There was a time when an employee’s professional identity was largely confined to the organisation they worked for. Today, that boundary is far less defined. A LinkedIn post, an industry comment, a panel appearance or even a personal take on a workplace trend can travel far beyond an employee’s immediate professional circle.
As employees increasingly build visibility and credibility in their own names, organisations are finding themselves navigating a new question: should they actively encourage employees to build personal brands, or does greater visibility also create greater risk?
For HR leaders, the answer appears to lie somewhere between freedom and guardrails. While personal branding can strengthen employee confidence and, in some cases, amplify the employer brand, it also raises questions around confidentiality, reputation and alignment with organisational values.
Sanjay Bose, Executive Vice President – HR, ITC Hotels
Yes, but three boundaries must remain clear.
I believe personal branding and organisational responsibility can coexist, provided we strike the right balance on three counts.
First, as an employee, I must ensure that the personal views I express are not in direct conflict with what my organisation stands for. If they are, I must question whether it is appropriate to express them publicly while I remain associated with the organisation.
Second, building my personal brand does not exempt me from the company’s social media policy. My freedom of expression must operate within the boundaries of that policy.
The third consideration, however, works the other way. Organisations must also recognise where their authority ends and an individual’s freedom begins. Restrictions should be confined to matters that legitimately concern the organisation.
For instance, as a CHRO, I may be privy to certain HR practices, processes or information that constitute intellectual property, trade secrets or confidential organisational information. Clearly, I cannot disclose these in a public forum.
But my professional knowledge, experience and perspectives on HR are also part of my individual identity. An organisation should not seek to restrict my ability to share these simply because I happen to work for it.
Ultimately, an organisation employs an individual’s services; it does not acquire ownership of their professional wisdom.
Takeaway: Personal branding works best when organisations protect what legitimately belongs to them while allowing individuals the freedom to express what inherently belongs to them — their knowledge, experience and professional perspectives.
KA Narayan, President – HR, Raymond
Yes, but only with a clear governance framework in place.
Encouraging employees to build personal brands and use social media to share their professional perspectives comes with genuine reputational risk. That risk needs to be managed thoughtfully, not ignored.
At Raymond, we have put together a set of guidelines around social media usage, developed with our corporate communications team, to create a governance mechanism that reduces the risk of reputational damage without curtailing legitimate expression. Social media is a reality today, and employees have every right to communicate freely through the channels they choose. The goal is not to restrict that freedom but to ensure it is exercised responsibly.
Navigating this well requires ongoing attention. Guidelines need to be socialised across the organisation, and the boundaries between sharing professional views and potentially damaging the brand need to be made clear. What is acceptable is not always obvious, and organisations are still learning what works.
The honest reality is that this is a tightrope walk. Organisations that get it right will benefit from the visibility and credibility their employees build. Those that get it wrong may find that the personal brand comes at the cost of the organisational one.
Takeaway: Encouraging personal brands requires a clear governance framework that protects the organisation’s reputation without turning social media guidelines into restrictions on legitimate employee expression.
Ashu Sawhney, Chief Human Resources Officer, DCB Bank
Yes, and structured platforms can make personal and employer branding mutually reinforcing.
At DCB Bank, we have approached this by creating platforms that give employees genuine opportunities to build visibility in an authentic way. Initiatives such as regional recognition forums, DCB Spotlight and our annual Movers & Shakers awards allow employees to celebrate achievements and share their journeys in ways that feel meaningful rather than performative.
Employees often take to social media to highlight these recognitions, tagging the bank and sharing the context behind the achievement. That organic activity amplifies both the individual’s professional profile and the employer brand simultaneously.
Annual meets that include opportunities to share personal stories and reflect on growth journeys strengthen this further. When employees articulate their own impact and development, they are not just building a personal brand; they are contributing to a credible, human narrative about what the organisation actually stands for.
The result is a virtuous cycle. Individual success stories strengthen the organisational brand, and the organisation, in turn, provides credible platforms and opportunities for employees to build authentic professional identities. Neither comes at the expense of the other.
Takeaway: Organisations can encourage personal branding by creating authentic platforms where individual visibility and employer branding reinforce each other naturally.
