Defeating Uniformity With Uniforms

A recent article in the Silicon Valley Mercury News quoted psychologist Kit Yarrow’s analysis of Gen Y shopping habits thusly:

Yarrow found that buying stuff is the way Generation Y has learned to express itself. It’s not necessarily about accumulating large amounts of stuff, or declaring your financial status as was the case with the buying habits of baby boomers.

Rather, shopping is a new form of self-expression. “Stuff is a natural, easy way to say who you are,” Yarrow said.

And while Yarrow was interested in shopping behaviors of Generation Y, her insight is just as powerful when trying to understand why your young employees buck when told what they should wear: In the mind of many young people, when you tell them what to wear, you are telling them who to be.

Young employees tend to fight that.

Of course, most managers didn’t need psychoanalysis or in-depth research to know that. It can feel like an incredibly up hill battle to get young employees to wear their uniforms.

Fortunately, Yarrow’s insight doesn’t just explain the problem - it leads to a solution: allow your employees to choose their uniforms so that they want to wear the uniforms as a part of expressing themselves.

Now, for those of you who are recoiling at the thought (”This is a workplace, dammit, I pay them to work, not to express themselves!), remember: our goal is to find a way to get your employees to wear your uniform. As I’ve pointed out in the past, if you have a uniform your employees want to wear, you won’t have to make them wear it - they’ll take care of it themselves.

But I would never advocate giving employees a blank slate to work with. It’s important to represent your brand and keep the uniform from becoming a disservice to your brand.

Like this. Or this. Or this.

(OK, that last one was not the result of the players having free reign, but the uniforms have been a punchline since they debuted, and are thus a disservice to the Seahawks brand. This may be a welcome distraction for a 2-4 team, but likely wouldn’t be for your business.)

So, instead of giving your employees carte blanche or trying to fit them into a hat and shirt they’ll never wear, look to work your way into the middle of the road with one of these strategies.

1. Offer different uniform choices

Tokyo Joe’s and Chipotle are both concepts I’ve visited where I’ve seen employees wearing a variety of different uniforms that the company designed, prepared, and provided. You might have a standard uniform that’s issued, but sell different items to your team at cost so that those who are really inclined to express themselves can do so.

2. Let the team design the uniform

Whether it’s a contest or simply asking if anyone on your team wants to tackle the project for a few extra bucks, you are able to let the team get in some form of expression while still maintaining a level of control on this one. (Example: You tell them: it’s a black polo. They choose: the logo, image, or slogan on it.) If you wear screen prints and have to re-order regularly, consider allowing the team to make new designs with each large order.

3. Let the team choose the uniform pieces

So, maybe the design and slogan on your uniform are very important to your brand, but the cut of the shirt or the style of the hat isn’t. Let your team tell you what they’re more interested in wearing. It may be that getting your employees to wear their hats is as simple as letting them tell you that they prefer this style of hat over that style of hat. (God forbid they choose this style.)

4. Let them wear their own clothes with a few guidelines

Maybe it’s just saying “make sure you’re wearing this color.” Maybe it’s saying “make sure you wear a polo - I don’t care what color.” Whatever it looks like, I’ve seen this at a number of major national brands (Sears, Target, and Panera to name a few), and it seems pretty effective for the most part. The main battles I’ve seen on it is seeing shirts tucked in and getting enough flesh covered.

What other ways can you think of to allow employees to make some choices with their uniforms without choosing not to represent your brand?