my band featured in ET!!

INDIA INC GIGS TO ROCK’N’ROLL


Shreya Biswas NEW DELHI


Money, it’s a gas/Grab that cash with both hands and make a stash New car, caviar, four star daydream/Think I’ll buy me a football team

WELL, to twist that Pink Floyd wisdom a little bit, Money Inc has gone ahead and floated a rock band for itself. Closet rockers in the corporate world are coming together and the HR mavens are spotting yet another opportunity for employee retention. Enter a new clutch of in-house rock bands — Pink of Hutchison, Algorythms of Infosys, Bandchoz of JWT, and Motorola India’s MAD, among others — who are increasingly making their presence felt within and outside their respective companies.
Globally too, bands like The Raving Daves (PeopleSoft), Negative Feedback (eBay) and Spurious Freedom (Texas Instruments) have made their mark in the dog-day world of rock’n’roll. Back home, more are joining the rocker’s league — Genpact, Convergy’s, Flextronics and EXL offering more examples. And some have taken it to the next level by participating in
concerts like Seagram Corporate Carnival and Touchbass. Some even nurture dreams of rocking at the Fortune Battle of Corporate Bands, the touchstone for amateur bands. HR mavens, however, are more excited about the bonding that happens at the workplace. Analysts say the trend helps bring in a sense of harmony in their professional lives and motivates them.

Positive HR initiative by companies


“IT’S ONE of the positive HR initiatives that companies are taking up. Such efforts provide an outlet for pent-up creative energies of employees. More importantly, it’s also a strong retention tool for companies,” says Manpower India executive chairman Soumen Basu.
Conceptualised as just another idea to extend the list of fun things to do in the company, JWT’s Bandchoz dreams of participating in international corporate band challenges. “The idea of having a band was to have fun at work, but the guys have taken the job seriously putting their heart and soul into creating music,” says JWT senior VP & area director, Delhi, Rohit Ohri. A year old, this band with a distinct name, (deliberately done so as to be identified as a Delhi band), has participated in Seagram Corporate Carnival held in the city and performs in-house gigs.
Motorola, too, allows its employees live their passion. The group called MAD, music, art and dance, has a 12-member team that performs at in-house gigs and puts up shows to liven up the office atmosphere. Says Motorola’s HR head Raghuram Reddum, “Life goes beyond work and music is an important medium to showcase your creativity. It’s an initiative that allows extending the college age and gives you due recognition while you are still following some other vocation.”