LOOK GOOD, FEEL GOOD Outfitting staff in branded gear can have many benefits. How well does it suit your operation? By Bob Curley
18 [www.adventureparkinsider.com]
For the price of a t-shirt, adventure parks can improve employee morale, enhance their marketing, ease communication between staff and guests, and boost compliance with safety instructions. Logoed, color-coded t-shirts project an image of organization and safety-consciousness—the latter especially important as parks cope with the challenges of operating amid the pandemic. “Perception is really big. If you look neat, it makes it look like you have a plan,” says Rebecca Bleeker of Adventure Suppliers LLC, a full-service advertising specialties company that provides custom logoed staff gear to several aerial adventure operations. Guests want to know if you care about the details, she adds, and a sharply dressed staff in branded gear helps give the impression that you do. “That’s
always important, but especially in this climate.” PSYCHOLOGICAL IMPACT
“If the fire department showed up all willy nilly, how would you feel?” asks John Hines, owner of The Adventure Park at Sandy Spring in Maryland. “If everyone dresses in whatever they want, you’re not projecting the image that you have your act together.” The Adventure Park has had employee uniforms for years, but the park’s approach to employee appearance standards has evolved dramatically. “Five years ago, we would put out a box of t-shirts and toss one of them to new employees. If they lost it, they would just grab another out of the box,” Hines recalls. “We didn’t treat it with respect, so the staff didn’t, either.”
Now, Hines ensures employee buy-in— literally—by deducting the cost of the uniform from the pay that new employees receive for their training. It’s not a huge financial hit: For $28, workers get a drawstring bag filled with two shirts, a sweatshirt, and a pair of leather climbing gloves. Psychologically, however, “That’s much more impactful than taking something from a box,” he says. Psychology actually plays a huge role in the form and function of uniforms, says Michael G. Pratt, Ph.D., director of the Management & Organization Department at the Carroll School of Management at Boston College. “Uniforms create a sense of ‘groupness,’ of being part of something bigger than yourself,” says Pratt. Plus, uniforms convey authority, which