Growing up in school, most people are told what they can and can’t wear. For women, it’s usually a lot more drastic. Women are chided for what they wear on an almost daily basis, and this issue extends past elementary life and to the office.
It seems like no matter how much time passes and how much people grow into adulthood, the issue of dress is a common thread in humanity that gets discussed. The issue may run deep and may be hard to understand fully, but if you’re in the business of making uniform happen for any establishment, here are reasons why you should ditch it all together:
Uniform Makes People Uncomfortable
Among other reasons not to have required uniform in your office, uniform is something that makes people very uncomfortable. For some reason there is some unspoken law in the universe that says that all work uniforms have to be torture to wear.
Nobody looks good in workplace uniform. Employers don’t understand the concept that certain clothing does not look good on all body types, yet they force their workers into tight, ill-fitting pants and shirts that quite frankly bring down people’s self esteem. If you don’t feel good in the office, it’s going to affect your performance.
It’s Expensive For You
In addition to making people feel terrible about themselves, workplace uniform is expensive for you. If you do end up doing it, you have to keep tight tabs on how many shirts and pants you allow your employees or else it’s going to be a free for all where employees take clothing at will.
If you end up assigning two work shirts to each employee, you run the risk of employees coming to work in dirty uniforms because they don’t have enough time to launder their shirts. For your pocketbook as a business, just let the employees wear their own clothes. It’s acceptable to have a dress code, but assigning uniforms is just not the way to go.
It Stifles Individuality
When people are allowed to express themselves in the workplace through various capacities like their hairstyle, the type of shoe they decide to wear, and the bright colors of their clothing, it breeds an atmosphere of creativity and acceptance. When you make everybody the same through uniform, individuality is suffocated and people lose inspiration easily because they don’t feel valued for who they are.
In conclusion, uniform is unflattering, expensive and stifles productivity and creativity. If you ditch the uniform in your business establishment and instead implement light dress code guidelines, everybody will be happier for it.
Originally posted on June 7, 2016 @ 9:48 pm