You can buy hospitality uniforms with personalisation or without. Does it make a difference?
There are 3 groups of people who benefit from having uniforms. They are all vital to the success of your business:
Your customers/clients
Does a name on a uniform make a difference to your clients?
As an experiment, stand two staff members next to each other to greet people coming into a room.
- One wears a smart uniform with no name on the chest.
- The other wears a uniform that looks exactly the same—except their name is embroidered on the chest of their shirt/jacket.
People walking into the room will automatically turn to the person whose name they can see. Most people prefer to be greeted by someone they can at least name. They may not even know they have a preference!
Identify your staff for your clients
When clients are being served/helped by your staff there is a massive preference for the staff to be readily identifiable.
- First, their uniform needs to clearly indicate the name of the business so that they stand out from the other people in the room.
- Second, the uniform needs to be smart/attractive and reflect the ethos and quality of your business.
- Third, having a name visible to the client will change the interaction between staff and client from cold and impersonal to much warmer and more sociable.
An example which we can all relate to…
We have all been to restaurants where the host/hostess welcomes you and, as you are settling into your seat, throws out a name and says they will be serving you this evening. Many of us either don't hear clearly or forget very quickly. A name on the uniform makes it possible to recover from poor memory or hearing. Some of us will use a name if we know it all of the time. Others only use a name occasionally—often either to soften a complaint/request or to extend/strengthen a compliment or an expression of gratitude.
Knowing a name makes for more familiar/comfortable surroundings
Universally, people feel more comfortable with people they know. When you don't know someone: like a waiter/waitress, a greeter, a guide etc, you are still likely to feel more comfortable and at ease, if you at least know their name. The hospitality industry is built, and thrives, on the premise that when people are made to feel most comfortable they are happier and likely to enjoy themselves more. Maybe they even spend more too.
Your staff/employees
Professional approach
We previously looked at the {impact hospitality uniforms can have on service and staff performance}. Uniforms decorated with the wearer's name unquestionably lead to employees feeling more valued and, consequently, acting more professionally.
Enjoyable job
Serving/helping/guiding/protecting people isn't always a fun job. Some thrive in the role. Others find it more of a challenge to be polite, welcoming and suitably deferential yet still warm and friendly.
Almost everyone we have spoken to enjoys their job more when they feel valued by both the business they are working for and the people they interact with daily - the clients.
Wearing a uniform made for them with their name on is just one small but important indication of the value the company places on them.
The interaction with clients is often improved tremendously when the client is made to feel most comfortable. Being served/helped by someone with a name embroidered onto their uniform improves the level of comfort most clients experience (see the section above discussing this from the clients' standpoint). Again, the gain may be small but many small gains add up to major improvements.
More secure income and improved tipping
As the owner/manager of a hospitality business, you might operate in an environment where your staff receive tips from the clientele. It isn't your primary objective to maximise the tips your staff receive. But maybe it would be worth looking into!
Hospitality businesses, where the staff receive above-average tips, are generally believed to be above average in success and profitability. If you equate the level of tip given with the level of appreciation the client has for the experience and service received then places where the staff get larger tips more often have happier clients (and staff) and, are likely to be busier and more profitable as a result.
Whether or not your staff receive tips, if your business is doing well their income is more secure and more likely to rise over time.
The business, you
As the owner/manager of your business, you measure your success by, among other things, the profit you make. In almost all cases, businesses, where the clients and staff are happy and interact warmly are more profitable than businesses where the interaction is colder and/or less enjoyable.
So whatever impact well presented, and professional staff bring to the party and however much your clients enjoy their time in your care and possibly spend more as a result it is in the business interest to turn out the staff in the best style possible.
Buying hospitality clothing doesn't need to be a headache
If you are considering buying hospitality uniforms for the first time, it might be worth talking things through with an expert early in the buying/research process. Speak to the team at Actifwear Ltd - they have helped hundreds (maybe even thousands) of business owners to kit out their staff in the most professional yet cost-effective fashion possible. They will happily talk through with you whether only your logo or your logo and a name should be added to the hospitality clothing you are looking to buy.
