I have never really appreciated the importance of an employee name tag, until recently.

Since I work for a moving company, I have a chance make many stops. This is how I ended up visiting a shop which is among the ones which offer discounts.

Here, you will see employees wearing blue vests that are wrinkled and the tags which hold the names of employees are either missing, or do not contain any name! I am certain you get my drift!

Good Help is sure hard to find…

Here, getting a person to assist you is like asking for blood! I approached one attendant and enquired from him where I could locate lap desks. He stared at me like I was an alien from space, raised his eyebrows and set his mouth in a sneer. I felt so humiliated!

Angry, I checked his name tag and all it contained were two letters…’Se’! He took one look at my angry face and composed himself, saying that he thought I had said laptops!

I thought to myself, was good customer care really this hard to get? Was it impossible to even get guidance? I stared at his employee name tag which had missing letters. How different things would be if the name tag had a complete name!

If I had known the employee by name, I may have managed to establish a type of bond with him. I would have gotten him to find out the possible location of the lap desks. I stormed off in a huff and ended up making my purchase elsewhere.

The Effectiveness of a Name Tag for Employee

Then I remembered stopping at a hardware store a week back and encountering Alex who works there. The initial time I came across him, I was searching for screws (double-headed). His name tag portrayed his name clearly in huge bold letters.

Unlike with ‘Se’ I was not reluctant to request for assistance. This is because he had already informed me what his name was. Alex directed me to the cabinet which held the screws, enquired what I required them for and even gave suggestions on how to handle the project.

It turned out that Alex was a former carpenter who got hurt while working. I have now visited this store for three years now. And it all began with his employee name tag.

In Denmark, individuals are not comfortable requesting for assistance. Therefore employee name tags, or “navneskilte” as they call them, give the message that ‘in case you need me, I am here.’ I have met many people through the employee name tag they wear, such as my florist Margie, who is aware of which flowers my wife adores and Mike who serves me coffee when I visit his coffee shop.

This makes one think of how vital names are for each person. They encourage contact and lead to awareness. With time, they forge links between client and employee.

A name tag triggers the start of bonding. If the name tag of ‘Se’ had provided his full name, maybe today I would be his most regular client…who knows!