When it comes to what your employees wear, it may seem like you have it all figured out. You provide corporate clothing and have implemented a dress code which demands that only approved attire be worn each day. However, your employees may have found a loophole in the system. While you may have a say over what items of clothing your employees wear to work, their accessories and the way they wear those pieces of clothing may be hurting your company’s professional image. Before allowing yourself to become too upset over this detail, keep in mind that the workers may actually be completely responsible. They just need a bit of additional direction. Here are some common accessory problems along with solutions.
Clothing Issues in the Workplace
When reading over the list below, certain employees will probably pop into your mind.
- The Inappropriate Shoe Wearer-Even the most sophisticated look can be ruined by wearing shoes that aren’t sending a professional message. Shoes that are questionably styled, trendy, worn out or overly casual can become a problem for the business owner who wants to present a certain uniform appearance.
- The Walking Jewellery Box-Every office seems to have at least one employee who wears all their jewellery at one time. Of course, this can be a distraction to both co-workers and customers. Jangling, dangling jewellery can draw attention away from your employee’s important presentation or sale’s pitch and just looks tacky.
- The Clasher- While you may provide the best in corporate clothing, this does not always prevent your employees from accessorizing with colourful scarves, distracting tie clips, strange belts or questionable ties.
Solving Accessory Issues
If you recognized a few of your staff members in the list above, here are some proactive solutions that can reel everyone back in.
Send a Carefully Worded Memo
Whenever you want to address a problem like inappropriate office wear, you should always commit your thoughts to paper. If worded properly, this leaves no room for misunderstanding.
Provide a Shoe Allowance
If the main problem in your office is inappropriate shoes, it may be time to offer your employees a shoe allowance. Don’t let them run wild, though. Set guidelines and instruct them in how to choose the right pair of shoes. If you really want to make sure they are wearing the right footwear, provide shoes for them.
Incentives
As silly as it may seen, everyone loves to be rewarded for appropriate actions. If you notice your employees making a clear effort to wear their corporate clothing with pride, be sure to tell them how much you appreciate their efforts. A simple, “Hey, looking sharp,” is often enough to boost morale and keep team members striving for excellence.
Accessorizing and wearing corporate clothing correctly is important to maintaining the corporate image. Make sure your employees understand what to wear and how to wear it. Take the time to send memos, commit expectations to paper, and to openly reward team players.