McDonald's issues new uniforms in a "Mark of respect"

By Alex Manchester, Editor, The Internal Comms Hub (Australia), Melcrum

Designed by Bruce Oldfield – suits and blouses for managers, two-tone for the kitchen including polo shirts, and currently it's only for the 67,000 UK McDonald's employees, not in the States.

"A move to look more healthy" and, "pushing towards Paul Smith" believes Guardian assistant fashion editor Hadley Freeman, while McDonald's is quoted on the BBC as saying its new designer uniforms are "a mark of respect for staff in a challenging job".

What do you think? Is this but a small part of making employees feel good about their work? I've never really thought Macca's clothing was bad. Out of the ones on the left I'd say one looks alright the other less so, but it's certainly not the worst public corporate uniform by any means. My first ever work experience slot when at school, aged 14, was at a supermarket. The polyester trousers, lairy orange check shirt, and matching polyester waistcoat..... well, it wasn't something you'd want to wear down the pub.

Hadley Freeman could be right. With its push towards healthier meals and improving public perception, a new snazzy uniform may certainly reflect positively on the business, but it has to be part of a bigger puzzle, right?

Case in point: One of my favourite Australian companies is Virgin Blue, the interstate and NZ wing of Virgin. Superb service, good prices, a sensible check-in system, happy staff and pretty cool uniforms (stylish, fitted white shirts on top for both males and females). Virgin Blue's culture is reflected in everything they do and it's pretty impressive.

McDonald's is clearly making long-term, company-wide changes and improvements in order to maintain itself. It will be interesting to see what else they have in store for their employees.

(Picture via the BBC)

Comments

[Jasbinder]

By all means update the superficial as part of a culture change programme. But it's brown - or 'mocha' as the company calls it. I know it's trying to compete against Starbucks, but it would be interesting to see how the design was linked to vision and values. Green might have been a stronger bet considering the position McDs is trying to adopt.

[Annie Waite]

Those scarves look a bit cumbersome. Still, it'll probs become a collector's item in years to come!

[Alex Manchester]

@Jasbinder What are those values you mention and do you mean "green" as in healthy ingredients or environment? Could be either at the moment.

From the news stories it's clear the idea was to make the uniforms more stylish for the benefit and pride of the staff, as opposed to demonstrating conscientiousness (even if the two are closely linked for some). And I'm not convinced that uniforms would be the most effective way to promote moral messages, not blatantly anyway.