How to build companies that last when their employees don’t

In the golden age of cubicles, employees did not ask questions. Their bosses told them where to sit, when to leave, and how many decades they’d be doing it. The workers—boomers, Gen Xers, and millennials—nodded along. You didn’t negotiate with the institution. You retired from it. Today, the tables have turned.

Take engineering conglomerate Larsen and Toubro, for instance. Its 65-year-old chief executive, SN Subrahmanyan, started working there when he was 24; his predecessor, AM Naik, now 82, joined even younger. It’s been a company of loyalists. And now, the same company’s senior leaders are engaging with young talent through what’s known as chai pe charcha (translation: tête-à-tête over tea).

So, when a management trainee, just nine months into the grind, speaks of quitting, the contrast is evident.

“I’ll start looking for other jobs with a 40–50% hike in the next few months,” said the trainee, who isn’t satisfied with his annual pay of Rs 10 lakh ($11,600). Besides, there are “many constraints to learning,” he claimed, citing how freshers aren’t deeply involved in decision-making or ideation.

Young employees are now seeking “a job, not a career”, according to Murali Santhanam, chief human resource officer at Ascent HR Technologies, a staffing company. Demanding a 30–40% hike in salary with every jump, their approach to life itself has changed: “I want to grow fast, retire at 40, and then start something of my own.”

Sure, attrition rates were at their lowest in 2024 since the pandemic, but that’s partly because of low
hiring
. “Organisations shouldn’t pat themselves on the back for lower attrition in recent quarters,” said Neelabh Shukla, chief business officer at Careernet, a staffing firm. In reality, nearly one in three young professionals start exploring new job opportunities within one to two years of joining, he added.

For instance, at a recent HR leaders’ roundtable, the buzz was around adopting real-time performance-measurement tools (to move away from quarterly or bi-annual reviews), said Careernet’s Shukla. But when budget decisions are made, urgency often trumps importance, he added. “Then the next quarter arrives, new priorities emerge, and the cycle continues.”

Publication : The Ken   Author : Debanjali Biswas

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