Uniforms For the Help Desk?

An anonymous reader writes "I am an IT worker in a mid sized company with approximately 500 employees. There are 30 people on the IT staff, 6 of whom are on the help desk. Our help desk does have significant visibility in the company, and most people know us by face (some by name). Recently the idea has been floated up the management chain to have these help desk workers wear IT department branded shirts. The idea is to promote visibility and unity. Wearing of these shirts would be mandatory Monday through Thursday. The shirts would not be identical (there would be several styles offered). We would be the only department with specific garments outside of the normal business casual dress code. Is management out of line with the industry in promoting this sort of policy change? Is the singling out of 6 employees as 'the IT guys' a step in the right direction, or does it detract from the professionalism that we are trying to display as a department?"

Comments

Tell it to the plastic clown

[Anonymous Coward]

To me, it's a little close to wearing a fast food uniform. It would bug me.

Re:Tell it to the plastic clown

[emc]

yeah, maybe someone should ask why management isn't wearing department specific garments that say "management" on them.

What do you think a tie actually is?

Re:Tell it to the plastic clown

[Red Flayer]

Good point. I would have to see the uniforms before passing judgment. Without further information, I would say that in general, uniforms marginalize individuals and make them feel like a smaller cog in the machine.

I've seen the uniforms. I have no problem with wearing one of them, as long as it isn't the red one.

BOSS: Ensign Flayer, you and Scotty head over to the VP of Marketing's office to troubleshoot his docking station.
ME: FUCK

Re:Tell it to the plastic clown

[adamstew]

or "Beardo the Bearded"

Re:Tell it to the plastic clown

[rtfa-troll]

Are surgeons (who have to wear scrubs)

It's the fact that surgeons don't wear scrubs when meeting patients which shows exactly what the difference is here

and airline pilots (who have to wear uniforms)

More interesting, but these are quite specifically officers uniforms. Uniforms often have specific meaning and represent power only through authority. Approximately as follows: cleaner / fast food attendant / security guard / soldier / nurse / policeman / fireman / doctor(?) / officer / judge

by working out which group your uniform is based on (in this case, I guess security guard) you can guess what they are saying about social status.

Re:Tell it to the plastic clown

[rtb61]

As long as uniforms are there to bridge the gap between, more formal office attire and shop floor clothing. Working at a desk and getting under one and in other messy places to check the connections, as well as carting around dusty computers, is rather messy for more formal attire. Likely the real reason for the uniform is so that you will stand out, so when your walking past or in the vicinity they can spot you and grab you to immediately to assist them.

This creates a new problem for support in keeping track of the company food chain and making sure those higher up get served first and those lower down get served last and making it politely clear to those waiting why they are waiting, or why you must continue on to assist someone else.

It will work like this, you leave your desk to assist one person and on the way there and on the way back other people will pester you to solve all kinds of trivial junk because you are handy and, then everyone will complain that you are never at your desk. After that comes a mobile connection so no matter where you are in the office, toilet, lunch, working under a desk with cables, you are expected to answer the phone to solve problems. Uniforms equals computer janitors.

Re:Tell it to the plastic clown

[Tracy Reed]

I thought it was to hold the foreskin back.

Re:Tell it to the plastic clown

[EdIII]

All those garment suggestions do spell out, however, is "mismanagement".

It's not mismanagement at all. It is the difference between blue collar workers and white collar workers.

Janitorial staff wears a uniform. Fast food workers wear a uniform. Security guards wear a uniform.

The management over there clearly sees IT as a bunch of over paid blue collar workers that only do what they do since they could not get an MBA from an Ivy League school. I may be over reacting here, but I see it as flat out disrespect.

On another note, it absolutely sends the wrong message. People in uniforms take them off at the end of the day. In my mind, it provides a logical disconnect once 5pm hits and they can leave and take off the uniform. No more loyalty, no dedication to the company, no doing whatever it takes to get the job done right. No disrespect to uniformed workers, intended, but seriously, what vested interest do they have in the company? They are hourly workers with poor benefits usually that can get treated like crap.

Uniforms just suck in my opinion. I worked too hard to be able to do what I do in my field to get to wear a uniform and just clock in. That's not my mentality. I take my job seriously and just do whatever it takes to make sure everything is running with best practices, redundancy, failover, etc.

A uniform would seem to put a serious hit on morale for IT workers that are really worth something.

I like uniforms

[Mike Buddha]

I haven't had to wear one in almost 20 years, but when I did, I liked it, because then I didn't have to think about what I was going to wear to work.

Maybe they're trying to send you guys a not-so-subtle message that maybe your business casual is a bit too casual?

Nothing wrong with the idea

[Petersko]

If you're like most companies that are trying to keep a "helpdesk-centric" model going, your group is the forward face of IT, and the contact point. Help desks aren't about strong individuality - they're about consistency/uniformity of service. I don't see why the idea couldn't be extended to wearing branded shirts.

When your skills outgrow the help desk - and they should - consider losing the uniform as a perk of advancement.

Say goodbye to your lunchbreak

[L3370]

With conspicious uniforms mandated for your help desk and NO ONE ELSE, I'd imagine it equivalent to taping a bulls-eye to your back on a battlefield.

This may be the desired effect from management but the HD will probably despise it. Every time a coworker passes by you and your neat little t-shirt, it will remind them about that computer problem that just cant wait untill you are done eating...or smoking that cigarette, or taking a leak in the public restroom.

I know that this feeling is already experienced by those of us in IT, but I think this would worsen the problem.

Oblig.

[Weaselmancer]

"You know, the Nazis had pieces of flair that they made the Jews wear."

Re:Well...

[Vindicator9000]

Funny, but my company did just mandate blaze orange shirts for all front line IT staff. I can't for the life of me figure out who thought that was a good idea. Mine comes in Monday. We can also wear Navy. I think I'm going to get an equal number of pairs of blaze orange and navy pants and alternate them daily. Personally, I find it extremely condescending. I'm required to design and maintain hundreds of databases, several servers, write apps, troubleshoot network problems, manage million dollar projects, AND do desktop support for 2000 devices with 3 other IT people for $40K/year. And now this. No wonder I've thrown my hands up today and am now posting on slashdot. Yes, I'm looking for a way out.

Well, it is still nonsense then.

[jotaeleemeese]

"Likely the real reason for the uniform is so that you will stand out, so when your walking past or in the vicinity they can spot you and grab you to immediately to assist them."

The only way to organize technical support in a big company (and 500 people is quite big already) is to prioritize the work.

What you suggest above is anathema to proper prioritization. Nothing kills planning like doing adhoc work.

Hey Helpdesk Agent, come look at my problem too.

[pentalive]

Last place I worked we told everyone "Please call the help desk at extension xxxx, I can't help you without a trouble ticket" We justified it to the bosses with the "prioritization" argument.