How does your uniform improve your work performance?

How does your uniform improve your work performance?

Every day, there are several elements that affect what we choose to wear. These could include the people we are going to see, meetings, the events we are going to attend and the tasks we may have to take on. Each event, task or group of people has a different set of dress considerations.

One of the most frequent events we dress for, is work. While some people may find choosing the ideal outfit for work a simple task, for others it can cause undue stress - fussing about what is appropriate, professional, comfortable and most crucially, actually clean.

A simple way to make this morning stress disappear is a uniform. It’s not only the morning routine that uniforms can benefit. Wearing a uniform to work can positively affect thought processes all day, in many ways:

1. Reduces decision exhaustion
Every decision we make in the day, no matter how big or small takes a certain amount of brain power. The more decisions you make, the more likely you are to experience decision exhaustion.

If you do not have a uniform you can put on without thinking in the morning, you're immediately using up valuable brain power on something as minor as choosing an outfit. Avoiding this one small decision everyday may help you to save your energy for more essential business-associated decisions.

2. Provides you a role to fill
Wearing a uniform clearly denotes the role you have within an organisation and therefore serves as a constant reminder of the responsibilities that accompany your position. It requires that you live up to the principles of the organisation you are so clearly representing. Putting on a uniform may change the way you hold yourself, the way you conduct yourself or your self-perceived level of capability.

3. Increases conceptual thinking ability
For those working in corporate environments, wearing formal business attire can be especially helpful as it increases conceptual thinking - an important aspect of creativity and long-term planning and execution.

Wearing formal business attire is related to feelings of power which are thought to increase creative thinking.

4. Improves self-confidence and ability
Uniforms can instill you with the belief you need to get a certain job done. For example, when putting on a uniform a soldier may feel that they now have the confidence to fight on a battlefield, or for a surgeon, putting on scrubs may be the signal for their brain that it is time to focus so they can successfully perform an operation.

5. Encourages optimistic observations
When people don’t know you, they don’t have much to judge your ability on - aside from looks. As a result, people often judge others by what they are wearing.

Judgments will generally be more favorable when the image they are presented with matches their preconceived concept of what that person should look like. In certain situations, uniform can shape identity almost entirely.

If you're looking to update your wardrobe for yourself or a whole company, we can help you with that. Contact us to HERE to find out more.

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