Home » Why Wear a Uniform at Work?
Uniforms and dress codes are common and often necessary in the workplace for many reasons, from ensuring hygiene and cleanliness in a medical setting to promoting your brand in a retail environment.
In this blog, the experts at Murray Uniforms explain why wearing a uniform is important and the benefits of creating bespoke workwear that takes the needs of your business, your employees, and your customers or patients into account.
Let’s get into it…
In many industries, including healthcare and catering, uniforms are crucial for maintaining hygiene and cleanliness standards, protecting both employees and the people they interact with as part of their roles.
Uniforms for healthcare staff should always be made from materials that are easy to sanitise in order to reduce the risk of cross-contamination between patients. In restaurants and food production facilities, chefs and kitchen workers are typically required to wear clean uniforms, hair nets, and aprons to minimise the spread of germs and maintain food safety.
What’s more, a visibly clean, well-maintained uniform signals to customers and patients that your business takes hygiene seriously, making them more likely to trust your services, feel comfortable around your staff, and return feeling confident that they’ll receive the very best service and care.
Another practical and essential reason for wearing a uniform at work is safety. In some industries, proper protective workwear is crucial for reducing the risk of injury – construction workers must wear high-visibility vests and helmets when they’re on site, for example.
Uniforms often must comply with the health and safety regulations specific to the industry, and employers can be held liable if proper protective clothing isn’t provided. A standardised uniform policy helps to ensure compliance and accountability, making sure your team stays safe.
In some workplaces, uniforms aren’t a necessity for safety or hygiene reasons, but are still worn to create a professional, polished appearance. Hospitality uniforms are a great example, often worn by staff in customer-facing roles to build trust and make guests feel comfortable and welcome.
Importantly, research has found that it only takes 3 seconds for customers to form a first impression, which is why wearing a smart uniform that represents your brand is a crucial part of the customer experience. A distinctive uniform helps create a consistent brand identity, especially in larger teams or across multiple locations, which makes your brand more memorable and supports your long-term growth.
Another reason why employees should wear a uniform in the workplace is to improve customer service, especially in the retail sector. A distinctive uniform makes employees more recognisable, so customers feel more confident approaching them to ask for assistance.
Why should this matter to you as a key decision maker? If customers feel more comfortable approaching your staff, they’re more likely to find the products they’re looking for and make a purchase, which means higher ATVs for your business. What’s more, a consistent, branded appearance across your team helps build trust and leaves a positive, lasting impression, encouraging repeat visits and increased customer loyalty.
According to our workwear research carried out in partnership with Coventry University, wearing a well-designed uniform can make employees feel up to 22% happier at work. This is great news for businesses, as happier employees are more likely to stay with the business for longer, massively reducing your recruitment overheads.
What’s more, we found that happy employees are actually 12% more productive at work, which means an increase in overall efficiency, improved customer service, and a positive impact on your bottom line.
Hopefully, you now know why wearing a uniform at work is not only important but also beneficial for your business. However, in order to reap the benefits, you need to make sure your uniform is well designed, with the needs of your employees and business taken into account.
One of the most important things to consider when implementing a new uniform is the comfort of your employees. Your staff will only be able to perform at their best if they feel good in their uniform, so talking to them and finding out what they need from their new workwear is a crucial first step.
At Murray Uniforms, our uniform creation process starts with a deep dive into your business, gathering data from you, your employees, and your customers to develop a solution that enhances your brand identity while ensuring your employees feel their best.
The goal is always to create a uniform that your employees are excited to wear that also delivers a tangible return on investment for your business.
One of the main reasons that employees are often wary of new uniforms is that they worry they won’t reflect their personal identity, body type, or cultural needs. For this reason, it’s important to create uniforms that account for different body shapes, gender identities, disabilities, and cultural practices.
Offering a range of fits, such as tailored, relaxed, or maternity cuts, ensures that all employees have an option that fits well and feels comfortable for them, rather than being forced into a garment that’s ill-fitting or impractical. Gender-neutral uniform options and options that accommodate religious dress are also becoming more common to help foster a respectful and inclusive workplace.
At Murray Uniforms, we actively involve employees in uniform design trials and feedback to ensure the final product is a good fit for them, taking into account their individual needs. Our Dunelm uniform case study is a great example of this:
“It really makes a big difference to have the uniform that fits with you rather than you fit the uniform because it makes you feel a sense of pride in what you’re wearing. It has definitely given me more confidence and a spring in my step because I think I look great, I can serve great.” – Jodie, Store Colleague.
Now that you have the answer to the question ‘why wear a uniform?’, it’s time to start designing a new bespoke uniform for your business that helps your employees to Work Smarter®.
Murray’s data-led Science of Uniform® approach to uniform design takes over 240 aspects of design into account to create a tailored workwear solution that delivers a real return on investment.
Want to learn more? Book a free consultation with our design team.
