When I’m shopping at my local Publix or Target, it’s frustrating when I can’t find an employee to help me.
Maybe I’m looking for an item I can’t find, or perhaps I have a question about pricing. The reason doesn’t really matter; stores should make it easy to get help when you need it.
It may be hard to actually track down an employee in either one of those chains, but when I see one, I know who they are.
Target workers wear red shirts, and Publix employees wear green. There’s nothing overly stylish about the outfits (although Target has recently taken steps to fix that), but it makes it clear who works there.
That’s not how it works at Kroger, where employees can actually wear their own shirts. The retail giant, however, has just made a key move to fix that problem.
Kroger adds employee uniforms
Kroger’s new uniform will apply across all of the brands the company owns.
“The uniform refresh came directly from customer and associate feedback, and it is just one part of the ways we’re improving the shopping experience,” Kroger said in a statement, adding the uniform rollout has been completed and that “the early response has been positive.”
Kroger’s shirts feature the grocer’s shopping cart logo on the front and back and come in blue, red, and black, which each corporate division will choose from.
Employees will wear T-shirts or polos, while the grocery chain’s managers will don button-down shirts or quarter-zip jackets. Both managers’ and employees’ outfits will follow a blue, red, or black color scheme, depending on the store division they work in, Bloomberg reported.
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Kroger is doing this to help customers
Kroger isn’t making this change to stifle individualism. Instead, it’s solving a customer pain point.
The idea to update Kroger’s workwear rules came up approximately a year ago in response to customer feedback, Vice President of Human Resources Karl Neimann told Bloomberg.
“It really told us that our associates were not as visible or as available as maybe we had thought,” Neimann told the business website.
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The new rules will impact over 400,000 employees across all the Kroger brands.
“Associates appreciate the fit and the cohesive look, and customers are telling us our teams are easier to find,” Kroger told USA Today.
RTM Nexus CEO Dominick Miserandino thinks that Kroger has made the right move.
“I have a friend who’s a chef, Anthony, and people constantly mistake him for an employee when he’s shopping because he’s dressed nicely. That tells you something. Customers are looking for someone who looks like they can help. Kroger making employees easier to identify seems like a pretty simple way to improve the shopping experience,” he told TheStreet.
Kroger is focused on employees
New Kroger CEO Gregory Foran spoke about the role of the company’s workers in its success during the chain’s second-quarter earnings call.
“None of this works without great people. And that is why building a strong culture remains one of my highest priorities. Simplicity and focus matter. When the work is simpler, our associates spend more time with customers,” he said.
Kroger, he added, has made a key hire to enhance its workforce.
“This quarter, we welcomed Emily DeMartino as our chief people officer. Emily brings deep experience leading people teams in large frontline organizations. And she’s already shaping our focus on leadership and talent development,” he shared.
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