Dressing For Succes

Just about everyone wants to wear attractive, comfortable or stylish attire. But not everyone’s taste in clothing matches the expectations of fellow staff, management or a facility’s customers.

“You have no control with street clothes,” says Lois Mueller, director of environmental services for Phelps County Regional Medical Center, a hospital and trauma center in Rolla, Mo. “We still have casual Fridays, and you’d be amazed at what people come in wearing.”

Soiled or damaged clothing, T-shirts with inappropriate images or slogans, and unsafe shoes are just a few of the apparel errors committed by employees. And sometimes, these gaffes can be dangerous — loose clothing can catch on a floor machine, and open-toe shoes leave feet vulnerable to injury.

Uniforms are used to prevent these problems. Many housekeeping departments also have instituted a uniform to promote unity and professionalism.

Setting up a uniform policy may seem as easy as ordering a few T-shirts from a catalog and changing a paragraph in the employee handbook. But there are other issues managers should consider.

Choosing a style
There are a wide variety of uniform styles from which to choose. Some facilities allow their workers to wear a smock with the department logo and their street clothes underneath, while others provide entire outfits, including hats and shoes.

Before creating or altering a uniform policy, I. Aldape Jr., director of custodial operations for Southwest Texas State University in San Marcos, suggests finding out what employees want out of a uniform. He took a random survey of his employees. Because of this feedback, Aldape offers both a 100-percent cotton and a 65/35 poly-cotton blend shirt, and allows employees to choose.

Generally, employees want something stylish and comfortable, while managers should make sure the uniforms also are durable, safe and promote the department’s identity. The Dallas Theological Seminary, for instance, chose uniforms for its custodians with all of these factors in mind.

“The t-shirts were chosen because they are lightweight and cool while the custodian is working, yet allows the campus users to easily identify them as employees,” says custodial manager Christopher Graham. “They also are inexpensive enough that we can quickly get employees new t-shirts when theirs are stained or looking old.”

Full-time seminary custodians receive 100-percent cotton T-shirts with the facilities department logo, shorts/slacks and shoes. For part-time janitors, the seminary provides T-shirts only, because many part-timers are students who come right from class and need to make a quick change, and also because turnover is high.

Housekeeping managers in medical facilities increasingly are turning to scrubs to outfit their employees. The outfits are lightweight and breathe easily. In addition, outfitting housekeepers similarly to other hospital personnel can increase the sense of professionalism. Plus, ordering scrubs in bulk for multiple departments saves money. However, custodians wearing scrubs can be mistaken for medical personnel; some managers have tried color-coding (for example, nurses wear patterns but housekeepers wear solids) to avoid this.

If facilities receive repeat visitors or cater to the same occupants frequently, as is the case at Shriners Hospital, a pediatric orthopedic center in Minneapolis, confusion is less of an issue.

Don’t forget footwear
Shoes are another important part of custodial attire. Though most housekeeping managers don’t specify a brand or purchase shoes for their workers, they do have regulations.

“Within custodial operations, I do not allow the use of open-toe shoes for safety and health issues,” Aldape says. “Steel-toe shoes are made available to the employees whose work needs would require them to use foot protection, but are not automatically issued to each employee and are not mandatory for everyone to use.”

Williams’ shoe policy at Shriners Hospital is fairly strict — footwear must be leather (real or imitation) and clean white. Canvas shoes, and open-toe shoes of any material, are forbidden for safety. “Nursing clogs” (clogs with non-skid bottoms and comfortable insoles) are acceptable if they have heel straps.

Graham, however, is trying to work out a problem with shoe specifications at the seminary. Housekeeping is within the plant-operations department, which has stringent specifications that Graham feels are above and beyond what janitors need. He’s trying to make a decision about setting his own requirements.

Rent vs. own
Another uniform decision is whether to buy or lease — and who should pay.

Facilities using scrubs generally buy their uniforms, and often pass the cost on to their employees. Housekeeping managers considering this route must remember that they only can charge employees for uniforms if doing so wouldn’t put the employee below the minimum wage for that pay period, according to U.S. Department of Labor requirements.

Other managers see providing uniforms at no cost to employees as a fringe benefit.

Aldape wanted to impose a dress code at Southwest Texas State University, but wanted to give employees something in return. He opted to provide tops, rather than force workers to pay for them.

Aldape also chose to lease, rather than buy, the uniform.

“It was more economical to go this route; it also provided our staff with a professional looking uniform every day,” Aldape says. “Employees did not have the expense of laundering as was done in the past.”

Laundry concerns
Aldape’s leasing company launders the uniforms on a weekly basis, and provides replacements when some are worn out or damaged.

Aldape has had a few complaints with misdirected deliveries and poorly pressed shirts, but the university’s contract manager handles such issues.

Employees generally launder their own purchased uniforms, which reduces cost for the facility, but self-laundering can lead to accelerated wear-and-tear if workers don’t follow the laundry instructions.

For simplicity’s sake, housekeeping departments within hospitals, nursing homes or hotels that handle laundry often take in employee uniforms, to be laundered with the rest of the facility’s clothing and linens.

You can’t please everyone
Even the best uniform policies aren’t without problems. For instance, if janitors have to wear uniforms while other employees don’t, there can be morale issues.

In the case of Southwest Texas State, other physical-plant employees didn’t have a dress code, and some custodial staff members saw that as unfair. Eventually, the rest of the physical-plant department instituted at least some form of a dress code, and Aldape’s staff no longer feels singled out.

And, of course, no matter how much thought and input goes into uniform selection, someone’s going to complain about them.

Most housekeepers at Phelps County Medical Center hate the uniform, says Mueller. The problem isn’t the material or style — they’re comfortable with nice lines, Mueller says — but workers consider the pattern unflattering. Hospital administration doesn’t like housekeepers in scrubs — they wanted a service uniform, rather than a medical uniform, but all the previous manager could find were industrial-looking tops.

“I told the workers, if you get together and talk about what you want — and you all agree — then come talk to me,” she says. “If you put it back on their backs and make them come to a consensus, they can’t complain.”

Still, the employees haven’t reached an agreement, so the unpopular tops have remained.

Even though workers complain about uniforms, they’ll wear them. However, unless every bit of clothing is specified, workers will try to see what they can get away with regarding the rest of the dress code.

For instance, Mueller’s dress code calls for black or navy slacks with the striped shirts, but sometimes workers show up wearing jeans.
“We send them home if they wear blue jeans, but we’ll check black jeans and see if they’re presentable,” Mueller admits.