By Daniel Trotta

Nov 15 (Reuters) - A majority of employees have left the leading U.S. transgender advocacy group amid a failed attempt to oust its leader, with many expressing frustration over the organization's lack of minority hiring and outreach.

The exodus at the National Center for Transgender Equality takes place as the non-profit group prepares for two monumental events in 2020: the presidential election and the world's largest survey of transgender people.

The Washington-based center's staff is down to eight people from a high of 21 at the start of 2019, Executive Director Mara Keisling said on Friday.

Keisling said the changes were related to a long-planned strategic overhaul of the group, which had grown rapidly and needed to modernize its operations, including the need to hire and retain more people of color. Employees who disagreed with the new direction were given the chance to accept buyouts, she said.

"We just needed a course correction and part of that was a generally new direction," Keisling said in a telephone interview.

As for the complaints about minority hiring and retention, she said, "We have significant racial justice and racial equity work to do. Almost every organization does."

The restructuring had begun well before staff members wrote a letter earlier this month asking her and Deputy Director Lisa Mottet to resign within 18 months, Keisling said. Read more via Openly