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Over the past few years, both the course of business and many in-person interactions have shifted dramatically. Almost overnight the world went from business as usual to being locked down and encouraged to stay home, masking up and keeping a cautious, six-foot distance from others when about.

Luckily, with the introduction of vaccines that have helped to halt the spread of COVID-19, but things still aren’t the way they once were.

We may not have been able to predict these shifts in the economy and society, but we can do our best to respond to them.

Whether you’re rolling out new, custom name badges in response to the events of the pandemic, or you’re simply looking to improve company culture and improve the customer experience, photo ID badges for your staff are central.

Here’s why photo ID - and photo ID holders - are as important in 2022 as ever, if not more so.

Mask Up!

Many areas of the world are past the first stages of lockdown that were implemented in response to COVID-19. As the world recovers, it is still important to maintain safe practices in order to ensure everyone's safety.

Local and regional mandates notwithstanding, the Centers for Disease Control recommend that all individuals, regardless of vaccination status, should wear a mask for their own protection as well as for the safety of others. Some businesses have followed suit with their own requirements that employees and patrons must “mask up!”

Before the events of 2020, people routinely went about their business - personally and professionally - without a second thought for a protective or surgical facemask. It would have been considered anomalous to see a person walking about with one. Today, it has become the norm. For many of us, it is more jarring nowadays to see a person without a mask than with one.

The requirements to wear masks in places of business and public gathering might be beneficial to everyone’s health and safety, but they pose a distinct challenge to business owners - that of enforcing security protocols, managing employee workflows, and facilitating communication.

The masks certainly have their advantages, but they present some distinct challenges as well!

Who’s Who?

While some businesses required employees to wear display IDs and paired them with ID card holders before the pandemic, recently, it’s become even more useful. There’s just one simple problem - nowadays, traditional IDs, like key cards, access cards, and other plastic IDs aren’t much use if there’s no photo on them. Since everyone’s wearing a mask, you have to take it at face value that you’re talking to the person whose name is listed on the ID - no pun intended.

Masks may protect us from pathogens, but they remove a little bit of the human element from face-to-face interactions and make it very difficult to place a face to a name, much less tell at a glance who it is you’re speaking with.

Rolling out customized photo IDs and photo ID holders can significantly improve your employee communications and reintroduce the human element in your employee-to-customer interactions. Most importantly, it makes it easier for your employees and customers to associate names and faces without requiring them to violate mask requirements.

In 2022 and beyond, as people adapt to the new normal of partially-hidden visages, photo IDs have the potential to bring everything back down to earth, improving communication, personalizing the experiences between your employees and customers, and supporting your company protocols, including security and employee access and accountability.

Boost Communication, the Customer Experience, and Employee Morale

Naturally, rolling out custom photo IDs has other advantages as well. Their value doesn’t begin and end with supporting mask requirements - not by any stretch of the imagination.

Photo IDs make it easier for employees and customers alike to know who they’re really speaking to. It’s easy to overlook a name, or for anyone to pass off a name as their own, but it’s difficult if not impossible to fake a photo ID.

Customized photo IDs also improve the value and impression of your brand. Businesses looking for creative ways to expand their branding and the holistic impression of their employee uniforms should take advantage of our badge design and printing services.

It’s also worth noting the effects of what some are calling the “Great Resignation.” Employees, spurred by greater opportunities and more flexibility than ever before have been leaving their companies in droves. Better branding and personalization create a better employee experience. We can’t suggest that offering photo IDs will single handedly improve employee retention - but showing them you care will, and every little bit counts.

A Photo ID Holder That’s Better, Period

We may as well take this opportunity to mention that if you’re going to roll out new photo IDs for your employees you might as well go the extra yard to ensure that they’re visible. There’s no investing the effort, resources, and money to design and print new photo badges if you can’t keep them front and center.

Some employers require the use of neck lanyard badge holders, belt clips, reel clips, key chains, or retractable ID badge reels for specialist IDs. We’ve got something to pair with your lanyards that’s simply better by design.

Our Pure Clear^TM Badge Holders are more practical and better for the environment than those made of PVC. Instead, our PureClear^TM Badge Holders are made from EVA (Ethyl Vinyl Acetate) that contains fewer harmful chemicals than PVC and is considered much less damaging to the environment.

Environmental concerns aside, these photo ID badge holders can be mounted horizontally or vertically and are water-resistant, sealable, and contain an anti-transfer treatment, making them less likely to strip or transfer ink from IDs. This preserves both the clarity of the ID badge card holder and the integrity of the badge itself.

Design Your Own Here!

Whether you already have a fleet of photo IDs and simply need some highly durable, heavy-duty, reliable photo ID badge holders or you want to get started , we’re here to help.

Visit the previous link to use our design tools - you can print your IDs or choose for us to print them for you - and if you need any help, feel free to reach out to us at 800-563-2464.