Change the smell of the place....

Human resource professionals are perturbed by risisng attrition rates across management ranks. They have tried every trick in the book to dissuade people from quiting their company. Call it supply side gap or loss in loyalty values, I believe people work for intanglibles and not tangibles like salary or perks. Of course, monetary benefits are important but upto some extent, after that it is the intangibles which drive people to scale new heights.In India private companies were never known for treating their employees well and taking care of their career growth (except the Tata's). Even the pre-90's cinema potrayed the capitalist as an evil person who exploits poor people by making them work for long hours, paying meagre salary and indulging in skullduggery. But globalization has turned the tables, now the employees look upon the employers with disdain. Talent shortage has compounded the problem. HR professionals have to rack their brains to come up with innovative ideas to retent employees.
I believe the whole approach to this problem is wrong. These days people have fallen into a rut of living a life chasing material acqusitions comprosmising their inner callings. This leads to an emotional conflict, which often leads to stress and burn-out among executives. Ever wondered, did Gandhiji, Nehru, or Sardar Patel felt stressed or burnt out? They were, perhaps,leading a mission without knowing whether they would reach the destination. They plunged into the freedom struggle without caring whether India would win freedom in their whole lifetime. Mind you, they could have made a 'career' outside politics. But still they opted for the freedom struggle. The intangibles played the trick in their case, they participated not to avail of perks and monetary benefits but to achieve something which transcended their self and gave them a sense of contentment. In these times of rapid and multidimensional change, old age wisdom proves handy. Work place needs to be put at the alter of temple, where people come to seek solace and faith in themselves and fellow beings.