Your receptionist came in this morning wearing pink Capri pants to the knee and a tank top – pretty and sexy, but ooo la la, so wrong for your front desk. Your Office Manager appeared in a beautiful dress perfect for a wedding reception. The assistant rode her motorcycle to work and so wore a pair of blue jeans and a black t-shirt, and her hair was squished flat by the helmet.
Not wanting to appear to be “the bad guy” and say anything, you bite your tongue and hope the patients don’t notice or object to the inappropriate attire of one and all.
The question is: Where do you draw the line on the extremes and what is acceptable?
2 Possible Solutions:
First:
Buy uniforms for everyone and insist they wear them and that they are neat, clean and well-pressed. For many types of offices, this is the tried and true method of handling the situation. Also, for cleanliness reasons, it is more appropriate than street attire in some clinics.
Nowadays, you can buy amazing uniforms that don’t even look like uniforms as they are so ultra-modern and chic with interchangeable pieces. Also, a lot of staff prefer uniforms because they can save money on buying work clothes and have more to spend on after hours clothing and party clothes, etc.
Second:
Or you can set practice policy on what types of clothing are acceptable and up to the standards you have for the outward image of your practice. It IS a professional health clinic and therefore, there is a certain professionalism that is required for good public relations and image.
You could have your staff compile a picture booklet of types of clothing that are acceptable to you. Leave out the leggings, the sexy clothes, the too-casual look, the blue jeans, the flip-flops, the messy boots, the too-tight clothing, the party dress, wrinkled clothing, etc. Once you have the booklet prepared, this will be the guidelines for all to fall within and new staff can be quickly grooved in on it.
Grooming
Hair, nails, and make-up are also part of the PR presentation that your staff make to your public.
Your professionalism is reflected by your staff. To grow your practice, one of the key promotional actions is to present a great image to your public.
