You’ve hired an amazing staff to help you run your restaurant. All that’s left before getting them ready for opening night is choosing work uniforms.
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Since your waiters and cooks will be moving around a lot, they need to wear breathable fabrics. Having an apron that will protect their button-up shirts from food spills is a plus too. If it has pockets, they’ll have somewhere to store their note pads and pens.
No matter what field you work in, the uniforms need to be fashionable and functional. That’s not the end of the requirements, though. Check out this guide to learn how to pick out professional-looking clothes for your workers to wear.
1. Keep It Professional
When it comes to running a company, your image is everything. If you don’t set your employees up with professional business clothes, your clientele might not take them seriously. Someone may choose not to work with your company based on how your workers look.
If you run a 5-star restaurant, for example, your workers need to be in complete formal clothes. If they’re not, they may not look the part.
2. Function and Comfort
Your worker’s clothes need to be as functional as they are comfortable. Sit down and make a list of all the duties you expect your employees to perform throughout their workday.
If they’re going to be running around taking orders, they may need an apron with pockets where they can store their pens and notepads. Since they’re going to be spending a good amount of their life at work, their clothes should at least be comfortable.
If they’re not, you’ll have one cranky worker on your hands, which won’t exactly keep customers coming back through the door. Opt for breathable fabrics that provide some flexibility, especially if your employees move around a lot.
It will be hard for them to bend over and run around if they’re wearing tight clothing. Speaking of physical jobs, if you don’t pay attention to durability, you’ll have a lot of split pants and embarrassed employees on your hands.
3. Stick With Gender-Neutral
The clothes shouldn’t only be comfortable for employees on a physical level. You don’t want to force a female employee to present themself in a feminine fashion if they don’t like presenting themselves in that way. They’ll resent you for it.
Gender-neutral is the way to go. Nobody can argue with the classic slacks and button-up look. When in doubt, choose neutral shades as well.
We’ll get into color a little more later. For now, let’s move on to safety.
4. Safety Should Be a Priority
No matter what business dress code you decide to go with, safety needs to be a top priority. If it’s not, OSHA will have a field day with you.
It could even cause you to get shut down if you’re not careful. Cooks should be in flame retardent clothes with non-slip shoes. Warehouse and construction workers need to wear steel-toed shoes and other safety gear at all times.
5. Choosing Colors
Color psychology says that different shades fill people with different emotions. You can use this when you’re going over your work uniform options. Depending on how you swing it, you can put your customers at ease and make your employees more productive at the same time.
White
White uniforms exude professionalism. It’s a neutral color, so it will work no matter what business theme you’re working with. Your employees won’t have anything bad to say about it (except for maybe that it stains too easily).
Red
Red shows confidence and passion. Looking at this color will also make people feel hungry, which is why many fast food places use it.
If you run a busy store, putting your employees in red isn’t a bad idea either. It will allow your customers to easily spot your workers in a crowd.
Black
Black is another neutral color that nobody can argue with. It’s sleek and mysterious. This makes it a great pick for nightclub staff and bartenders.
Black can also be a rather warm color, making it a fitting choice for coffee shops and other businesses like it.
Lime and Orange
Bright citrus colors like lime and orange exude positive energy. If you run a beach drink stand, you may want to put your workers in one of these colors.
Green is usually associated with life and abundance, which is why you’ll see many floral shop employees wearing it.
Blue
Blue is a calming color. It will put your patients at ease if you run a medical facility. Blue is associated with professionalism so retail workers can wear it too.
6. Cost
Your work clothing budget will have a huge weight on your uniform choice. If you must compromise in any area, let style fall by the wayside. It’s more important for your employees to feel safe and be able to perform their job well.
As long as their pants and shirts are well-pressed and clean, your customers might not have too much to say in regards to their appearance.
7. Branding
Consider putting your logo somewhere on your employee’s shirts for marketing purposes. Make sure that it’s tasteful. Putting it on a shirt pocket or sleeve is the way to go.
If you provide your employees with jackets for the winter, put your logo somewhere on those as well.
Choosing Work Uniforms for Your Employees
Before you can stick an employee behind the counter at your business, you need to dress them up for the job. There’s a lot that goes into choosing work uniforms.
They don’t only have to look good. They need to be professional and functional. If your employees can’t move around in them or perform their duties, your business isn’t going to go too far.
Are you looking for more ways to help your company run like a well-oiled machine? Check out our blog daily for all the latest tips and tricks.