What Makes Work Uniforms so Effective?
Maintaining consistent employee attire and appearance throughout your business is a great way to ensure your company looks as professional as it is. In today’s society, appearances seem to be everything. With social media and the internet, every business needs to be aware of its brand image.
While keeping up with these different facets of media can be an important part of maintaining a business, there is no substitute for having your employees looking friendly and recognizable as soon as a customer walks through the door. The best way to achieve this is undoubtedly through a professional, neat work uniform.
Prudential Overall Supply offers businesses the uniform services they need to maintain a stellar image and effectively carry out their operations. From clean room garments to standard-issue work uniforms, we ease the process of designing, introducing, and maintaining workplace uniforms no matter the industry you occupy.
What Is a Work Uniform?
A work uniform is a standardized set or item of clothing that identifies employees of a certain business and helps them carry out their duties. Depending on your industry, a work uniform can look very different. A small, family-run food business may only require a branded shirt as part of its uniform, while a medical research facility may have a far more complex uniform that includes numerous stringent rules regarding its maintenance and cleaning.
At Prudential Overall Supply, we specialize in creating customized uniforms for the:
- Automotive industry
- Restaurant and food service industry
- Food processing and HACCP industry
- Medical industry
- Science and research industry
To ensure we cover all our clients’ uniform needs, we provide both casual and more formal business attire. We are also experts in clean room uniforms and the hygiene and sterility standards these environments require, making us the perfect partners for businesses in the research, biochemical, medical, and science spheres.
The Benefits of Work Uniforms: For the Company
As a business, there are many standout reasons why implementing an employee uniform can be of benefit.
Greater Brand Recognition
The most obvious benefit of a workplace uniform is the ability of the consumer or client to immediately identify a team member when they enter an establishment or have work done at their location. This is done especially well when employees wear uniforms that display a company logo or insignia.
That way, when a potential customer walks through your doors, has a question, or needs help, they know exactly who to turn to because all employee uniforms and the people wearing them are easily recognizable.
Better Business Image
In a world where brand image is of growing importance, ensuring that your employees look professional and put together can help foster a better client and business relationship.
Remember that customers will judge your entire brand and reputation on their initial impressions of your employees. Making sure that your employees have clean and finished work uniform shirts is just one way to help build a more professional brand image. In addition to helping with appearances, if an employee feels confident in their work clothes and appearance, it will help them perform better on the job.
Foster a Sense of Business Spirit
As an employer, you want to keep your employees happy. Happy employees work faster and better and make a far better impression on customers and clientele. A great way to boost employee morale is through attractive, comfortable work uniforms. When employees feel good about the clothing they’re wearing, and comfortable with their work attire, they’re more likely to do their best at their jobs, benefiting the company’s reputation and image in the process.
Free Advertising
Any time your employee stops in a public place before or after work, their uniform becomes a walking ad campaign. If you have team members who work out in the field, in customers’ homes, or door-to-door, the advertising factor of an employee uniform becomes even more essential.
Improved Safety and Security
In addition to appearances, there are many functional benefits to employee uniforms. For example, work uniforms designed for food service or healthcare workers can help prevent cross-contamination and the spread of germs. If you work in or near hazardous conditions, the right uniform can provide basic safety features, as well. When everyone is wearing a uniform, it’s easier to spot people who don’t belong, making your company and facility more secure.
More Unity and Camaraderie
Work uniforms are often helpful in reducing the effects of social class differences among employees. When everyone is wearing the same thing, the wearing (and lack of) designer clothes or trendy fashions becomes a non-issue. There can be no comparison, jealousy, or showing off. Research has also shown that uniforms contribute to a marked increase in teamwork and camaraderie—both things that will benefit the business and work environment in the long run.
Less Stress on HR
Human resources departments are often one of the busiest departments in any company. By switching to work uniforms, over a basic dress code, you eliminate the most common complaints made to and by HR managers, as there will no longer be a need to decide whether or not something qualifies as “work appropriate.” Instead, everyone will simply be in uniform.
The Benefits of Work Uniforms: For the Employee
Although workplace uniforms may receive mixed reactions from employees at first, it’s important to remind them that wearing a standardized uniform doesn’t only benefit the company. It can be an advantage for them too.
Some of the biggest upsides to remind employees of include:
- Saving money and your wardrobe: With a uniform, you won’t have to spend your own money on buying professional clothing or meeting dress code requirements. Even better, since you’re wearing a uniform instead of your own clothes, you’ll save your personal wardrobe from all the spots, stains, and wear and tear it would have experienced otherwise.
- Looking and feeling professional and in charge: When a potential client or customer walks into your place of work, a uniform immediately makes you recognizable as someone who can help. Not only does this increase your potential for sales, but it also allows you to be easily identified when you do something well.
- More teamwork, less petty competition: When everyone is dressed the same way, you can develop better relationships with your coworkers, focusing more on how they work and less on how they dress. Also, work uniforms allow those with less expendable income to avoid stressing over not wearing the latest and greatest fashions.
Is a Workplace Uniform Right for You?
Regardless of the size or market awareness of your business, employee uniforms can undoubtedly benefit your company. However, how do you know when it’s time to introduce a work uniform, and whether or not your company will also experience the advantages we’ve discussed above?
Sometimes a Uniform Is Non-Negotiable
If your business requires your employees to be out in the field or working inside customers’ homes or businesses, a uniform is a must. Not only should they be easily identifiable by their work clothing, but they should have a company-issued identification card or name tag visible at all times. This provides a layer of security and comfort that your clients should never be without.
Other jobs that should always have a uniform policy include those where health and safety demand it. Auto repair shops, welding companies, and those in the medical and food industries—among others—need special uniforms to keep their employees safe and sound.
When the Time Is Right
Carefully consider the benefits of introducing a standardized uniform into your business. Are you in a position where subtle marketing and brand awareness can improve your operations and brand image? Will doing so help you draw in more customers? Are your employees ready to take advantage of the teamwork and unity fostered by wearing a uniform?
Discuss these questions with your management, staff, and HR department so you have all the input you need to make an informed decision.
Don’t Delay over Costs
Many businesses cite costs as a major reason why they don’t have an employee uniform yet. The idea of having a uniform designed, and manufactured, and providing each employee with it on top of maintenance and replacements seems too expensive, but it doesn’t have to be.
More and more businesses of all sizes are turning toward uniform rental companies to fulfill their work uniform needs. The top uniform companies, like Prudential Overall Supply, take care of all your business uniform needs for a much better price.
Now, instead of designing and manufacturing or purchasing uniforms yourself, the uniform rental company will issue each employee with the necessary number of uniforms on a rental basis. This also takes the responsibility for replacing and maintaining these items of clothing off of you, making the process truly hassle-free.
Prudential Overall Supply Company offers work apparel that companies can either purchase, lease, or rent. We also provide a full cleaning service for your Prudential work uniforms.
Make Work Uniforms Easy with the Best Uniform Rental Company Around
When you choose to rent or lease your uniforms through Prudential Overall Supply, you will automatically have a system that helps to keep track of your uniform orders. This way, your employees will always be well dressed, without you having to worry about whether they will properly wash or care for their own uniforms. Prudential will pick up soiled uniforms from your business; clean them, press them, and make any repairs that might be necessary.
Even before that, we’ll ensure you have all the information and guidance you need to make the best choices when it comes to picking out your new employee uniforms.
At Prudential, we have a variety of different supplies and uniforms to choose from. We also offer different colors and sizes in almost everything from hospital uniforms, mechanic uniforms, chef uniforms, and restaurant uniforms to corporate jackets and different types of work pants.
As part of the Prudential company mission, we want to help your business thrive by using the right uniforms, cleaning supplies, and equipment.
That’s why we’ve even gone so far as to create and supply industry-leading clean room apparel that has allowed for great advancements in the medical and biochemical fields.
So, whether you need help choosing a work uniform for your employees, want to know more about our uniform cleaning services, or simply want to explore our range of products and services, visit our website or get in touch with a member of our team today at 800-767-5536.