Dress code in cold workplace

cats37

Our company has an open door policy so even though we have ceiling heaters it's still freezing in some parts of the store, it doesn't help that we are close to the entrance of the shopping centre which is always open. Ceiling heaters were fitted after I had to report the cold temperature of the store anonymously to the environmental health and safety officer of the council. The company wouldn't have fitted them as they apparently hadn't have the budget for it. Our uniform consists of a t-shirt and jumper. Even with the heating on I had to wear 3 other layers under my uniform and a bodywarmer on my jumper on colder days.
To get to the point the other day the divisional manager visited the store and asked my colleague to take off my bodywarmer ( some days she borrowed it when I wasn't too cold) saying " you can't be that cold you don't need to wear that". This happened while she was serving customers on the till. The area manager promised to purchase us fleeces to make us warmer at the same visit.
So did the divisional manager have the right to ask an employee to remove part of their clothing in low temperatures if they are not part of uniform but uniform is not warm enough? And to do this in front of customers?

lincroft1710

If the employee was not adhering to the company dress code, then a manager has every right to insist the employee adheres to the code. However there is a time and place for everything and a good manager would speak to the offending employee out of sight and sound of customers and certainly not when said employee was attending to customers.

cats37

As a manager I always talk about issues with colleagues off the shop floor so it was shocking from a senior manager to act like this, clearly not leading by example! But my my main concern is whether it's right to let the employee freeze because they can only wear the uniform which is not adequate for the store temperature?

lincroft1710

There are laws concerning minimum temperatures, does the shop meet these?

cats37

With the heating on some parts of the shop are above 16 degrees but some parts like the front can still be under the 16 degrees on cold days. At the beginning of this winter the heating wasn't working and the temperature was under 13 degrees for several days, the company advised us to have more hot drink breaks and "move quicker ". At this point I reported the issue to environmental health. After that the company installed the new heaters as the old ones couldn't be fixed and told environmental health we would get protective clothing which we are still waiting for.
However people take cold temperature differently, some people feel cold in higher temperatures and need more layers than others. Even with the heating on we had to wear more layers than just the uniform. And unfortunately there's a limit of layers you can wear under a jumper, this was when me and my colleague started wearing a bodywarmer on top.

Brynsam

katinkabodi wrote: »

Even with the heating on we had to wear more layers than just the uniform. And unfortunately there's a limit of layers you can wear under a jumper, this was when me and my colleague started wearing a bodywarmer on top.

Wear a larger size uniform top and you should be able to get adequate layers underneath, especially if you choose wisely - silk is thin and very warm; ditto modern thermals.

jonnygee2

The company wouldn't have fitted them as they apparently hadn't have the budget for it. Our uniform consists of a t-shirt and jumper. Even with the heating on I had to wear 3 other layers under my uniform and a bodywarmer on my jumper on colder days.

There is a uniform policy though. I understand employers need to be flexible for temperature, but if with 5 layers on you still aren't warm enough in 16 degrees I can see why their patience is wearing thin.

You can increase the warmth of your underlayers. But if you keep flouting the uniform policy and adding layers over your uniform you are going to get in trouble.

A good quality thermal t shirt preserves so muxh body heat most people would find them uncomfortable in temperatures over about 10 degrees when combined with a t shirt and jumper.

Les79

katinkabodi wrote: »

As a manager I always talk about issues with colleagues off the shop floor so it was shocking from a senior manager to act like this, clearly not leading by example! But my my main concern is whether it's right to let the employee freeze because they can only wear the uniform which is not adequate for the store temperature?

Are you a manager? I'm surprised you aren't telling the divisional manager to jog on, "my shop my rules" etc. That's what I'd be inclined to say in response. Though I've never been promoted to managerial level, I suspect mainly because I do have this belly fire and it flares up occasionally.


Aside from that, I feel that your point about where the colleague was spoken to (at the till) is potentially more of a style preference than anything bad. Your method involves talking to people off the shop floor, however three thoughts on that:


- It could be time-consuming to pull off a till worker, go to the office, have your say, then get them set back up.


- It could blow something minor out of proportion, because it has a more formal feel to it


- It hinders the ability to address something IMMEDIATELY.

cats37

I was sent to the office to print reports when this happened and my colleague only told me about the incident after the divisional and area manager left. Believe I'm not the type of manager who puts up with this kind of behaviour against any of my colleagues!
I agree that some minor issues can be addressed on the shop floor but I always avoid issues being heard by customers or other colleagues.

pmduk

katinkabodi wrote: »

After that the company installed the new heaters as the old ones couldn't be fixed and told environmental health we would get protective clothing which we are still waiting for.

Environmental Health might help if they were somehow to hear that the promised protective clothing hasn't arrived. Do you belong to Usdaw? They should be helping with this.

Savvy_Sue

I see quite a few shops now who very definitely have a closed door policy, for environmental reasons, and make it a 'selling point' to their customers. You may not be able to get the doors of the shopping centre closed but I'd definitely raise this as a money saving and feel-good-for-customers suggestion!