Recently I was travelling by train from Patna to Bokaro in the second tier air conditioned coach, and was allotted the side lower berth. Right opposite to me, seated were six executives of an organisation, whose name I could initially not figure out.
There was a lot of banter and official discussion amongst that group, and I could not help but overhear abuses being hurled at some policies, people and a couple who had lost their laptops due to ignorance. Food and hard drinks ran parallel to the discussion, banter and abuses.
Finally, when two of the officials got up to go to their own compartments; and everyone checked their bags, instantly the name of the company was revealed to everyone as the bags were prominently branded with their organisation's name.
When we talk of brands, what strikes our minds first is stuff like quality, customer satisfaction, premium feel, etc. and often we feel that these are things that make or break a brand.
However, from my experience that day, I can safely conclude that the behaviour of the employees of an organisation, whether on duty or off duty has an immeasurable impact on the feelings of current/prospective customers. I do not think that anyone exposed to talk and behaviour of the fashion that I experienced would ever think of trying out that brand; and a deep rooted bias would form instantaneously against such an organisation.
It is imperative for employees to ensure that they conduct themselves in a fashion which is not detrimental to the brand of the organisation; otherwise they will unknowingly end up as Trojan horses for their brands. Irrespective of their thoughts for their organisation, employees must refrain from deriding their organisations in public places.
According to me, some basic training coupled with a bit of common sense can avoid incidents like these. It is high time that organisations take a step in this direction, otherwise the brand value and customer perception will continue to get eroded.
