Jump to content
Home
Forum
Articles
About Us
Tapestry

Am I being petty?


Guest
 Share

Recommended Posts

I work four long days (8-6) Mon - Thur in a day nursery. We recently have been given new uniforms. Everyone, regardless of hours/days worked has been issued with two polo shirts and a cardigan - all branded. Try as I may, it is a real effort to turn around the shirts to wear one clean each day, because as I no longer have children at home, my laundry is done once a week. The items say no tumble dry, so I am washing both shirts on a Tuesday evening (7pm), with only a couple of other items, hanging them in the airing cupboard, but having to get up at 5 when the heating comes on to finish the one for that day off on the radiator! It is really annoying and the company has said we can order extra shirts at a cost of £15 each! I have bought new trousers to match the colour and new shoes so it all looks neat, but I am very reluctant to fork out for a shirt that will be of no use to me personally!

 

Any views on this?

Edited by Phoebe123
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Has your setting got any old shirts (from people that have left) that you can 'recycle' that you can give a good wash and so not have to pay for a new one...not appealing idea but it means you save money.... :huh:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

may not be what you want to hear but I do think it fair to ask you to pay for the convenience of having more shirts .. we did the same a max of 3 items.. and staff paid for extras.. you say it is of no use to you personally, but that is what you are paying for, the personal convenience of not having to do a wash so often

 

there is always the option to hand wash one each evening to rotate them and they would dry in time.. and machine wash at weekends..

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I agree with Inge. My staff have the same, I really don't mind if on the odd occasion they wear one of the old ones, as long as its just for once every now and then. Because we alo wear fleeces, it doesn't show if they keep zipped up!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

No old shirts because change of colour scheme! I take your point Inge - it is for my convenience, as you say, but that is why I am asking opinions before speaking up. Thanks for your suggestions re handwashing!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Sorry, but my view is completely different. Thankfully I've not worked in a setting where I have to wear a uniform, apart from tabbards. However,if I was expected to wear a particular uniform top, I'm afraid I would hope to be supplied with enough so I didn't have to wash one out every evening, especially if I worked 8 to 6!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My staff get issued with two shirts and a fleece - any extra has to be paid for by them - and we do the recycling thing also, uniform is a big expense in any setting, and as such if staff want more than the regular issue they do have to foot some of the bill, if they worked in an office they would have to pay for all of their clothes, so a bonus really getting stuff provided. I seem to recall there is a tax concession for uniform laundering ? might be worth a look on the HMRC site ? :1b

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've just opened a new setting and for staff working 5 days a week (myself and my business partner) we have 3 polo shirts. We have a new member of staff starting in Jan who will be working 4 days a week and we asked if 2 polo shirts would be ok. She said yes as we are also paying for fleeces too. I think 1 polo shirt in the wash and 1 to wear is fair. Our uniform is embroidered with the setting name and the staff members name so we can't recycle shirts if our new member of staff leaves, but if she wanted more I'm sure she would be willing to pay the £10.56 including vat that it would cost for another shirt with embroidery.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My view is that if you were not provided with ANY uniform, you would be paying for all of your work clothes yourself so actually, it is much cheaper only having to buy a few pairs of trousers and some extra tops.

 

Though if you were buying them yourself, you'd be more likely to spend £5 per shirt than £15. I know my work clothes came from Primark before we had uniform ;-)

 

Our uniform is based on how often people are in, so I have 4 shirts for working 5 days, our relief lady has 1 shirt. We had the shirts embroidered with names, but as they're embroidered, when people leave, we'll get the name unpicked and redone - not as crisp as the original, but cheaper than buying more!

 

We have a few of the old shirts in the building so if anyone gets sicked on, they can change into clean uniform. At least 1 of the girls has an old shirt at home too as she had 1 on the other day.

 

The other thing I though of, is there a washing machine at work and would you be allowed to use that? Wear clean shirt first day, clean the second and bring dirty shirt to wash in the morning with other staff member's shirts, dry at work over the day so it's nealry dry when you go home? Not ideal as everyone likes different laundry products.

 

Our staff do laundry at home, but if anyone is sicked on, their stuff goes in the work machine (handled with gloves) on a rinse cycle then wash with bio powder.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share

×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue. (Privacy Policy)