By Haresh B. Jhala

From ₹2,500 salary to ₹40 crore turnover, with a team built to stay on

Employee retention is often treated as a pay problem. But what if the real issue is whether people feel supported, respected and valued beyond their salary? In Rajkot, Sagar Valves offers an interesting founder-led example. Sandeep Javiya began his career on a ₹2,500 salary and now runs a business with around 70 employees. More than half, he says, have stayed for at least a decade. The lesson is not about perks; it is about trust.

When loyalty is expected, but not earned

Business owners often complain that employees do not stay. Yet the relationship can become purely transactional: the company provides a salary, the employee provides time and output, and both move on.

The contradiction is obvious. If employees are treated merely as another operating resource, why should they feel a deeper commitment to the business?

Javiya’s experience offers a different perspective: retention begins with the way people are treated, not simply with what they are paid.

A ₹2,500 salary shaped his leadership

After completing his engineering degree, Javiya started his career in a valve manufacturing factory on a ₹2,500 monthly salary.

That experience, he says, gave him an appreciation of the employee’s position that later influenced the way he built his own business.

He came to understand that an employee’s concerns do not end at the workplace. There are family responsibilities, social commitments and unexpected financial pressures. A salary may meet the formal obligation, but it does not necessarily create security or belonging.

His approach has therefore been to stand by employees when circumstances require it.

If an employee faces a genuine social or financial difficulty, the company may provide financial assistance or an advance. The underlying principle is simple: when people know that someone will stand with them in difficult times, anxiety reduces and trust grows.

Make the distance between owner and team smaller

Javiya also believes that relationships cannot be built entirely through formal meetings.

Every Sunday, the factory closes at around 5 pm, after which he plays cricket with employees. Festivals are celebrated together, and employees are encouraged through recognition and rewards for good performance.

None of these initiatives is particularly elaborate. Their value lies in creating opportunities for people to interact outside the immediate pressure of production.

For a small and mid-sized business, that can matter. Employees see the person behind the designation; the owner sees the people behind the payroll.

Retention is the outcome, not the programme

Sagar Valves now has around 70 employees. According to Javiya, more than half have been with the company for ten years or longer.

The company, he says, has an annual turnover of around ₹40 crore.

The numbers are interesting not because they prove that one particular management formula works, but because they raise a more useful strategic question:

What makes people choose to stay?

Retention is often discussed as an HR metric. In a smaller business, it can also be a leadership outcome. Lower employee churn means less repeated hiring, less time spent rebuilding skills and, potentially, stronger institutional knowledge.

Build capability, not dependence

Javiya’s own career provides another lesson.

After he had developed considerable expertise in valve manufacturing, his former employer once sent him to Bahrain to resolve a technical problem involving valves supplied to a customer. He had already left the company, yet the founder trusted his expertise enough to send him back to solve the problem.

For Javiya, the episode demonstrated the value of deep technical capability and earned trust.

That is an important lesson for any growing business: do not build a team that merely follows instructions. Build people whose expertise becomes an asset in its own right.

The question every owner should ask

Owners often ask: “Why are my employees not loyal?”

A more useful question may be:

“Have I given them enough reason to stay?”

Salary matters. Working conditions matter. But so do trust, recognition, security, respect and human connection.

The phrase displayed at Sagar Valves captures the philosophy neatly:

“Don’t worry, I am here.”

For a business leader, that may be more than a reassuring sentence. It can be a leadership commitment—and, over time, a competitive advantage.

• Editorial note: This article is based on information, experiences and observations shared by Sandeep Javiya. The company’s turnover, employee-retention figures and other internal practices have not been independently verified in full. They are therefore presented as the founder’s account and perspective, rather than as independently audited findings.