When someone leaves an e-commerce or D2C business, the organisation needs to understand what influenced the decision. A warehouse associate may be tired of night shifts and peak targets. A support agent may be worn down by queue pressure. A person in a fast-growing team may feel the role changed every month. The reasons differ across the workforce, so the conversation should too.
The purpose is to learn from their experience, respect their decision and identify what could improve before the next peak.
CIPD's guidance on employee turnover highlights the value of understanding why staff leave and addressing areas such as fair treatment, flexibility and employee wellbeing. Source: CIPD
Look beyond the first answer
"Better offer." "Personal reasons." "Did not suit me." These may be accurate, but they may not explain the whole decision. A better offer could mean day shifts, a steadier roster, a clearer role or a team with less queue pressure.
Start with a simple question: "What made you start considering a change?"
Then ask what made the person decide to leave. This helps separate the circumstances that started their search from the offer that eventually attracted them.
Avoid assuming that every exit reflects a problem. Short-term roles end, people relocate and some temporary staff never intended to stay. Look for the part within the organisation's control.
Explore the areas that shaped their experience
Use the following areas as prompts rather than assuming any one of them caused the resignation.
- Shifts and rosters: Were shift patterns, night work and weekly offs predictable? Were changes made with enough notice?
- Targets and pace: Were pick, pack or handling targets, and support handling-time targets, realistic? Was there support when targets slipped?
- Peak workload: Did sale periods bring long hours and rushed work? Were overtime and rest handled fairly?
- Safety and conditions: In the warehouse, did people feel safe and informed about aisle rules, equipment and heat or cold?
- Support-queue pressure: Did agents have time to recover between difficult contacts? Was there help with abusive customers?
- Pay and category: Were pay, incentives and the difference between temporary, agency and permanent terms clear?
- Growth and role clarity: In a fast-scaling team, was the role stable and the path to a lead or supervisor visible?
- Manager and personal circumstances: Were instructions clear and treatment respectful? Did travel, relocation or family shape the decision?
Several factors may contribute to one resignation. Allow people to explain these connections in their own words.
Create a respectful exit conversation
Invite the person to a voluntary exit conversation during their notice period, or a short conversation at the end of a temporary assignment. Explain that the purpose is to understand their experience and improve the workplace.
Where possible, choose someone sufficiently independent of the issues being discussed. For floor and support staff, that is often not the shift supervisor or team lead: HR or a manager from another shift can ask more openly. Offer a short written or phone alternative for people who have already left the site.
Explain who will see their responses and how the information will be used. Avoid promising complete anonymity in a small shift or support team where details could identify the person.
Listen without interrupting or defending each decision. If clarification is needed, ask for a specific example respectfully. The person should not have to justify their decision to leave. For how to run the process around the conversation, see exit interviews that produce action. The general version of this guide covers the questions that apply in any business.
Ask questions that lead to useful feedback
- 1
What first made you consider leaving?
This finds the starting point, which is often different from the final reason.
- 2
What were the main factors in your final decision?
Let the person link the factors in their own words.
- 3
What did you value most about working here?
It shows what is worth protecting for the people who stay.
- 4
How did the role compare with what you were told when you joined?
Gaps point to hiring conversations or role changes that were never discussed.
- 5
Were your shifts, offs and any night work predictable and fair?
Listen for last-minute changes and uneven sharing.
- 6
Were your targets realistic, and what happened when you fell short?
Ask for an example, not only a view.
- 7
How did peak or sale periods affect your hours and rest?
Listen for repeated rush periods without recovery.
- 8
How safe and supported did you feel in the work, including with difficult customers?
Covers the warehouse floor and the support queue.
- 9
Were there concerns you raised earlier? How were they handled?
This shows whether concerns reached anyone who could act.
- 10
What should we improve for the next person in this role, and would you consider returning for a peak?
A forward-looking close that also tells you who to approach next season.
Use follow-up questions where necessary, while allowing the person to skip questions they do not wish to answer.
Turn individual feedback into a pattern review
Record the main reason for leaving, any contributing factors and a brief factual summary. Separate what the person said from your interpretation. Note whether you would welcome them back.
Review departures over time by site, shift, team, supervisor, employment category and length of service. Early exits tell a different story from exits after a year. Repeated concerns deserve attention, but a small number of exits should prompt further investigation rather than an immediate conclusion about a supervisor or shift. The attrition number that hides the problem explains why a single headline rate is not enough.
Compare exit feedback with roster changes, target data, peak workload and current employee conversations. Keep identifiable responses restricted to those who need access, and use summaries for wider reporting.
Give each improvement an owner
An exit conversation has limited value if the feedback is simply filed away. For each issue selected for action, agree on:
- The specific change needed.
- The person responsible.
- A completion date.
- How progress will be reviewed.
For example, roster complaints could lead to a published change-notice rule, owned by the operations manager. Target concerns could lead to a review of how targets are set. Support-queue pressure could prompt a look at staffing against queue volumes and recovery time.
Where appropriate, tell current employees what has changed, without revealing a departing employee's private feedback.
Start listening before people resign
Include regular conversations about what helps people work well and what makes the job difficult. Ask: "What would make you consider leaving, and what could we improve now?"
For new joiners, a conversation in the first few weeks, and again after the first peak, can catch concerns while the person is still on the team. Follow-through matters: asking for feedback creates an expectation that someone will act on it.
Every resignation deserves a respectful response. Understanding the reasons, checking the wider evidence and acting on issues within the organisation's control gives that conversation a useful purpose.
