Colleague Dress Standards for Customer Facing Roles

Last Updated 31 Jul 2025 in Ways of Working

Overview

We have Society Dress Standards for all Colleagues within our diverse business.

Colleague Dress Standards Policy - Support Centres, Coop Energy & Phone Coop

Colleague Dress Standards Policy For Customer Facing Roles

Each policy covers:

Guidelines on what is considered to be acceptable clothing and appearance for the workplace
Examples of unacceptable clothing and appearance
What happens if colleagues don’t conform to the policy

The purpose of this policy is to provide colleagues working in customer facing roles with guidance to enable them to achieve appropriate standards of appearance and personal presentation. The way colleagues dress and their appearance are important in portraying a professional image to people we come in contact with, whether that person is a colleague, a customer or a member.

The guidelines below set out common dress standards applicable to all customer facing roles in the Society’s business groups. In addition, please also refer to your individual business trading group section for additional dress standards applicable to your business group.

If you work in one of our support centres (including head office), a different dress code applies to you and can be found here.

This policy is non-contractual and the Society may amend it at any time.

Who is Responsible for this Policy?

All colleagues are responsible for ensuring that they adhere to this policy at all times. If you require guidance, you should speak to your line manager.

All managers are responsible for providing guidance to colleagues, where required. You are also required to monitor dress standards to ensure colleagues are adhering to this dress code.

Maintaining appropriate standards of dress is important and if colleagues repeatedly or unreasonably fail to meet the standards in this policy, it may result in disciplinary action being taken.

Acceptable Appearance

This is to be read in conjunction with the specific guidance for your business group. Illustrative examples of acceptable appearance are set out below, please note this is not an exhaustive list. Consideration and allowance will be made for religious, cultural and medical reasons where appropriate. Where you are unable to meet the standards of appearance for any reason you must make your line manager aware.

Professional work attire	Please refer to your specific business group section within this policy, which will contain clear guidelines.
Footwear	Footwear must be safe, sensible, in good working order, smart and clean and have regard to health and safety considerations.
Tattoos	Visible tattoos must be appropriately covered whilst at work. Inoffensive tattoos located on wrists, hands, neck, or other difficult to cover locations are acceptable. Tattoos which contain offensive language, nudity, weapons or other imagery which could cause offence, must be covered at all times. This should be done with clothing, but in extreme circumstances may requires the application of skin coloured plaster.
Jewellery & Piercings	Colleagues are permitted to wear watches. Jewellery and piercings must be discreet and appropriate. Where jewellery or piercings are a health and safety hazard, they should be removed during working hours. The Society strongly recommends that colleagues do not wear expensive jewellery to work. Any loss or damage is the colleagues responsibility.
Name Badges & Identity Cards	Name badges or identity cards should be in the colleagues possession at all times.
Accessories	Colleagues can wear service pins. Colleagues can also wear Society approved charity pins. A single poppy or poppy pin badge may be worn, by choice, at the appropriate time of year. The wearing of pins is always subject to health and safety considerations within the role.
Personal Hygiene	Personal hygiene is very important and requires careful attention at all times. Colleagues must maintain acceptable standards of hygiene and should have clean hands and nails at all times. To ensure our workplace remains healthy and comfortable for all, colleagues should be discreet when wearing fragrance.
Hair, Makeup	Hair must be neat and tidy at all times and make-up should be subtle. Facial hair must be clean, neat and well maintained. Nail varnish should be discreet, and if worn should be neat and well maintained. In a customer facing role, colleagues should not adopt extreme hair colours or styles.
Food and chewing gum in the workplace	Colleagues should not chew gum during working time and must refrain from eating in view of customers.

Uniform Guidelines

For those colleagues that are required to wear a uniform, the relevant business group will provide colleagues with the correct uniform which must be correctly worn at all times. Uniform will be issued on commencement of employment and re-issued when necessary at the manager’s discretion. All requests for replacement uniform should be made through your line manager. Please note consideration and allowance will be made for religious, cultural and medical reasons, wherever appropriate.

If necessary, minor alterations to uniforms are permitted, subject to the agreement of the colleagues manager, providing they are carried out in a neat and professional manner. Any alterations can only be carried out with the permission of the line manager and their agreement on costs.

Where issued with a uniform, it is essential that the uniform is cared for in order to maintain an appropriate standard of appearance and personal presentation. Colleagues should not wear the uniform for any activity not associated with the Society or its business.

When a colleague leaves the Society all Society paid for uniform and all other Society property should be returned to their manager within one week of leaving, the Society reserves the right to withhold the cost of items not returned from any payments outstanding.

The majority of customer facing roles have uniform requirements as stated by business group. Where a colleague does not have a specific uniform requirement, they should wear appropriate business attire. If you are unsure whether clothing is acceptable you should seek guidance from your line manager.

Warm Weather

Although the Society recognises that warm weather can be uncomfortable, it is important that the standards of this policy are adhered to at all times by colleagues and managers.

Dress Down/Dress up Days

The Society will communicate to colleagues in advance of any guidelines that should be followed when dress down/dress up days are planned. Colleagues are expected to exercise common sense when choosing clothing for dress down days. In addition to any guidelines, at no time are offensive words, slogans or images be acceptable on clothing worn to work.

Breaching Dress Standards

The line managers should ensure that they adopt a consistent approach when ensuring compliance with this policy. If they have any doubt, please refer to HR for further guidance. Line managers are reminded that care should be taken to ensure that reasonable, confidential and culturally sensitive conversations take place with the colleague and that the standards laid out in this policy are applied fairly.

If a colleague breaches this policy, the line manager should discuss their concern with the colleague in the first instance and remind the colleague of this policy. Where the colleague is not dressed in line with this policy the colleague will be asked to correct the problem. This may be achieved by one of the following:

The colleague will be asked to remove the offending garment (if it is appropriate to do so) or article which does not comply with the standard e.g. nose ring, cardigan etc.
The colleague will be asked to return home to change their clothes or amend their appearance to comply with the policy and return to work as soon as possible. In this event, the colleague is expected to make up their lost time to avoid any disruption to their pay.
Where a colleagues appearance cannot be remedied by returning home to change their clothes, the resolution needs to be considered on an individual basis and managers should email hr.advice@micounties.coop for advice.

In all circumstances where it has been necessary for the line manager to discuss a colleague’s appearance, the details must be recorded. It is the manager’s responsibility to ensure that the colleague returns to their duties displaying the correct standard of appearance.

The Society reserves the right to instigate the formal disciplinary procedure in respect of any colleagues who consistently breach this policy in accordance with the Society’s disciplinary policy.

If colleagues or managers are in any doubt as to what is or is not appropriate, they should speak to their Line Manager in the first instance or should email hr.advice@micounties.coop for advice.

Policy name:	Colleagues Dress Standards for Customer Facing Roles	Date of last review:	June 2025
Policy owner:	People Team	Issue number:	002

Coop Food

Coop Food provides all colleagues with a uniform which must be correctly worn at all times. This will be issued on commencement of employment and re-issued when necessary at the manager’s discretion. Please note consideration and allowance will be made for religious, cultural and medical reasons where appropriate.

Uniform

Customer Service Assistant and Team Leader

Polo shirt

Black trousers or skirt (if tights are worn these should be plain and not patterned)

A fleece

Team Managers and Store Managers

White shirt or blouse (a polo shirt can be worn if provided) Black trousers or skirt

Fleece

Ties are not a requirement, although the manager may choose to wear one

Additional Professional Appearance standards and Health and Safety Requirements

Footwear

Plain dark coloured flat full shoes must be worn, which provide protection against hazards in the working environment.

Hair

Long hair which can be tied back must be tied back whilst in any food preparation area, or whilst working on the shop floor.
Hair nets and snoods must be used in food preparation to cover all hair, including facial hair. Store managers must ensure they are available for colleagues to use.

Jewellery

Any jewellery should not be excessive, unconventional or pose a health and safety risk.
No hoop or low hanging earrings are permitted. Body piercings other than earrings must be discreet.
No large fashion rings (e.g. rings with stones) are permitted.
All piercings must be removed when a colleague is working in a food preparation area.

Coop Post Office

Coop Post Office provides all colleagues with a uniform which must be correctly worn at all times. Uniform will be issued on commencement of employment and re-issued when necessary at the manager’s discretion. Please note consideration and allowance will be made for religious, cultural and medical reasons where appropriate

Uniform

Uniform	Long sleeved Shirt (plain or striped) A black jersey top lack trousers/skirt Black Jumper or Black Cardigan with Red Trim Tie or scarves are optional.
Footwear	The heel of the shoe should be flat or of a suitable/practical height. Open toed shoes and sling backs are not permitted.
Hosiery	Dark socks are to be worn. If tights are worn these should be plain and not patterned.
Jewellery	Wedding bands, engagement rings and signet rings are the only items of rings permitted. Only one necklace to be worn. Only one pair of earrings are permitted, no hoop or low hanging earrings are permitted. Only one bracelet to be worn.

Coop Childcare

Coop Childcare provides all colleagues with a uniform which must be correctly worn at all times including during training, meetings and conferences. Uniform will be issued on commencement of employment and re-issued when necessary at the manager’s discretion. All uniform renewals must be authorised by the nursery manager. Please note consideration and allowance will be made for religious, cultural and medical reasons where appropriate.

Upon receipt of the uniform the colleague must update the uniform log sheet (Appendix A) to confirm receipt.

Your Co-op Childcare Nurseries / Your Co-op Little Pioneers Nurseries

Colleagues are provided with short sleeved polo shirts with the Your Co-op Childcare/Little Pioneers logo. Name badges are provided.

All colleagues are required to wear the uniform provided along with smart plain dark-coloured trousers or skirts (‘cargo’ trousers/shorts or clothing with multiple pockets are not permitted), dark socks and plain dark-coloured flat full shoes. A fleece/coat will be available for outdoor wear.

Uniform

Full time Colleagues

3 x polo shirts

1 x name badge

Part time Colleagues (under 40 hours)

2 x polo shirts

1 x name badge

Additional Professional Appearance standards and Health and Safety Requirements

Footwear

Colleagues working in the baby rooms must wear indoor shoes, when going outside they should change their shoes and provision will be made for the storage of these in the room, so they are to hand.

Hair

If hair is long it should be tied back when working with children. Staff must assess whether hair clips and pins are necessary, safe and suitable.
Hair must be neat and tidy at all times

Nails

Nails should be kept short, clean, and tidy, no chipped nail varnish. Length must be considered, to ensure practicality and use, poising no danger of scratching or catching a child accidentally. Nails should not protrude from the end of the finger. Acrylic /gel / false nails must not have embellishments attached that could fall off. Shape and style must be considered, no points, or talon or claw type nails will be allowed. Should concern be raised about a colleagues nails, the person maybe be asked to address a change immediately, this may involve shortening, removing, changing style or nail polish. Nail varnish, gels and acrylic nails are not permitted for colleagues preparing nursery meals.

Jewellery

Must be limited to a watch (smart watches are not permitted). Wedding and engagement rings can be worn providing they are not dangerous to the children. Medic alert bracelets may be worn where required.

Piercings and Tattoos

No visible body piercings (regardless of size) are permitted. Piercings not visible must be taken out whilst in the nursery, as there is a danger they may fall out and be picked up by a child.

Tattoos which contain offensive language, nudity, weapons or other imagery which could cause offence, must be covered at all times. This should be done with clothing, but in extreme circumstances may require the application of a skin coloured plaster. Inoffensive tattoos located on wrists, hands, neck or other difficult to cover locations are acceptable.

Coop Travel

Cooperative Travel provides all colleagues with a uniform which must be correctly worn at all times. Uniform will be issued on commencement of employment and re-issued when necessary at the manager’s discretion. Please note consideration and allowance will be made for religious, cultural and medical reasons where appropriate.

It is the travel Branch Manager’s responsibility to order uniform for branch colleagues, this can be done via Travel Central Operations. Whenever an offer of employment is made, the new colleagues size should be obtained and the order placed to allow ample time for delivery to be made in time for the commencement with the Society.

Uniform

Top	The standard allocation is two jackets and three blouses/shirts.
Trousers/ Skirt	The standard allocation is two pairs of trousers/skirt. Trousers should be of correct length covering the top of the shoe.
Scarf/Tie	The standard allocation is one scarf/tie. Ties must not be loosened or removed. Society-provided scarves can be worn around the neck by female colleagues as part of their uniform.
Shoes	All colleagues must wear shoes with a sensible heel when wearing a skirt. Boots with skirts are unacceptable. Sandals, sling backs and backless shoes are acceptable during warmer weather. Boots may be worn under trousers in the colder months.