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| by Kadephi Majola |
Introduction
Dress code refers to the required work
attire. A company may enforce a dress code for its employees. In most places
like financial institutions (banks), government departments (hospitals, SAPS,
post office), municipal departments (metro police & waste departments),
hospitality (restaurants & hotels), production companies (car dealers) and
supermarkets to name a few, all have uniforms / a dress code to identify their
employees. The corporate sector usually has a certain expectation of the way in
which their employees represent the company. This becomes part of developing the culture of
the organization.
Generally, the University of
KwaZulu-Natal’s dress code is restricted to Campus Management Services (CMS),
which includes Risk Management Services and cleaning departments. Most other
departments including the Library do not have a stipulated dress code, and
there is no binding policy that regulates the way we project the ‘company’ as
part of its cultural identity. Some departments have branded golf shirts to
identify themselves.
The UKZN libraries provides services
to the larger university community and external users of the libraries, which
includes other libraries, alumni students, the academic community in the
country and international users.
In the different libraries we have
security and cleaning staff who are easily identifiable by their particular
attire. Identifying the library staff which includes the day staff and night
staff (student assistants) as the library operates 24/7, is usually a problem
for new users of the library because they are not familiar with library staff. It
is problematic to identify staff members if they are not in their workstations.
This makes it seem as if we are not user friendly because there is no proper
identification of staff members. The provision of a dress code may enhance the
identity of library staff and potentially projecting the department in a
professional and positive manner.
Challenges
encountered by library staff
Library staff are faced with common
problems just like any other employees of the institution of higher learning. A
tough challenge is when staff have to patrol around the library checking on user
behavior. There are limited ways for users to identify staff members when
approached by them to remind library users of their behavior e.g. eating,
chatting with friends, having loud telephonic conversations and sitting in an inappropriate
manner, to mention just a few. Name badges may not be enough.
Some staff members are only a few
years older than some of our users, and as a result, users do not respect the
staff member and they do not take staff members seriously. In most cases users
do not know our names, they do
physical features descriptions when trying to identify a staff member, which is
not always appropriate. In most instances, the users refuse to obey the
library rules and they are arrogant and rebellious.
Recommendation
In order for staff members to provide
excellent service, they need to work in a conducive environment where their
human rights are recognized. As we are a diverse nation, we cannot ignore different
cultures and religions among the employees. We have to respect the different
cultures that we have in the workplace, which might prevent some employees from
complying with a certain dress code. Nametags or similar identification for
employees may get round this issue but it may not be enough to avoid any
confusion with regards to who is and is not a staff member. A dress code as
opposed to a uniform may help library staff be more easily identifiable to
users and help portray a good image and self-confidence.
