistance in the
completion of this research.

First and foremost, the author would like to emphasize his utmost gratitude to her
research supervisor, Dr. Phan Thi Minh Thu, for her hearted support during the time
doing this thesis, and above all, for her patience, enthusiasm and immense knowledge.
Without his assistance and dedicated involvement in every step throughout the process,
this thesis would have never been finalized.

Besides my supervisor, the author would like to send thanks to the management team of
CS Fashion for their kind support in in-depth interviews to figure out the main problem,
main causes, alternative solutions and action plans for the project. Moreover, it is a
gratitude to both the leaving employees and junior colleagues of the team to help the
author to explore some interesting insights to develop the project.
Finally, due to the limit of time, resources and the author’s imperfect competence, the
thesis may still hold limitations as well as errors. The author, then, heartily welcomes
all comments and contributions for future improvements of the project.

1


EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
To begin with the project, the author would like to analyze the context and existing

symptoms of CS Fashion in the first chapter. Afterwards, many in-depth interviews have
been conducted in order to explore the potential problems of the team; in combination
with literature review, the author expects to justify the main problem within chapter 2.
Last but not least, further to chapter 3, it is expected to figure out the potential and main
causes of the main problem in chapter 2, then alternative solutions and action plans can
be developed to solve the main problem.

2


1. INTRODUCTION
Enterprise H Global was established in 1904 in the town of Svendborg (Denmark),
which was initially named Dampskibsselskabet Svendborg (The Steamship Company
Svendborg). Throughout more than 115 years of development with many ups and
downs, Enterprise H Global has become one of the largest container shipping companies
all over the world. Moreover, Enterprise H Global also expands its business into other
fields, such as logistics, terminal operations, and oil drilling, etc., by acquiring other
companies. As a result, Logistics Service Provider H Global was established to be in
charge of the logistics service and help the enterprise to achieve the goal of being “a
global integrator of container logistics connecting and simplifying our customers’
supply chain”.

Logistics Service Provider H Vietnam is a part of the Vietnam-Cambodia-MyanmarLaos area (VCML) of Logistics Service Provider H Global. Logistics Service Provider
H Vietnam (also called Logistics Service H in short) has main offices in Ha Noi, Hai
Phong, and Ho Chi Minh City; furthermore, operates rent warehouses in Bac Ninh, Hai
Phong, and Binh Duong. With 5 core values: (1) Constant care, (2) Humbleness, (3)
Uprightness, (4) Our employees, and (5) Our name, the company aims to provide
customers with much better end-to-end supply chain services. Logistics Service
Provider H has various departments as shown below figure; however, due to limitations
of resources, the author would like to focus on CS Fashion function, a part of the

Customer Service (CS) department, and to explore its current problems.

3


CEO

HR

ADMIN

FIN

CS RETAIL

SALES

CS
FASHION

WAREHOU
SE AND
DISTRIBUT
ION

LOGISTICS
AND
SERVICE

OCEAN

TRANSPOR
TATION

CUSTOMER
SERVICE

GSC
(SYSTEM)

OPERATIO
NS

CS
FURNITUR
E

CS
SPORTING

CS 4PL

IMPLEMEN
TATION

CONTINUO
US
IMPROVEM
ENTS

Figure 1.1. The organization chart of Logistics Service Provider H Vietnam

(Source: HR department, synthesized by author, 2021)

To be specific, CS Fashion currently has 22 full-time employees (FTE), including 1
Manager, 3 Team Leaders, and 18 Members. Each team leader will be the escalation
person for 6 separate members, which means that CS Fashion has 3 sub-group, and all
of them will report directly to 1 CS Manager. The main tasks of CS Fashion are
described in the job description as follows:
- Focus on the key Customer Service Drivers: Easy to Business with; Timely Delivery
of Documents; Pro-Active Notification; Exception Management and Efficient claim
handling.
- Arrange to book with vendors/ shippers and plan with vendors/ shippers (Vendor
coordination).
- Query resolution with Shippers/Customers/Key Account Managers (KAMs),
especially timely resolution and response.
- To be responsible for cross-selling/upselling, customer retention.
- Follow up on the outstanding bookings & query resolution.
- Prepare contracts and charge structures in line with the Logistics Service Provider H’
Policy.
- Record and report the performance of the designated set of Solutions Customers that
help provide suitable recommendations on Service delivery wins as well as Service
failures.
4


- Work with the KAMs/ Commercial team to establish and strengthen customer
relationships.
- Comply with specific customer Standard Operations Procedure (SOP) and monitor
respective Key Performance Indicators (KPIs).
- Execute reports assigned by Leaders/Manager.

5


2. SYMPTOMS
According to the results of intake meetings with Ms. A.H.V. – Manager of CS Fashion;
Ms. N.T.V and Mr. T.V.T – Team leaders of sub-teams, it is recognized that there are
three existing issues of the team that might impact the working atmosphere and daily
operations of employees. These are (1) high employee turnover rate of those with less
than 3 years of experience, (2) low seniority of currently working incumbents, and (3)
increasing overtime hours. In this chapter, the author would express these symptoms in
more detail and analyze their impact on the team in specific and to the company in
general.

2.1. High Employee Turnover Rate of Group with Less Than 3 Years of
Experience
First of all, in the last three years, CS Fashion has witnessed many members leaving the
team and company, especially those with less than 3 years of experience. Although they
just considered Logistics Service Provider H Vietnam as a springboard to their careers,
they still decided to leave earlier than expected after they had been suffering from a huge
workload and many pressures from stakeholders. Consequently, there has been a
significant increase in new members since 2018 and a few senior employees have to get
familiar with new young members every year.

Price (1) defined the employee turnover rate as the percentage of the number of leaving
members during the considered period over the average number of working employees
in that organization in the same period. It is also considered by Price as the rotation of
workers among many firms, jobs, or occupations in the market of labor. To be specific,
the employee turnover rate can be calculated by the following formula:
𝐴𝑛𝑛𝑢𝑎𝑙 𝑇𝑢𝑟𝑛𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝑅𝑎𝑡𝑒 (%)
=

𝑁𝑢𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟 𝑜𝑓 𝑒𝑚𝑝𝑙𝑜𝑦𝑒𝑒𝑠 𝑤ℎ𝑜 𝑙𝑒𝑓𝑡
× 100
(𝐵𝑒𝑔𝑖𝑛𝑛𝑖𝑛𝑔 + 𝐸𝑛𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑛𝑢𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟 𝑜𝑓 𝑒𝑚𝑝𝑙𝑜𝑦𝑒𝑒𝑠)/2

By using the aforementioned formula together with the raw data of the number of
leaving and working members in the below table, the author calculated the employee
6


turnover rate of CS Fashion in 4 groups from 2018 to 2020, which are (1) More than 10
years of experience, (2) 5-10 years of experience, (3) 3-5 years of experience, and (4)
Less than 3 years of experience. Afterward, the author graphed Figure 2.1 showing the
trend of the ratio of leaving members in CS Fashion throughout 3 years.

At the end

2018

of 2017

Out
Seniority

Working

(Leave
)

More than 10 years

of experience
5-10

years

of

experience
3-5

years

of

experience
Less than 3 years of
experience
Total employees

2019

Wor
king

Out
(Leave
)

2020

Wor
king

Out
(Leave
)

Wor
king

1

0

1

0

1

0

2

1

0

1

0

2

0

1

3

3

1

1

1

1

2

11

5

15

7

15

7

15

16

8

18

8

19

8

20

Table 2.1. Groups of employees of CS Fashion
(Source: CS Fashion, synthesized by author, 2021)

As a result, the author came up with an alarming situation of too high employee turnover
rate in the team, especially that ratio of a group of employees with less than 3 years of
experience. Specifically, the overall employee turnover rate of the team decreased from
47.1% to 41% between 2018 and 2020. Meanwhile, that rate of the targeted employee
group increased slightly from 29.4% to 35.9% in the same period. Therefore, that is the
main reason why the thesis focuses on the group of junior employees to explore the
causes behind their leave.

7


Employee turnover rate of CS Fashion
50.0%

47.1%
43.2%

45.0%

37.8%

40.0%
35.0%

41.0%
35.9%

29.4%

30.0%
25.0%
20.0%

17.6%

15.0%
10.0%

5.0%

5.4%

5.1%

0.0%

0.0%

0.0%

2018

2019

2020

0.0%
More than 10 years of experience

5-10 years of experience

3-5 years of experience

Less than 3 years of experience

Total

Figure 2.1. Employee turnover rate of CS Fashion during 2018-2020

(Source: CS Fashion, synthesized by author, 2021)

When being asked about the high employee turnover rate, Ms. A.H.V admitted that the
current ratio of the team is quite high in comparison with the expectation of her and team
leaders although it is unavoidable. She informed that the expected employee of the team
is just 20% to maintain the service sustainability delivered to the customers. However,
the current ratio of the team is approximately doubled and that of the target employee
group is nearly 1.5 times higher. As a result, this trend impacts daily operations of a
team that extra workload of leaving staff would be born on current senior members
whilst new-hired staff needs time to be trained with the knowledge and to get used to
job tasks and its pressure. To be more specific, the interview with Ms. A.H.V and Mr.
T.V.T shows four following consequences of high turn-over rate:
- It costs a team and company to train newcomers in terms of both money and time.
- Team leaders and senior members have to handle the extra workload from leave
members and work overtime to follow up newcomers. Consequently, it costs the
company to pay extra money for overtime hours.

8


- Stakeholders would not remember the correct PIC handling their shipments due to
frequent changes of members.
- New-comers need time to be familiar with new works and also the team culture.

9


2.2. Low Seniority of Working Incumbents
The second symptom which the author would like to focus on is the low seniority of
working incumbents. From the general analysis, the average working experience of

employees in CS Fashion is just around 3-3.5 years only, in which it could be concluded
by Ms. N.T.V that the working environment of the team is quite young and dynamic.

Gordon and Johnson (2) defined the seniority of an employee as the number of
consecutive years that a specific employee provides her or his contribution to a team or
an organization. Based on that definition, the working ratio of 4 groups of employees
was calculated from Table 2.1 and drafted in the following Figure 2.2.

Figure 2.2. Working ratio of CS Fashion during 2018-2020
(Source: CS Fashion, synthesized by author, 2021)

It can be seen from Figure 2.2 that the majority of the employees of CS Fashion are
incumbents with less than 3 years of experience. When interviewing Ms. A.H.V and Ms.
N.T.V about the reasons for this symptom, it was explained that it can be rooted from
the first symptom, in which the team has to find replacement people to those already
10


leaving the team. Moreover, it can be easily understood that the replacement members
are fresh graduates or with less than 1 year of experience due to the nature of jobs.
Consequently, there would be some potential risks for the company in general and the
team in specific, such as unstable service delivery to customers, the high potentiality of
surcharges, or penalties of service failure. Therefore, it would cause much workload and
pressure for senior members, team leaders, and the higher management team to follow
up with junior staff closely and more carefully in a more frequent way.

11


2.3. Increasing Overtime Hours

Last but not least, the increasing overtime (OT) of the team employees is taken into
consideration as one of the symptoms of CS Fashion. Currently, incumbents of CS
Fashion have been working OT for months, especially from Aug to Dec last year 2020,
due to both peak seasons and the complex logistics market situation during the Covid19 pandemic. Meanwhile, it was hard for the team and company to hire additional
supporting staff in the same period last year due to harsh situations the company was
facing, which means that the team could only hire replacement staff for those left.
Therefore, the author would also like to explore further whether this is one of the reasons
for the employees to leave the time or not in the later part.

According to Vietnam Labor Law, the total working time of an employee is 40 hours
(which means 8 hours of working per day and 5 days in a week), any extra working
hours should be counted as overtime working. Specifically, at Logistics Service Provider
H Vietnam, each Vietnamese employee starts the daily work from 8:30 AM to 5:30 PM,
from Monday to Friday, with 1 hour of lunch break at noon every working day. Any
additional working hours out of the mentioned ones will be considered as OT hours and
should be paid extra money, for example, working time after 5:30 PM on workdays or
any working time on weekends – Saturday and Sunday.

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

Total OT hours

260

304

505

643

554

Number of employees

20

20

20

20

20

13.0

15.2

25.3

32.1

27.7

Average OT hours per employee

Table 2.2. Overtime working hours of employees of CS Fashion
(Source: CS Fashion, HR report, synthesized by author, 2021)

Based on retrieved data from the report of the HR department, it can be indicated that
the overall and average number of OT hours of CS Fashion increased significantly from
August to December 2020 and reached the peak in November last year at a total of 643
hours and 32.1 hours/person respectively. It is admitted by Ms. A.H.V that besides 40
12


mandatory working hours in a week, almost all members of the team had to work
overtime either on weekdays or weekends for different reasons. And the main reason
mentioned by the staff in the OT reports of the team is to solve many urgent ad-hoc
issues of other stakeholders. When the author discussed further with Ms. N.T.N – the
previous less-than-3-year-of experience employee of CS Fashion with more than 40 OT
hours each month of the mentioned period, she advised that this was the first time she
faced such a situation even though she went through some peak seasons.
“I had never experienced such a harsh situation during more than 2 years of working at Logistics
Service Provider H Vietnam and CS Fashion although I went through some peak seasons. The
logistics market seemed to be much messy after the Covid-19 pandemic; all parties from
shippers, consignees to carriers, forwarders have been suffering from the consequences of the
pandemic until now. In combination with the normal workload of peak season and my family
matters, it exceeded my endurance and I decided to leave at the end of the year 2020.” – She
recalled.

OT hours

700

643

600

554
505

500
400
304
300

260

200
100
0
August

September

October

November

December

Total OT hours

Figure 2.3. Overtime working hours of employees of CS Fashion
(Source: CS Fashion, synthesized by author, 2021)

13


3. PROBLEM IDENTIFICATION
To discover the potential problems which may lead to aforementioned symptoms, the
author started to take many in-depth interviews with 2 groups of interviewee:
- Group 1: Team members of CS Fashion who already left the team, who are Ms. N.C.B,
Ms. N.T.N, Ms. T.T.B, and Ms. N.H.N.
- Group 2: Manager (Ms. A.H.V) and Team leaders of CS Fashion (Ms. N.T.V and Mr.
T.V.T);
For the latter group of the interviewee, the results would help the author to have the
leave reasons that were stated in the exit interviews. On the other hand, the interview
results of the first group could help to have clearer explanations from leaving members
and discover the gaps in the results of exit interviews.

3.1. Problem mess
The interviews with team members who already left CS Fashion were taken into
consideration first. The reasons for it are to explore some factors making them give up
their jobs at Logistics Service Provider H Vietnam in general and CS Fashion in specific.
To be more specific, the author conducted 4 in-depth interviews with Ms. N.C.B, Ms.
N.T.N, Ms. T.T.B, and Ms. N.H.N.

As a result of those 4 interviews of group 1, the most frequent-heard reason for giving
up the career at CS Fashion is due to the huge workload. 3 out of 4 interviewees advised
that they had to suffer from the same situation of working from 9 AM up to 9 or 10 PM
(despite breaks) with different backgrounds behind. Ms. T.T.B shared her thoughts that

she had suffered from peak season since she joined the company, while Ms. N.C.B and
Ms. N.T.N explained that she had to work overtime due to many ad-hoc issues and bad
performance of external stakeholders. The aforementioned situation had become worse
after the Covid-19 pandemic starting at the beginning of 2020; consequently, some
current issues of the logistics market (such as equipment shortage, ocean space cutdown) had been negatively impacted and they had to overcome more workload to solve
these issues. Besides, Ms. N.T.N also advised that she spent her time and more workload

14


following up with newcomers of the team. To be specific, Ms. T.T.B indicated her
viewpoint that:
“…I joined the company in April 2018, right at the peak season of my hand-over account, and
I had to catch up very quickly from my predecessor to handle the account. I was shocked at the
moment that I had to work from 9 AM to 9 or 10 PM daily since I received too many emails
asking for support due to their bad performance. My huge workload in the longtime caused me
much stress and a desire to have a gap period…Consequently, my suffering period was up to
nearly 8 months…”

Moreover, Ms. N.C.B shared her opinion as follows:
“I left Logistics Service Provider H because I wanted to have a rest, maybe 1 month, after
working at our CS Fashion for more than 1 year. I had to suffer from a lot of workload in the
whole year I was working at the team due to peak seasons, bad performance of stakeholders,
and ad-hoc issues. Although I knew that workload was caused by both the market situation and
Covid-19, I could not overcome such a harsh situation and I wanted to leave…”

Additionally, Ms. N.T.N explained her opinion:
“In the middle of 2019, I wanted to have some breakthroughs after more-than-1-and-a-half-year
working at CS Fashion. I proposed my to-be-leader preference to my team leader and manager;
as a result, I received more challenges with an explanation on how they would help to enhance

my skills and knowledge. Therefore, besides my current workload, I was assigned to follow up
new-comers of the team. However,… and unfortunately I had my family matters at the same
time too…”

Furthermore, no work-life balance is another reason for leaving CS Fashion on the staff.
Almost all members of the team, even team leaders and its manager, would desire a
separate life from work with spare time for their beloved people, their hobbies, their
part-time jobs, and also their educational development; however, very few of them can
achieve their goals. This would have resulted from the huge workload they suffered from
daily work. For example, Ms. T.T.B also shared another interesting viewpoint:
“With my experience of jumping into many jobs, I felt that the environment of Logistics Service
Provider H Vietnam was the best one compared to others and I enjoyed friendly colleagues here.
On the other hand, I also seek a work-life balance…”

Ms. N.T.N recalled with the same feeling:
“…At that time, not only workload but family matters did make me stressed. I wanted to spend
more time dealing with personal issues to get over the bad feelings but I could not achieve a
work-life balance. My daily tasks at our team seemed to be impossible to complete, the emails

15


came over and over with non-stop signals. I had suffered from a high workload for a long time
without further sharing from my leader since she was also in the same situation as
mine…Consequently, after 1 year with such pressure from both work and my family, I felt
depressed, and could not neither wait longer at that time nor overcome the harsh situation…”

Thirdly, lack of rest/gap period was mentioned as one of the seasons which makes the
employees leave CS Fashion. It is indicated by Ms. N.C.B that the rest/gap period is the
time allowing her to spend full time to relax and release stress without any nerves on the

daily tasks and responsibilities. At Logistics Service Provider H Vietnam, each newlyhired employee has a standard annual leave of 12 days and will be added 2 days for each
year of experience; nevertheless, they could hardly take their off-work since their backuppers are also in the similar situation of huge workload; and consequently, it may cost
them more time to clear all backlogs after getting back from their leave. Besides, the
start of working from the third or last year of the university also resulted in the desire of
having a rest/gap period after 1 to 2 years of continuous working.
“I left Logistics Service Provider H because I wanted to have a rest, maybe 1 month, after
working at our CS Fashion for more than 1 year…I would spend my gap time traveling before
I started to look for a new job which may allow me to have some work-life balance. Moreover,
back in my 3rd year in university, a lot of my classmates already had their part-time work and
that pressure made me start my job at Logistics Service Provider H. And because of that, I
desired a gap and decided to leave for another plan.” – Ms. N.C.B explained.
“…My huge workload in the longtime caused me much stress and a desire to have a gap period.
Although I still had many annual leave days, I could not make use of it since I was nervous
about my workload if I took day-offs. I understood that my back-uppers were in the same period
and I am afraid that my temporary leave would cause them to work overtime…” – Ms. T.T.B
shared a similar thought.

In addition, low salary is considered as a combination factor with the 3 aforementioned
ones to make the junior employees leave. It is admitted by Ms. T.T.B that the starting
salary for fresh graduates together with some allowances (such as clothing and meal)
are relatively higher than those of other companies in the same logistics company;
moreover, the company still supports its incumbents to arrange the OT payment.
However, junior employees with 1-2 years of experience were not happy with their total
16


income in comparison with their huge workload. As a result, they would consider
seeking new jobs which are more suitable to them. To be specific, Ms. T.T.B explained:
“…Besides, my salary was unsatisfactory either. I agreed that the basic salary offered to freshers
is relatively high compared to other logistics companies. Nevertheless, after 1-2 years of

experience, the increased salary each year, in my opinion, is not satisfying with my daily
workload. Beside my work, I want to maintain my part-time job as an English teacher and
increase my income. My work made me exhausted with too many OT hours, and I spent the rest
of my weekend resting and recovering. Therefore, I was unhappy with my working at Logistics
Service Provider H and decided to leave.”
“…Moreover, I felt unhappy with my income either, in comparison with extra workload and
responsibility. The OT hour payments which the company pays to me do not make me feel
better after exhausting work…” – Ms. N.T.N shared her feeling.

In a different aspect, Ms. N.T.N helped to explore other insights:
“…I proposed my to-be-leader preference to my team leader and manager…However, the
company situation could not support my desire as there were few promotion opportunities at
that time…Finally, it was regrettable that I had to tell my leader and manager the decision to
give up and leave to change my working industry.”

From her sharing, another reason for the leave of the targeted employee group is due to
few promotion opportunities at some specific periods. Normally, after an amount of
working experience, it is admitted by Ms. N.T.V that most senior incumbents of not
only CS Fashion but also Logistics Service Provider H Vietnam would seek
opportunities to be promoted to higher positions such as team leaders or managers.
However, the chances of promotion depend on the situation of the company at a specific
time. Consequently, some employees have to wait for a long period, lose their passion
for work and take a permanent leave.
“During the time I have been a leader, I received sharings from many senior incumbents that
they wanted to lead a sub-team. Even some of them knew how to make development plans for
themselves when waiting for the opportunities, while the others did not. However, it depends
on the situation of the company whether there are any open positions or not. That is the reason
why some employees left the company since they could not stand the long waiting time” – Ms.
N.T.V shared.

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On the other hand, 3 in-depth interviews with the latter group, which includes Ms.
A.H.V, Ms. N.H.V, and Mr. T.V.T – the management team of CS Fashion, helped to
figure out other factors affecting the leaving decision of junior employees. They are
stated either on exit discussion or exit interviews. No matter that they may be subjective,
it still supported the author to get more insights on the reasons why less-than-3-year-of
experience employees left the team and/or the company.

Figure 3.1. The initial cause-and-effect tree of CS Fashion
(Source: interview results, synthesized by author, 2021)

First and foremost, the results revealed that the junior staff left CS Fashion because they
found few improvements during their working time at the team. To be clearer, Ms.
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T.N.V heard from previous junior employees that they had not found any breakthroughs
during their working at CS Fashion since they did not have enough time to follow the
personal development plan (PDP) with such a huge workload. However, she did not
agree and emphasized the cause of few developments of incumbents is due to incomplete
and unclear PDP at the beginning of the year. Consequently, they could not improve
their skills, move up their careers, and improve their incomes.
“I also heard many leaving staff complain that they could not find any personal improvements
from my careers at the team and company. However, I do not agree with their reasons that they
had too much daily workload. I felt that they did not have a clear PDP at the beginning. That’s
why they had nothing to base on and keep track for their yearly development.” – Ms. N.T.V
shared.
“In my opinion, I found that very few junior employees are aware of the importance of PDP

although we have refreshment sharing every year. That’s why they did not make the complete
PDP at the beginning of the year, and afterward, could not follow up to improve their skills.
Consequently, it is hard for them to move up their careers to higher positions and enjoy much
preferable salary and allowance.” – Mr. T.V.T added.

Additionally, another reason for leaving which was frequently mentioned in the exit
interviews is the intention to change the industry. Ms. A.H.V clarified that this reason
appears among major employees but mostly at junior ones since senior incumbents
would hardly take challenges on new jobs if they already engaged for a specific amount
of time. She thought further that the leading factors would be no clear job orientations
to them while they are at the university. It was advised by Ms. N.T.V that most of the
fresh interviewees admitted to starting their first jobs at Logistics Service Provider H to
discover the logistics industry and would leave the company when their passion for this
industry is over. She also explained that this phenomenon does not harm the company’s
requirements to employ freshers but would harm some specific departments with a
potentially high turnover rate.
“As you may know, our company focuses on fresh employees with no or less than 1 year of
experience. The majority of them have no clear job orientations at the beginning and are willing
to change their jobs after 1 to 2 years to find out what they really like to make ends meet. While
the similar trend could hardly be found in senior staff if they get familiar with the industry as
well as current job and tasks. That is one of the reasons why the turnover rate of junior staff is

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