EMPLOYEES TURNOVER AND IT’S CAUSES: A CASE STUDY ON ETHIOPIAN REVENUES AND CUSTOMS AUTHORITY

Abstract

This thesis assesses employees‟ turnover and its causes in the case of Ethiopian Revenues and Customs Authority. The study adopted a descriptive and causal research design to identify the employee turnover causes. Both quantitative and qualitative methods were used to gather information through the utilization of a questionnaire and interviews. A pilot study was conducted to test the questionnaires. Random and purposive sampling techniques were used to select samples according to Kothari formula (2004, p. 179) from the population and interviews were used for data collection. The respondents were drawn from the existing and ex-employees of the authority. Eighty three (83) questionnaires were issued to the ex- employees and seventy (73) were responded respectively. Documents that were received from the department were helpful in determining the turnover trend. Descriptive statistical and qualitative analysis method were used for data analysis. The study showed that the major causes for professional employees‟ turnover to be salaries and benefits, orientation, work environment, workload and fairness, relationship of management and supervisor with their subordinates, job satisfaction and related factor, and intention of existing employees to leave or stay. In overall, the research investigated the reasons why employees leave Ethiopian Revenues and Customs Authority and the reasons why they stay in the authority. The study further revealed that the authority does not have attractive salary and benefit package, the employee employer relationship was not good, there is job security problem, the employee reward program was not competitive, the work place were unfavorable, employees were handled unfairly and irrespectively . All those factors influence most ex-employees to leave and increased the intention of existing employees to leave the authority. The study recommended that the authority need compensation policy, retention scheme policy, modify promotion policies to implement zero-discrimination, implement more aggressive reward and recognition program, try to meet intentions of employees and create conducive working environment to retain its experienced and qualified employees.