I'm almost afraid to put my two cents in, but has anyone thought that
perhaps the reason why a "stricter" dress code is being established (AKA
uniforms) is because the staff does not look professional.  Every
organization has a dress code, whether formally stated or not that the staff
follows.  For years we have had a relatively loose dress code that asked the
front staff to wear any of our museum shirts and slacks or new looking blue
jeans (nothing ripped or faded) or they could wear casual office attire.
Unfortunately, we still have staff coming in looking like they have falled
out of bed in their cloths, wearing old nasty jeans, and shirts with someone
else logo or inappropriate graphics.  We  have had to make the dress code
stricter simply because they do not follow the current loose one and without
a formal dress code we didn't have much to stand on to force them into
something appropriate.  

By the way, we tried involving the front-end staff in the decision about
what they should wear, but we keep coming up to a road block.  They can't
seem to agree on color, style, price, etc and so the decision had to be made
elsewhere.  Staff cooperation and recommendations are great but they are
only recommendations.  Reality check, the board/director are running this
show and must make the final decisions sometimes partially based on
economics.  Ultimately, this is a business (non-profit or not) and how the
staff looks is a direct reflection on the organization.  In addition, if
your guests (customers) don't know who are the staff you are not doing them
any justice.  They don't care if  you are "more" knowledgeable then the rest
of the applicants but rather can they find you and ask you how to get to the
bathroom.  Uniforms whether name tags, shirts, or whatever else your museum
used allows for that and uniformity IS the key.  Individuality is the
public, not your staff.  The museum has an image to portray and uniforms can
help establish that image.

Sometimes you can't please everyone. 
Let's try to make sure we are pleasing our visitors and not ourselves.
Tracie

> -----Original Message-----
> From:	Jeff [SMTP:[log in to unmask]]
> Sent:	Monday, January 24, 2005 8:25 AM
> To:	[log in to unmask]
> Subject:	Re: Staff uniforms
> 
> ooh - what a can of worms you've opened. i've never known an issue to
> cause such uproars with staff, except perhaps who gets what parking space
> :)
>  
> one thing you can do that may help smooth things is to have a committee of
> front line staff look at the options and come up with their
> recommendations.  
>  
> some people detest khakis as much as polo shirts.
>  
> remember also you're not doing it for uniformity in staff (i don't think),
> but rather for your customer's comfort level.  you want to make sure staff
> is both easily spotted and professionally dressed (whatever that means).
> if that's the case, why not come up with several suitable schemes,
> particularly for frontline staff, such as a polo shirt or a vest/apron.
> or khakis/nice jeans or khakis/dark slacks.  wherever possible, give staff
> a way to feel as comfortable as possible.
>  
> p.s. the best unacceptable dress-for-the-day?  a summer intern in exhibits
> came in wearing a T-shirt showing a chicken and egg in bed together, above
> which was the question.  "which came first, the chicken or the egg?"
> needless to say, we sent the intern home to change.
>  
> Jeff Courtman 
> Project Manager 
> artspace in the West Edge 
> 710 Texas Street 
> Shreveport, La  71101 
> 318-673-6535 
> 
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