Branding Colors and the "Uniformed" Look

The other day I went into my local bank branch. One of the accent colors they use is a lime green. The color is in their logo, on their brochures, on the pens they give away, etc. As I was standing in line I noticed all the tellers had some shade of this color on some article of clothing. One man had a lime green shirt under a sweater vest, another man had lime green in his tie, a woman had a lime green shirt under her blouse. It started me thinking about the uniformed look and which would make more sense from a marketing and branding perspective.

Should a company that identifies itself so much by its branding colors offer their employees a few different uniforms to wear? In this case, because it wasn’t so much a uniform look as it was a splash of color, would the company be better served to dictate a uniform? My other thought was here is a person with a rather low paying job having to go out and buy clothing specifically for his job. It is not as though the colored items don’t serve a dual purpose and can be worn for regular clothing, but the color choice is a trend color not a classic color like navy blue or cardinal red. What happens when clothiers move onto other colors, where do these employees get their work clothes?

In addition, not everyone knows what shirt size they are or how it should look. So you might have a young, thin person with a collar that is obviously too big or perhaps sleeves that are too long. While trying to create a color-schemed wardrobe you become distracted by his clean yet disheveled appearance. Another cost comes in the form of dry cleaning. While some of these employees are still grasping the concept of ironing, some clothing is best left to the dry cleaner. If not ironed or dry cleaned, this branded color becomes more distracting and negatively reflects on the brand as employees walk around in wrinkled clothing.

So I ask again, would it not be in the best interest of the company whose colors so closely identify their branding to institute a uniform? And should the company, in lieu of a uniform, reimburse the hourly wage employee for clothing and cleaning where color is mandatory and a part of his employment?