When Dress Code, Trash Cans & Tattoos Meet Employee Safety

Episode 31

 

Ray

Joel, we’re back, and I understand that we’re talking dress code today.

 

Joel

We are going to talk about dress code.

 

Ray

Yeah, this can be pretty touchy.

 

Joel

It can be, but if you present it properly, it’s not going to be an issue. Plus, a lot of reasons why dress codes exist are for safety reasons, particularly in the cleaning world. (Oh, really? Okay.) One of the things that we require in our business, and years ago, I had worked for a company. In the summertime, they allowed their people to wear shorts. Well, a gentleman got injured. Basically, he got micro abrasions on his legs because he was wearing shorts.

 

Ray

Okay, so you’re going to have to draw a picture for me on this one. I don’t understand how that happens.

 

Joel

Walking trash out to a dumpster that has those tinfoil tins from a lunch gathering. (Okay.) They poke through the bag. As you walk, usually things are close to you. We had all these micro abrasions.

 

Ray

He’s schlepping them out to the dumpster.

 

Joel

He’s schlepping them out to the dumpster. (Okay.) He ends up with all these micro cuts on his legs. He has all of these wounds that opened up bleeding. As I’ve started my own company, part of my dress code is, I don’t care how hot it is, we wear long pants. Because you just don’t know what’s going to happen. Some of the industries that we work in, some factories, there’s very hot areas that have, molten metal pieces and metal shards being grinded off things and stuff. And I’m not saying that long pants are going to stop everything, but at least when you have long pants, it reduces the chance for injury. So that’s one of the things, in regards to dress code. The same, sometimes they’ll tell you can’t wear long sleeve shirts. Again, it may be cold outside, but if you’re working around machinery and they should have guards, but sometimes guards don’t get put up properly, they break and all that. And not that, again, that is our issue in regard to having to do that.

 

Ray

But the safety of your team is.

 

Joel

It’s the safety of my team. So, you don’t want something that could get caught and you get pulled into a machine. So sometimes we tell people they have to wear short sleeve shirts. Well, that could pose a bigger problem, too, depending on if there’s somebody who maybe has tattoos. Now, I have tattoos. But I make sure that my tattoos are covered. So maybe that’s not the right spot for the individual. But in addition, certain tattoos can be offensive. They could be if you’re working in a school, you don’t want to have pictures of naked people or curse words or whatever like that because it would be inappropriate. So, a person that works at a site like that might be required that we have everybody wear long sleeves if they have tattoos. And it’s not saying that they can’t have them. It’s thinking about our clients. I once had a guy that worked for me many years ago at another company that had multiple earrings. You can limit the number of facial piercings or earrings that you can have a person. (Really? I wasn’t aware of that.) The New York Yankees don’t allow any of their suppliers to have facial hair. They got to shave.

 

Ray

So, it’s whatever the working agreement is.

 

Joel

Whatever the working agreement is. But a lot of dress code, if you don’t have uniform shirts, you want to make sure that you don’t have people coming in with any T-shirts that have any type of print on them, concert T-shirts or sports teams, religious themes, anything like that. Just tell them to wear a solid color.

 

Ray

Of course, in your case, you supply DOCs-branded apparel for your team to wear. That helps you look like a team. Those are your jerseys, effectively.

 

Joel

Correct. That’s how we present it to our staff is that we’re like a professional sports team, and we have a uniform that has to be worn. And it does have our logo and stuff, but that’s the approved logo. If a startup company doesn’t have a uniform code or a set uniform that having go out into the field, they may want to tell somebody just to have a plain T-shirt as opposed to something that could be seen as being offensive to certain individuals.

 

Ray

I can also see, Joe, where this might pose a little bit of a challenge for the HR side of your business. Any final advice around that as we’re talking to cleaning company owners and they’re looking for an effective and respectful manner to address staff?

 

Joel

That is a very good question. It is very much an HR issue. It could be very touchy. The best thing you can do is if you don’t have a true HR person with all of the credentials behind their name, I’ve gone outside the company and hired an outside consultant called See HR and Recruiting. By hiring Herman and his team, we’ve been able to have our handbooks (adapted) to what our requirements are. In addition, we have pictures of what’s appropriate, where the pants need to be, and that the belt is supposed to be above the hips, not below the hips and everything. So, it’s clearly defined over the expectation levels of what our employees are supposed to look like out in the field. Those are set right from the get-go before we walk out the door. So, if we have a manager meet up with one of our staff that is not to the dress code, they know, they’ve signed off on it, they know what the pictures look like in the office. There is no question whatsoever.

 

Ray

So, in that regard, appropriate has more to do with your working environment and has really nothing to do with the individual.

 

Joel

Correct.

 

Ray

Good advice to keep owners out of the weeds. Thank you, Joel. (You’re welcome.)