HR pros are constantly challenged with dress code policies. As such, I saw something in the attire at the recent Social Recruiting Summit that I wanted to explore further. It was t-shirts.
Yep, t-shirts. But not just any t-shirt. A company t-shirt.
Some people labeled it brand marketing. Some just called it being comfortable. Either way – I wonder if it makes sense?
And let me clarify…we’re not talking logo polo shirts. They were regular cotton t-shirts with big logos on them.
When I worked at the airline, our marketing department had the nicest t-shirts. Well designed, nice materials. Everyone loved them. But we really weren’t encouraged to wear them to work. At home, sure…great way to promote the company. Now I wonder if that was the right thing – if the shirts were good enough to give to our customers and we wanted people to wear them around town – then why weren’t they good enough to wear to work?
The benefits to wearing t-shirts at work are several – it does promote your brand. If your employees like working at your company, they will probably wear a t-shirt with the company logo. T-shirts are worn all the time – at work, grocery store, bank, etc. You could get some marketing mileage that magazine ads and billboards can’t duplicate. And they’re comfortable – who doesn’t like a nice comfy t-shirt?!
The downside is … well, it’s a t-shirt. Let’s face it, the t-shirt is considered cheap clothing. Whether it really is or not. As a general rule, when we think of corporate attire, the logo polo gets the vote. But that negates the casual comfort of a t-shirt. Not to mention that logos on polos are small. A t-shirt has plenty of advertising real estate – both on the front and back.
So what do you guys think? Are t-shirts in style for corporate attire? Should we give our employees comfort in exchange for them being a walking advertisement for our business?
It’s got me thinking…HR Bartender t-shirts? In organic materials, of course.
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Christian Almgren says
Sometimes I am so happy working in Sweden. This is a non issue as T-Shirt is OK in most work places here. As long as it is clean and not ragged or has offensive text/pics on it.
Victorio says
While I don’t work in Sweden like Christian I do work for a Swedish company. I can relate to her sentiment; casual clothes are A-ok, including T-shirts.
Stephen Smith says
Great post! Here at Incept, we’ve made wearing T-Shirts part of our company culture and dresscode… If the shirt has a company logo, or logo of a client on it then it fits in our dress code normally. Makes for a more relaxed and enjoyable work environment. BTW did I mention, Great post!
Sharlyn Lauby says
Thanks so much for the comments! And totally agree with Stephen’s point about wearing client t-shirts. Support the people who support you…
Benjamin McCall says
I think t-shirts are great. But at the same time I am probably a person that is considered or considers myself ‘fit’ to wear one appropriately. Maybe not.
The reall issue is when the T-shirt is not fit to be worn or the person in the shirt is not fit to wear it. Semantics
Stephen Smith says
Exactly! Support who supports you! The point is that we specialize in blood donor recruiting and scheduling. So our Conversational Marketing Experts (CME’s) take a TON of pride in our clients & in working at Incept. So when we re-branded the company a while back, company logos became a HUGE hit.
Check out the blog I write at work if you’re interested, I do a ton of content on company culture that really fits with what you’re saying here.
If you agree with what I’m saying there leave me a comment and let me know.
blog.inceptsaves.com
Sharlyn Lauby says
@Benjamin – Finding clothes that fit properly is a challenge for everyone. That applies to all kinds of clothing…not just t-shirts. Thanks for the comment!
@Stephen – Thanks for the link. I’ll check it out! BTW – I added a link, so others can check it out too. Hope you don’t mind. 😉
Josephine Victor says
Nice Post. Any way software marketing is something different.
Marisa Keegan says
Sharlyn,
Great post. At my last company we used t-shirts as part of our recruiting campaign and it worked incredibly well. Our employees were mostly software developers and engineers and all they wore were our t-shirts. One of the posters in our recruiting campaign was a testimonial that said, “If it weren’t for all the free shirts, I’d have to come to work naked” and in conjunction with that campaign employees got free shirts that said “Get A Job” and had our logo on the back. Everyone around town was talking about it.
Sharlyn Lauby says
Thanks for sharing Marisa. I love the campaign slogan!
iris n. says
I think setting a certain day to wear “company t-shirts” are a great idea to encourage team spirit, while allowing for some comfortable relaxing attire. The company logos will promotes the company, especially when their employees go out to get lunch, and it gives employees some room to breathe– Oh, and be sure to order “female” t-shirts, for the female employees. The female employees will appreciate the gesture, and they will look more presentable and professional than wearing unshapely boxy men’s t-shirts. One of the organization, in which I was involved, ordered women’s t-shirt for the females, and they were very popularly received and worn with satisfaction by all the females in our organization.
Sharlyn Lauby says
Thanks for sharing Iris. Totally agree with the ladies t-shirt comment.