How corporate garb can transform your workforce - Women's Agenda

How corporate garb can transform your workforce

First came the logo, then, the uniform.

A week ago, Telstra introduced its new uniforms, designed by fashion company Ginger & Smart. The uniforms sport the bright colours used in Telstra’s current marketing campaign.

They’ve replaced the company’s older, more demure uniforms, (last revamped in 2005) made up of stereotypical corporate attire (white shirts, dark pants) with the company logo on the collar and near the hip pocket. The uniforms will be used by Telstra’s store staff, as well as its field staff (such as engineers). Telstra employs about 39,000 employees.

Mark Buckmann, Telstra’s chief marketing officer, told The Australian the introduction of the uniforms had already altered perceptions of the brand. “If you walk into a Telstra store, you get a sense of vibrancy and that is continued with the people,” he said. “We want the staff to feel really proud of what they are wearing.”

Many of Australia’s largest companies, especially in retail, have uniforms for staff, says Simon Rowell, managing director of Brand Intellect. “Telstra is putting this across the whole business, which is less usual.”

Uniforms can be very useful for branding purposes, “especially if it reflects the personality of the brand, and are consistent across the organisation and distinctive”, Rowell says.

Uniforms can drive home to staff that they are at work and representing the brand, and so serve to strengthen the brand.

For this reason, uniforms are most common in customer-facing roles, and are less common in corporate white-collar occupations.

But there can be benefits even in white-collar environments, says Martin Nally, the managing director of human resource services firm hranywhere.

“One reason it might be introduced is when you have a standard in your current clothing practice that it’s substandard. People might be starting to wear thongs or unprofessional clothing to work, creating an unprofessional environment. Uniforms can be used to lift the standard.

“It can also be useful if workers wear and tear their clothing quickly. Instead of incurring claims for replacements, organisations can just provide uniforms.”

And, of course, if people feel comfortable and confident in their uniforms, this can improve their productivity.

But there are dangers, Nally continues.

“If your organisation is ‘on the nose’ in society, and you require people to scream out on trams on way to work that they’re associated with you, that can have a bad effect on people’s morale.”

There are design considerations as well. “If you come up with a uniform that people hate wearing, that’s not functional, or that doesn’t look good on them, it can create more problems than it’s worth. If it looks daggy, you’re in trouble.­”

This can be a problem especially if the age profile of your workforce is mixed. That’s why corporate uniforms are rarely just a single garment. They’re a wardrobe, intended to be worn by people with different body types and different tastes, but united by common visual elements.

Airlines are famous for putting a great deal of thought into their corporate uniforms. Virgin Australia, for example, has a lengthy uniform guideline document, outlining everything from acceptable skirt lengths and how makeup may and should be worn.

The major stumbling block for companies adopting an official uniform is the expense. This can vary depending on the size of your workforce, and whether, like Telstra, you chose to have a professional designer create the uniforms.

But there can be ways to bring the cost down. For example, Nally says, many organisations have a clothing allowance for their workers. Cutting this cost off and buying everyone uniforms can save a company money.

Introducing a new uniform for the first time, or changing your current one, can also improve the efficiency of your marketing efforts, even if it is a large one-off expense, Rowell says.

“It allows for a bit of disruption in the mind of the market and in the minds of staff. It allows you to draw a line in the sand, and have a physical change moving forward. It signals you’re doing something different.”

The key to implementing a good uniform policy is consultation, Nally says.

“If you start having people customise, that causes problems. You want to have a nice range so people can work within it.

“That’s where consultation comes in. It’s quite a powerful thing to say to people: you asked for this, we delivered.”

Consultation can also help people know what the expectations are about how the uniform will be worn. “Say you provide nice business shirts as the uniform, and say ties are optional, that assists people. You’ve already solved the issue of inappropriate corporate attire.”

“But if you force a policy through without consultation, that can be worse than not doing it at all.”

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