How Uniforms Create a Great First Impression

When you think of uniformed staff, individuals who work as police officers, nurses, firefighters and couriers spring to mind, but company uniforms can work really well in any setting from offices to restaurants. Uniforms are available in many different varieties from a protective suit through to a polo shirt with logo embroidered on. Uniforms provide multiple benefits for employees and they help to create a strong and professional brand image for your business. But what other advantages can uniforms bring?

Consistency

When employees wear a uniform, this creates a consistent and unified image for any organisation. Staff can be easily identified which is important in industries such as retail or care where customers want to know who works there if they need help. Uniforms also help to establish professional standards and unity amongst staff.

Advertising

Uniforms can be a powerful marketing and advertising tool, particularly when uniforms are polo shirts. Employees who travel around their local community after work or wear their uniform as they go to the supermarket or go shopping after work are walking advertisements for their employer. Over time uniforms become engrained into an organisations branding, becoming instantly recognisable. Over time, people will start to associate uniforms with your company.

Dress

Most work environments will have a dress code that employees need to follow, particularly where certain types of clothing are not permitted. Where a dress code isn’t too specific or it’s not enforced, employees may end up wearing inappropriate clothing. There’s also the risk that your employees feel under pressure to dress in certain brands or wear a certain standard of clothing to keep up with the latest fashion trends to compete with co-workers. Uniforms eliminate all of these types of problems, avoiding any violations of dress code or leaving a dress code open to interpretation.

Greater Protection

In many different settings, a uniform will offer an added layer of safety, particularly in high risk environments such as heavy industry. A uniform can provide strong physical protection because they are manufactured from fire resistant materials, protecting workers from the dangers of chemicals and other dangers that they have to contend with as part of their day to day duties. Uniforms also protect employees own clothing from becoming damaged or dirty. A uniform can also make employees easily identifiable which is important in certain settings.

Improved Corporate Branding

When employees wear a uniform, which displays a company logo, or the uniform reflects company branding through colour coded clothing, this immediately helps to differentiate your business from all the others out there. In doing so, you get to increase awareness of your brand because it’s something new, interesting and unique. Whenever staff attend meetings with prospects or existing customers, they become a walking advertisement which is much more difficult to achieve when employees wear a suit or formal office wear. A uniform is fundamental to the creation of a coherent and unified brand.

Enhances Customer Experience

Whatever industry you are in, a well designed uniform can really make an impact. This is particularly the case if your business is in retail or you have a showroom. Those with a physical premises who receive large numbers of daily visitors will be the ones who will benefit the most from a unique and branded dress code. This will reduce confusion and help customers know who they need to speak to if they need to request assistance or ask a question. Feeling like there’s no one around when a customer needs help is a major barrier to making a purchase and if they can’t easily find who they need to ask a question, they will often leave and go to a competitor.

Well designed, effectively branded uniforms create a unique identity for your business, one that is easily identifiable both when employees are at work and as they travel around the local community. Overall, this only has a positive impact on building your reputation, increasing awareness and having a positive impact on sales.