Employees tattoo company names on selves to show loyalty to employers

BANGALORE: The body, in many cultures, is offered to the Gods for appeasement. Some employees are offering a similar compliment to their employers. In an unusual demonstration of attachment and gratitude, they are inking their bodies with logos of the companies they work for.

Such imprints of affinity are not restricted to employers that are a brand experience by themselves, like Harley-Davidson motorcycles or the Kolkata Knight Riders cricket team. Increasingly, they are also extending to staid IT companies like IBM, Convergys and Oracle, says Girish, the owner of Bangalore-based Bramha Tattoo Studio, who has pierced 25-30 company logos in the last three to four years. "Often the company is the first they ever worked for and they need to depict their contribution in the strongest way possible," he adds.

Five months ago, Pradeep Menon, owner of Dark Arts The Tattoo Studio in Bangalore, etched the 'Oracle' logo on the chest of a senior consultant from the IT firm. According to Menon, this consultant, who was in his late 30s, had got his first break at Oracle and had worked there for most of his life. Around 18 months back, he quit Oracle, only to return within a year to rekindle an association he now also wears on his heart, literally.

Expression of Gratitude

"This reflects a certain vulnerability and an insecurity in our economic lives where a career with a big firm fulfils life-long aspirations, expectations and a need to stay afloat," deconstructs GK Karanth, professor of sociology at the Institute of Social and Economic Change in Bangalore. "It shows an expression of gratitude and the sigh of relief is so high that they want employers to take note of their loyalty."

That was the case for AR Srikkanth, a performance analyst with the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) since 2009. Initially on a contract and now exclusive to the team, he says he has ridden the crests and troughs along with the team. One of the nine cricket teams in the Indian Premier League (IPL), KKR had a torrid run for three years, before finishing first in 2012. A big reason for that turnaround was Sunil Narine, the West Indian spinner, whose name was recommended by Srikkanth to the owners.

That same year, the 28-year-old had the KKR logo tattooed on his back as he felt being part of the team was more than a mere career achievement for him. For Srikkanth, who lost both his parents at a young age and had a rough childhood, an entry into one of the more high-profile IPL teams was a closure to his difficult times. "The level of involvement and personal achievement was on a par with that felt by all, including the owners," he says. "No one believed I would come this far and KKR has made it possible." His tattoo raised eyebrows in the team camp, including from actor Shah Rukh Khan, one of KKR's owners.

If not the company logo, some employees are etching their work on their body. "There have also been software professionals who have worked on a programming code for five to six years," says Girish. "After its completion, they wanted it tattooed on themselves to remember the milestone."

Menon uploaded a picture of the Oracle tattoo on Facebook. It generated a lot of interest, including suggestions that Oracle should pay the software engineer a royalty. In fact, Rapid Reality, a New York-based real estate firm, has reportedly offered to pay its employees 15% more if they ink the company logo on their bodies.

For tattoo artists, etching company logos is posing another kind of issue: copyright. Girish has had cases where a client came to him to remove his tattoo after being slapped with a legal notice by his employer, a leather manufacturing company. As a result, he now makes client sign a declaration that the parlour will not be held responsible for subsequent copyright issues.

Far from being a problem for Milind Shah, marketing coordinator for Harley-Davidson, a company etching saw him being made out to be an example of a model employer-employee connect. "I wanted to show my life-long association with Harley-Davidson and state that every day when I come to work, I am living my dream," says the 25-year-old Gurgaon-based employee.

Shah's arm is etched with 'Live to ride, ride to live', the Harley slogan. After he got it done, he was paraded around the office. "My boss said this is the kind of connect employees should have and teammates were very excited," recounts Shah. The impermanence of corporate jobs does not bother him: he says, even if he were to leave Harley tomorrow, he would want to flaunt this association.

"Companies ought to be very happy with this extreme case of loyalty because employees are taking the company values to a personal level," says Prathish Nair, chief business architect for Trancend Brand Consulting. "It is the ultimate symbol of brand resonance and engagement."

According to Tarun Kumar, who runs Ink-The Tattoo Studio in Chennai, compared to three or four years ago, he is seeing more employees getting their company logos or representations from their professions etched. He recounts a Harley Davison employee, a Chennai Super King employee, and the company name and logo of a disc jockey, among others. He feels that, with company logos, a glamour factor is perhaps the only clinching factor.

Beyond companies, when it comes to work connections and tattoos, people are getting artwork done for all sorts of ventures, for all kinds of reasons. Ami Bhanushali, manager of Mumbai-based Aliens Tattoo, is inking a common logo on a group of five partners embarking on a start-up. "It is an online advertising firm and their symbol can be depicted as a design as well," he says. "This group of management students have decided to do it on a common (body) spot, all together, as a sign of bonding.

For some, the tattoo design draws from their work. For example, Sundar Ramaswamy, a former Microsoft employee, opened a grooming salon for dogs and cats called Kabbs Pet Spa in Chennai two-and-a-half years ago. To show his passion for dogs, he tattooed five paws on his neck. A few months later, two of his six employees followed suit. "It was extremely touching to see them sharing a similar passion and loyalty towards their profession," says Ramaswamy.

Likewise, Arnav Bajoria, owner of private-dining restaurant Souls Kitchen, has an elaborate tattoo of a machine gun represented using kitchen items -- cleaver knife, salt and pepper shaker, rolling pin, lighter, garlic press and cleaver -- as an ode to his profession. Clearly, for some, the line between passion and profession is skin deep in one sense -- and more in another.