Work Clothes Allowance: Some companies have this, and some don’t.
If you require your staff to purchase items that they only need for working there, you should consider giving them a clothing allowance.
For example: steel toe work boots. If people are required to purchase these in order to work in the business, they should be provided with a boot allowance for approximately 50% of the purchase item. $150 per year for a boot allowance is adequate and appropriate.
Basically any PPE that an employee needs to purchase on a regular basis should be considered by the company - either by the company purchasing the items and handing out to the employees (then you could possibly receive a discount for bulk pricing) or by providing an allowance for the items.
Customer Service Representatives and Sales personnel, should also have tops, shirts, etc. with the business logo on it – this provides not only a good visual for the company, advertising but also a sense of team spirit.
In fact, it would be nice to implement casual Friday at the office or business and have everyone that day get the opportunity to wear a shirt that has the company logo on it.
For winter, it is nice to have a vest or zip up sweater with the logo on it, so that you can keep warm but wear it whenever over any shirt – it’s actually more versatile than a shirt sometimes.
Questions to Ponder:
What is an appropriate budget for clothing allowances for your company?
What is fair to the employee and the business?
Is having a casual Friday office day something that would be beneficial in your work environment?
Would this provide more of a team atmosphere?
Talk to your staff and get some ideas – then look around at some options for the clothing choices and go from there. Have some fun with it.
Offer jackets or items that the staff could purchase for themselves as well.
Even if your staff works from home, this is a nice idea for them to have something that they can wear during video conferencing or meetings. It’s a great visual for others to see – these little things do get noticed by others!
