The employees working at a warehouse are the company’s first impression as they are the person-in-charge who will be dealing with the storage and transport of goods before they are sold. The companies that will be transporting their products to the warehouse for storage will be dealing with these employees and judging them whether their goods are at the right place, or will the storage be handled carefully? This all will be judged on the basis of employees working in the warehouse. Their looks, way of talking, or ability to handle goods will be the main key factors in judging them. The first thing that the company’s dealers will be judging them will be on the basis of their looks or dressing sense they have. In this article, we are going to discuss the complete Warehouse Dress Code Policy in 2021.
Warehouse Dress Code Policy 2021
The dressing sense is not just about the dress that the employees are wearing but also whether the dress worn by them is work-friendly or not. If it’s not, then employees cannot work to their fullest and end up doing some fitness due to the lack of a comfortable uniform. There are many aspects that one should consider while manufacturing a dress for the employees as it will be serving as the image of their company to their dealers. The qualities that a dress code should possess is explained in detail in the following paragraphs.
- Pros for having a dress code:
First of all, the dress code of all the employees working in the warehouse must be the same: texture, the material of cloth, or color so that anyone could identify them as the employee working in a warehouse. This idea of the same dress code will serve as an identification to the employees. As we know, that the warehouse may be spread up to kilometers of area and will contain a huge amount of goods. So, because of goods having worth in crores are kept in warehouses which may increase chances of having theft. So, here the dress code will control the in and out of the warehouses and may decrease chances of theft. There are a lot of workforces involved to manage the work of the warehouses. It will prevent unauthorized entry of persons who are not belonging to the warehouse. It may also help in differentiating between the employees of the warehouse and non-employees of the warehouse. The dress code will also serve as professionalism to the company. - Characteristics of dress:
The next thing employees should remember is that their dress must be tidy and well-ironed so as to look smart and hardworking as these things will be easily noticed by the other companies dealing with them. The employees should well maintain the dress and they must take care that the dress should not be torn from anywhere as that would make them look shabby and their first impression would go bad. The material used for making the dresses should be of high quality so that it doesn’t get torn or wrinkled fast. This thing should be kept in mind while manufacturing these uniforms for the employees working at the warehouse.
Another important point is the comfortability of dress. The more comfortable the dress, the more efficient will be the work. As most of the work in the warehouses is to lift the goods and place them accordingly and stack them properly in huge piles which require fitness as well as the comfort of the attire. The dress must not be too tight or too loose; instead, it should be perfectly fit to the employees. This will increase the company’s reputation and employees working in the warehouse will feel good that they are being taken care of so nicely. The attire such as jumpsuits will help provide comfort to the employees as the material used for making these is very friendly in nature. The clothing easily gets adjusted to the shape of the body that a person possesses.
Flexibility is another point to be emphasised upon for a dress. As flexibility will ensure comfort and that will in turn ensure more efficient work by employees. The efficiency of employees will in turn impact the growth of the company. - Dress code – A way of branding
The dress code will also help in branding the company by creating its image in the mindset of the people. The people could easily observe, through the clothes that employees are wearing, the name of the company. This will help in marketing the company in the mindset of the common man, which will increase their network and reach. It may be beneficial in creating a positive image in the market through the attire employees are wearing. As someone has rightly said that “Someone’s way of living speaks before he/she does.” The way of living at the job is through the dress code, which should be good enough to create a good impact on the dealer as well as on the common people. - Creates Impression:
If anyone visits the warehouse or has come for an inspection, then the dress code of all the employees will offer a good impression on them. As someone has rightly said that : “First impression is the last impression.” - Maintains Uniformity:
Another major pro of having a dress code in a warehouse is the uniformity that the dress code carries with itself. As we know, in the USA, there were cases of discrimination based on race, color, or religion among people were reported in earlier times, and the company cannot provide one more reason to be discriminated against. Hence having a dress code will ensure the uniformity amongst all the employees and they will feel like they are a part of a family instead of colleagues. - Dress Code Policy – The only solution:
The dress code is the only solution to separate out the worker, supervisor, manager, and senior-level management employees. We may use different dresses for every level to easily identify the level of employees and give and take instruction from their senior colleagues. It means that they may communicate with each other easily. This will also help in maintaining discipline in the warehouse.
What all a dress code must include?
Here that we have seen are the main pros of having a dress code in the warehouse and the basic requirements associated with it. Now, the dress code/attire that employee will be wearing must have some specifications which are being enlisted below:
- Shirts: The color of the shirt may be fixed like black or white. Then all the shirts must have the logo of the company and, if possible, the name and designation of the employee written on them. The company may provide 5-6 shirts of similar type to be worn, with some guidelines for the wearing of shirts and their maintenance. This may include that the employee cannot keep his first button open or should wear a tie or can roll up sleeves if wanted. Also, the shirts must be durable and washable, and made up of high-quality fabric. The shirts must be tucked in the pants might be another guideline issued by the warehouse.
- Jumpsuits: If a company wants more conformability of the employees or wants the attire to be more flexible rather than professional, then employees of the warehouse can wear jumpsuits which will help them in being flexible at their work.
- Shoes/Boots: The shoes’ color and the type (laced or not) might be fixed. Also, the company may be rigid with the material and wants every employee of the warehouse to wear shoes of the same company. Apart from this, shoes must be comfortable and have a good grip.
- Pants: The company may also issue some guidelines regarding the wearing of pants like the color, material, or manufacturing company. So, the employees must abide by these guidelines so that there is a uniformity amongst them. Company may allow belts to be worn if fitting is not perfect. This will ensure a good dressing sense for the employees of the warehouse.
- Caps/Helmet: The caps or helmets might be another part of the clothing that the company might dwell upon. It will provide protection to the employees working at the warehouse and also it will help them protect their hair from dust. Also, as for marketing or branding purposes, the company may print a logo on the helmets or caps.
- Gloves– As in the COVID times like now, gloves are necessary as a protective measure towards corona and even the government of the USA is strict about this. The companies have not imposed any guidelines for gloves but have just ensured that every warehouse employee wears gloves.
- Masks– The employees must wear masks in COVID situations and must not be allowed to remove them in the workspace as it is necessary for the protection from viruses.
Common guidelines for dress code:
Now, that the companies can issue guidelines on the type of attire that has to be worn as above. But there may be some guidelines as well for the things that cannot be carried or worn by the employees while working in the warehouse which are listed below:
- The employees should not wear jewelry as that may cause a hindrance to the safety of the employee as well as his job.
- Another fashion that cannot be allowed by the company may be tattoos or any type of body art. It may also include piercing by women or men as that may harm the professionalism of the company.
- The company may take actions against the people who do not abide by the guidelines, like wearing sports shoes or pants or shirts of any color. This may also lead to firing from the job.
- They may also tell women to tie their hair if the length of hair is long enough from their shoulders.
Dress Code Policy In the USA:
Most of the USA companies issue almost these types of guidelines for the attire for employees working in warehouse. Some of the companies don’t even have a proper dress code for their employees due to a lack of funding. The unicorn companies in the USA have set an example that marketing can be done through proper dress code of employees, which will help the companies turn into unicorns. While some companies like Amazon have a dressing policy through liberal, the policy still functions smoothly in their warehouses.
The dress code policy, especially for warehouses in the USA, has proved to be useful either in terms of branding or marketing and as the means for identifying employees at work. There is a need for such type of policy in almost every warehouse of the company to function smoothly and maintain hierarchy levels among the employees. It will also create a good impression of the company in the minds of people. The policy also eases out operation, the working of a warehouse, as employees are given best-fitted dress which is comfortable to them as well as job. A similar type of dress code also signifies unity among the employees of the warehouse. Also, some companies might not implement dress code policy but looking at its advantages, the business experts also suggest to have such a policy in the company. Also, if a company is not implementing due to the cost of its making, then it is just a one-time investment, and also due to the mass production of the dresses of employees will make it cheaper. Hence, this policy is economical too.
But, on the other hand, most of the companies have this policy that there must not be too much strictness regarding the uniform worn by employees in warehouses unless and until it affects the work of employment. Even big companies like Amazon work on this principle, so they have adopted a quite lighter version of Warehouse Dress Code Policy, which is not that strict and harsh.
So, it depends on the company whether to implement this policy or not and also it is the right of the owner to decide its severity. Hence, the policy has its own pros and cons and one must formulate the rules according to the need of the company and because of this only in the USA, some companies have dress code policies in their warehouses while some do not. Therefore, the USA government has also made the policy optional and has left up to the company to decide whether to implement the policy.
