As a business owner, you want your employees to look professional. But unless you own a retail business or a food service industry business, your uniform policies are probably not rigid. For instance, not everyone has to wear aprons and not everyone has to wear anti-slip shoes that protect from slippery surfaces. However, you should still have some general guidelines based on your industry.
Employee styles and levels of business-friendly attire can range between types of businesses. More creative positions might not require a rigid suit-and-tie routine, while there are plenty of more formal positions in which everyone must look his or her best at all times. As you become familiar with guidelines for employee uniforms, you can adapt your own rules based on what line of work you’re in.
Reflect Your Company
The first thing to consider when dictating the rules and guidelines of what constitutes an excellent corporate uniform is that the guidelines should reflect the mission of your company. For instance, if you’re a marketing company, the last thing you should enforce is a rigid code in which nothing is expressed. This does not indicate the capability to think creatively in order to develop solutions that are tailored for each client’s individual needs. Instead, it reflects the fact that you are only capable of one type of solution. In marketing, this does not work. However, in another industry like finance, dressing more rigidly is a much better move. Being unified demonstrates an ability to be consistently responsible with financial things like investments and clients’ money.
The uniforms should also reflect your company’s ability to maintain professional relationships with clients in order to provide excellent customer service and maintain your high reputation, so you should also keep this in mind. Employees should remember that their image reflects that of the company and there are limits to how casually they should be able to dress. Most employees are quite reasonable about this and as you explain to them these reasons, they’ll understand the message.
Encouraging Employees to Get Professional Clothes
Some employees might not feel motivated to purchase new professional clothes but you can encourage them to shop online or, at the very least, get inspiration from new online resources for corporate outfits. There are a lot of different online retailers that sell professional clothing at reasonable prices that help anyone, including executives and lower-level employees, look great and business-ready. You can explore these websites and companies in order to look at examples of how you’d like to expect your employees to dress while they’re at work.
If you don’t have a guide set up yet, you should task your human resources department to send out memos regarding work clothes. Remember to tailor your guidelines to your industry and always be sure to let employees know that their uniforms reflect the vision and the image of your company. Be sure to encourage employees to explore their options within the corporate fashion world and not be afraid to look great or overdress.