Recent Trends in displaying ID Cards-eNidhi India research Article!

All employees have got company issued employee identity cards. This card is the reason why we’re allowed inside the office gate…This card allows you enter your workspace. This card makes the sales rep outside the gate stuff pamphlets in your hand as you walk in and out. This ID card helps you get a new phone connection, a personal loan or some corporate discount etc as it serves as your identity proof. Fine. So what? A recent study conducted by eNidhi India reveals that not everyone display their ID cards in same manner. Where they keep it, how they display it etc varies a lot. Here we’re presenting few trends in this regard: 

  Type 1: Conventional dog collar Style: Attached to a strip hanging around the neck This is the default style but out of fashion of late. ID card holder is attached to a strip and hung around the neck. While most of the associates let the ID card hang on their belly, few carefully shield them inside their breast pocket. As I said, this trend has become obsolete. Everyone has a tag these days-be it school going kids, municipality cleaner or office boy or security guard you name it. Everyone have got something or the other hanging on their neck and this has stopped drawing attention. Those who have no ID cards get a tag with NOKIA written all over it, connect it to their mobile phone (which resides inside a shirt pocket) as walk with pride as if they are senior employees of NOKIA. While this is the default way of displaying ID cards in most of the companies, it has lost popularity outside. If you’re using this style, be sure to wash the strip once in few months to keep it clean and hygiene else it will house millions of germs. 

  Type 2: Hanging out of waist belt, comes with elastic string for easy swiping. Appears to be the popular trend among young techies. While companies may or may not supply this kind of holders, I have seen few employees in certain companies getting this type of ID card holders with client/company logo on it, others have purchased on themselves (Costs Rs 25-50). In some companies like Microsoft this is the official way of displaying their Identity. Extremely convenient and looks smart. The elastic wire is nearly one meter long and easy to pull and hold against the proximity sensor attached to the door, without having to bend or lean. 

  Type 3: FBI Agent Style: Hidden in a wallet and Displayed on demand. Ever saw people holding their wallets against the door and get it opened? You guessed it right. They keep their ID card inside the wallet. While most of us are extremely cruel as we expose our ID card to harsh sunlight and bad weather, these associates keep their ID card resting peacefully inside their warm wallet along with the neighborhood of rich credit cards and crisp currency notes. Lucky cards! This kind of people display their ID card on demand only. When security asks for ID cards they flip open their wallet in a typical style of a FBI Agent showing his badge. They hold it open only for a fraction of second and close the wallet before anyone can read contents of the ID card fully. Every time they reach the door, people around get to see how thick and fat their wallet is. From a security perspective this is a dangerous practice. As no one gets to read their ID card and photo properly to verify. Type 4: NASA Style Haven’t seen any Satyam associates using this. Here ID card holder comes with a small clip which needs to be clipped to shirt pocket at Chest level. Very easy to read the name of the other person as the badge is positioned at readable height. Write a comment if you have noticed any other patterns. This post will be updated later with photos.