Partnering with Uniformity for a Fresh New Look

In mid-2022, our organisation went through a full re-brand including changing the name from Fresh Hope/Fresh Hope Care to Fresh Hope Communities.   

 This re-branding project involved all facets of the organisation; from communications, technology, marketing, to operations and internal systems with our staff being the integral core of this.  

The uniforms are an important way to unite all residential care and retirement staff, across all departments and sites by cultivate a sense of belonging and aligning them with the mission and values of Fresh Hope Communities. 

 In creating a new uniform, we consulted with various members of our staff across the various residential care and retirement community services from nurses, clinical care teams, administrators, hospitality and maintenance team members, to lifestyle and wellbeing coordinators, through to cleaners and all the administrative team members who dedicate their days in service to our residents.  

 The Process of Working with Uniformity to Find the Perfect Solution   

 A review of the previous uniforms revealed that there was opportunity to source better uniforms that would be on brand, optimal for purpose, weather appropriate, fit for all our staff’s needs, and more comfortable and/or functional.  

 The objective when updating the uniforms was to ensure the above criteria were met, as well as engaging staff in the process to ensure they were involved in the decision making and that each of their personal choices were considered. 

 Our “Uniform Committee” was made up of staff from various departments, including the Procurement, Property, Corporate Communications, Residential Care, Retirement Living and People & Culture teams  They worked hard to ensure that our staff  at Fresh Hope Communities felt valued and respected, by providing them with a personal choice of colour selection and style so their uniform could represent them as best as possible. 

 The new uniforms coincide with three of the new brand colours (which closely matched Hunter Green, Royal Blue and Wine), and “off the shelf” styles, rather than a bespoke design.   

Fresh Hope Communities Brand Manager, Katie Ta’ala reflected, “In the consultation phase Uniformity was really helpful in providing us with lots of options to consider, including multiple styles, fabric and colour selections. As we wanted a uniform colour that was “off the shelf”, they were able to source fabric colours that were very close to our brand colours, thus making the procurement process efficient. We truly valued their partnership. It was wonderful to work with people who knew what they were doing.”   

 Uniformity initially came back with visual concepts for our Uniforms Committee’s review and feedback and physical samples were provided. A final samples range was then distributed by the committee over a 6-week period for our staff to provide their feedback. 

 Further tweaks were then made to the samples, taking on board our staff member’s feedback. It was important that we were listening to staff so that the end result was fit for purpose and something our staff members would enjoy wearing to work.  

 The self-service ordering portal was implemented on MyFreshHope and included access to handy measurement guides and detailed descriptions for each product, making it easy for staff to self-navigate and order what they needed. All compliance requirements stipulated by the Procurement team were met seamlessly—pardon the pun(!)—by Uniformity, including an additional security feature required by the ICT department to protect staff’s personal information.    

The End Results  

 In early 2024 the new uniforms were finalised and available for order, comprising three colours, Hunter Green, Royal Blue, and Wine in a broad range of styles. The uniforms are readily available and a stock service line means each staff member can order via the self-service portal.  

The self-service ordering hub enables staff the flexibility to select their uniforms – making it easy from an operations perspective to manage inventory. Staff have their own log in and can self-select.  

And as for the most popular colour? Hmm that’s a tricky one. Such a great selection to choose from however Wine appears to be a popular choice, but it does vary across all the sites.  

It has been a privilege to be able to work with Uniformity to see this project come to life. We are thankful that we have been able to provide these better fitting and well branded uniforms to our staff and look forward seeing our staff model them so wonderfully as do an incredible job creating a sense of belonging our residents and customers at each location.