With "Dress for Your Day" policies proliferating across the profession, the days when accounting firms could tell staff what to wear are fading — but that doesn't mean they can't nudge them in a particular direction with a little firm-branded merchandise.
To be sure, no one is handing out free business suits with logos on them, but more and more of the Best Firms to Work For are giving out a broad range of goodies that build loyalty and team feeling.
At the basic end of the spectrum are the ubiquitous firm T-shirts that are handed out for summer outings, community service days and the like. While it may be tempting to go cheap when you're buying and screen-printing a gross of T-shirts, it's worth picking up clothing that will last, so that staff can wear them again and again.
T-shirts are only the beginning, though: Pennsylvania's Fischer Cunnane & Associates, for instance, provides free winter coats and golf shirts to employees.
Still other firms give staff a range of options. In Illinois, KRD gives staff a $100 KRD clothing allowance to choose from a provided selection. Many major brands like L.L. Bean and Land's End can help firms brand different types of clothes and other goods, while sites like Etsy can help you put your logo on a truly astonishing range of products.
The value of all this isn't just to hand out free stuff to staff (though you should never underestimate the value of free stuff); each time an employee jogs in that T-shirt or puts on that bucket hat or walks down the street in that branded winter coat, they're representing your firm.
"From Patagonia jackets to picnic blankets, we brand swag to make our team proud M&S ambassadors," explained Illinois' Mowery & Schoenfeld.
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