Has the Indian employee brand become an idea to reckon with?/Published articles/The Financial Express - Brand Wagon/February 17, 2009

“Our people are our greatest asset”.
Is there anyone out there who has never skimmed over a sentence such as that? How many times have we written, read or heard such a sentence in corproate ads annual reports, corporate brochures and chairman’s speeches? But will we, ever again skip such a sentence?
Surely no employee branding programme could have prepared either the staff of the Taj or Satyam for what they had to face? Would VD Zende have ever even heard such a sentence?
Till now, when we talked about employees as brand evangelists, we imagined – at best - someone who was emotionally engaged with the work and the company, a good salesman of the company brand, a showcase employee to customers, and perhaps loyalty. Not many employee branding gurus would have included “courage under fire” as a defining quality of brand evangelism.
A news item (the DNA 19 Dec 08) talked of Taj employees sharing their motivational ideas. "Every staffer comes up with new ideas for motivation. I came up with the idea of singing ‘Ae malik tere bande hum’ the other day. Singing a song like that brings joy and enthusiasm to the group. Some people write poems and recite them, and those who are good at painting create posters”.
While at the Taj, the enemy was from outside, and the whole country rallied in support, Satyamites may have felt tainted as the crisis was from within, and they continue to face uncertainty. But there is something in the tone of Satyamites in blogosphere that is worth noting. “I have been more inspired by these employee actions and expressions of core values than anything that I’ve seen in a long time” says Dov Seidman ( Corporate Dossier, The Economic Times, Jan 23)

Here are some excerpts from the many Satyam bloggers.
“When one man can create Satyam as an organization of 53,000 people, why not 53,000 committed people can rebuild one Satyam?”
“Don’t you think that we really owe it to Satyam for having provided us with a golden opportunity to start our career, and launch us in this IT sector from a very strong platform. Didn’t Satyam really bring us up as its own children . This is our way to show that, “United We Stand” and tell our Leaders that Sir please go and tell the clients, both existing and upcoming, that we are ready to face any challenges”.
“The entire Satyamites might turn into entrepreneurs by opening a new era with their mighty experience of having worked in Satyam and with a view to surpass the fame earned by Narayana Murthy. The entire nation is looking forward to such a situation. Arise! Awake!! Stop not till you succeed.”
And here is what their supporters from outside are saying: “Focus on increasing the deliveries to your customers in quality and fast and do some extra hours these days. I am sure 3 % profit to 20 % profit can be reached in jut 3 months. Just in this time, retain the customer, think of customers only. Forget any thing, rest every thing will be fine.”
“ Satyamites have not done anything wrong and believe me nothing wrong will happen to you. I'm sure you people will come back stronger by this ongoing events. Have faith and trust in yourself. I know these are difficult times in your life, but we the people of India are along with you. I hope everything would come to normal very soon. Please be with your company during this crucial time as you work for the company and not for any single person.”
Two years ago The Power and the Glory, a JWT Brand Chakras study among young “global Indians” exactly of the Satyam kind, reported the complete centrality of “work is worship” but only at the altar of fame and money. (Employee engagement and the new age Karma Yogi, the Economic Times, Nov 16, 2007) Employees were willing to work hard, invest intellect and energy and generate ideas; hoping in return to “build my name larger than the organisation”, and be a part of the India story. 28 year olds were talking of “one day give back to my village”. But most importantly they were in fact becoming very demanding of their leaders, expecting a high degree of inspiration and nurturing.
Now, suddenly they have had a close-up view of feet of clay. Irresepective of whether the feeling is really widespread, and irrespective of what may finally happen at Satyam, the fact that the employee-task-customer has emerged as the real unit of value and can weather the storm, makes the “Our people are our greatest asset” statement come alive.
Lucian Trasa in “Beyond Lovemarks”, (Strategid 2006) says, “Company culture is such a manifestation of a transpersonal brand, being able to keep together the employees of a certain company, more frequently and more successfully than it can be done with the aid of financial and material benefits. There are numerous cases of companies in financial difficulty which continued to activate and kept their employees – sometimes without paying them for their work. Such a display of loyalty and love cannot be explained as the employee’s respect for management or the company, but we have to take into account the fulfilment of a stronger need, beyond primary human needs – the need for spirituality and transcendence felt by the man who is “standardized” on all levels, and who invested his power and his desire for spirituality in that company’s brand.”
With VD Zende, with Karambir Kang and the staff at the Taj and the Trident, with the young Satyamite on “We the People”, and with the Satyamite bloggers, surely the Indian employee brand has climbed out of chairman’s speeches, and become an idea to reckon with.