How do employees who wear a uniform keep it clean?

Employees represent your company, and how your employees look also affect the image of your company. It is important that your employees are presentable, clean, and well-maintained, so they also project an image of professionalism that will allow your customers to feel confident in their transactions with your company. This is why a company uniform is important in your branding. Company uniforms give your employees an identity so they can be easily distinguished; maintains a positive image on your company; and also allows your company to cut costs per employee by proper management of uniforms. But of course, this is all related to how clean your employee uniforms look.

Since most uniforms tend to be easier to worn out as they worn on a regular basis, maintaining clean uniforms can be a challenge. If you are tasked to manage your uniform program, it can be a lot of work to keep all those sets of work clothing clean. But don’t worry; here are some tips on how to keep your employee uniforms clean, crisp, and presentable:

Assign your employees to clean their uniforms at home.

Although this is a great way to lessen your workload and save more money, this can lead to negative outcomes in the long run. Washing uniforms at home means you do not have any control on your employee’s uniform maintenance, and this can cause your assigned uniforms to get damaged quicker. Uniforms require different kinds of fabrics that also require specific care instructions to avoid damage. For example, chemical-resistant clothes require special laundry detergents and washing cycles. When your employees accidentally mix their uniforms with normal garments, the longevity of uniforms may be affected. This could lead to garment degradation and issues with HACCP and OSHA regulations. Keeping work-wear clean is much more involved than standard laundry loads. You also risk your employees and their families as they may bring home any contaminants that have clung on their work clothes.

Do the laundry in-house.

Since you are the most familiar with the structure of the fabrics in the uniform, it is only reasonable that you assign a time on your work days to wash the employee uniforms. However, this can cost a lot of money and may give you lesser benefits. When you do the laundry in-house, you need to take note of all the heavy-duty laundry machines and cleaning supplies that you need to acquire in order to attend to all your employee uniforms, which also means that it will take up a lot of space in your workplace! One more thing, you may also need to hire another person to oversee the processes of the laundry which means another employee to pay and higher costs. It may also present a risk to all your other employees especially if all the oil, grease or contaminants were not taken care of properly in the washer.

Leave it to the dry cleaners.

When all else fails, your dry cleaner won’t. They are trained to handle the different demands of customers regarding laundry and they know everything that must be done to ensure that your uniforms can be delivered back to you looking fresh, crisp and clean— just as you want it to be.

Employee uniforms are in no doubt a major factor in business maintenance so it is only practical for business owners to invest money and time for it. But don’t worry as you can always partner with your trusted dry cleaning service if you cannot attend to all of the uniforms at once. When the paperwork seems to be too heavy, you can always seek for a helping hand.