Defeating Uniformity with Uniforms
28 10 2009A recent article in the Silicon Valley Mercury News quoted psychologist Kit Yarrow’s analysis of Gen Y shopping habits thusly:
Yarrow found that buying stuff is the way Generation Y has learned to express itself. It’s not necessarily about accumulating large amounts of stuff, or declaring your financial status as was the case with the buying habits of baby boomers.
Rather, shopping is a new form of self-expression. “Stuff is a natural, easy way to say who you are,” Yarrow said.
And while Yarrow was interested in shopping behaviors of Generation Y, her insight is just as powerful when trying to understand why your young employees buck when told what they should wear: In the mind of many young people, when you tell them what to wear, you are telling them who to be.
Young employees tend to fight that.
Of course, most managers didn’t need psychoanalysis or in-depth research to know that. It can feel like an incredibly up hill battle to get young employees to wear their uniforms.
Fortunately, Yarrow’s insight doesn’t just explain the problem - it leads to a solution: allow your employees to choose their uniforms so that they want to wear the uniforms as a part of expressing themselves.
Now, for those of you who are recoiling at the thought (”This is a workplace, dammit, I pay them to work, not to express themselves!), remember: our goal is to find a way to get your employees to wear your uniform. As I’ve pointed out in the past, if you have a uniform your employees want to wear, you won’t have to make them wear it - they’ll take care of it themselves.
But I would never advocate giving employees a blank slate to work with. It’s important to represent your brand and keep the uniform from becoming a disservice to your brand.
(OK, that last one was not the result of the players having free reign, but the uniforms have been a punchline since they debuted, and are thus a disservice to the Seahawks brand. This may be a welcome distraction for a 2-4 team, but likely wouldn’t be for your business.)
So, instead of giving your employees carte blanche or trying to fit them into a hat and shirt they’ll never wear, look to work your way into the middle of the road with one of these strategies.
1. Offer different uniform choices
Tokyo Joe’s and Chipotle are both concepts I’ve visited where I’ve seen employees wearing a variety of different uniforms that the company designed, prepared, and provided. You might have a standard uniform that’s issued, but sell different items to your team at cost so that those who are really inclined to express themselves can do so.
2. Let the team design the uniform
Whether it’s a contest or simply asking if anyone on your team wants to tackle the project for a few extra bucks, you are able to let the team get in some form of expression while still maintaining a level of control on this one. (Example: You tell them: it’s a black polo. They choose: the logo, image, or slogan on it.) If you wear screen prints and have to re-order regularly, consider allowing the team to make new designs with each large order.
3. Let the team choose the uniform pieces
So, maybe the design and slogan on your uniform are very important to your brand, but the cut of the shirt or the style of the hat isn’t. Let your team tell you what they’re more interested in wearing. It may be that getting your employees to wear their hats is as simple as letting them tell you that they prefer this style of hat over that style of hat. (God forbid they choose this style.)
4. Let them wear their own clothes with a few guidelines
Maybe it’s just saying “make sure you’re wearing this color.” Maybe it’s saying “make sure you wear a polo - I don’t care what color.” Whatever it looks like, I’ve seen this at a number of major national brands (Sears, Target, and Panera to name a few), and it seems pretty effective for the most part. The main battles I’ve seen on it is seeing shirts tucked in and getting enough flesh covered.
What other ways can you think of to allow employees to make some choices with their uniforms without choosing not to represent your brand?
At my store I give my employees two choices:
1) Wear what I say, when and how I say to wear it.
2) Get fired.
Employment is a simple transaction. I give you my money and you give me your time. Therefore, as my money becomes your money it should follow that your time becomes my time. And on my time you do as I say. What’s so difficult about this?
While uniforms are nice to represent who’s an employee and who’s a customer, uniforms can be unflattering and uncomfortable for some employees. most places don’t even offer or order maternity uniforms.
When I worked as a housekeeper thier uniforms were tight on me in my upper area and my butt while the rest of was too big and too loose. Since our uniforms were all black it would have been nice to have the option to wear a black polo and black pants instead of thier all polyester uncomfortable gear. We had a girl become pregnant while I was working there and she ended up having to buy a black polo and black stretch pants out of her own pocket because they didn’t offer a maternity option.
The place I work at now, I know that the housekeepers have 3 different types of uniforms made for different types of bodies and you can mix-match the tops/bottoms as needed. And I know the other departments basically have to wear polos and khakies with the proper color polo. Like when I worked in recreation I got to wear whatever color polo I wanted and khaki pants. Same with Golf. But conference services is blue, food and beverage is white, etc.
I love the fact I work in the office now and I can wear comfy business casual and not have to wear a uniform anymore!!!!
Bruce - That may work for you… and that may not work for you. What is your talent like? Do you have high turnover? Do you have a toxic workplace? If so it is probably your inflexability and view that workers are commodities.
I am a “generation why” employee (age 25). I have my MBA, am bilingual, and work two jobs. The best job I have ever had was working at restaurant in my area, much like Tokyo Joe’s. I loved every minute of it have been on call for two years and have come in at a moments notice for emergencies. I am still a dedicated employee and customer even though it is no longer on my career path. I highly recommend that business to everyone I know or meet.
On the opposite side. I have worked for an employer who felt exactly as you did… that people were commodities to be bought and sold. I hated that atmosphere. The owner of the company gave mandates. His managers followed his example and took the same attitude. Some of their mandates were illegal, immoral, or unethical. Anyone who questioned them were fired or harrassed so much so that they quit. We had high turnover (almost 300%) and several lawsuits. I jumped ship as soon as I could and took several of their most valuable workers with me because I recognized thier value and sold my new employers on their worth.
I love my new employer. They recognize my stregnths and allow me the freedom to present and implement most of my ideas to improve efficiency. I have added a lot of money to their bottom line and am willing to go the extra mile anywhere and anytime they need me. I reward their flexability and their value of me as an employee with my loyatly.
I think TJ’s article is powerful for me. Most employers view employment as a simple transaction (money = time) but when you empower and value your employees you are paid in loyalty and that is SO much more valuable. I think TJ’s suggestions with uniforms are practical because they engage employees and take care of issues like those described by Blaez.
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