How important is it to maintain the correct way volunteers wear their uniforms?  

They come in with the wrong color of pants, or turtlenecks instead of their issued shirts, etc.  Other than a bad impression,  Is this an important battle to fight?  Does Joint Commission have anything to say about it?    

I'm firm on this topic. The volunteers are representing our hospital and my department, so I expect them to maintain certain standards in their appearance. We have expanded some of our color choices to help with this, but all volunteers are expected to wear the prescribed uniform. For us, this means the pink (women) or burgundy (men) jacket/vest/shirt issued by Volunteer Services, along with a solid white top underneath the jacket or vest, and khaki or black pants. Some of our long time female volunteers who are very traditional still wear white pants, and that's okay too.

I too have been addressing issues of lack of compliance.  Volunteers are supposed to wear red top with navy, khaki, black or white slacks/skirt/capre slacks for ladies.  No shorts, No jeans and recently added No leggings.  Our surveyors have never mentioned anything regarding volunteer appearance.  In our long term care facility it is very lax due to the environment; but, the main hospital is more enforced.  Red cotton t-shirts were purchased for those who do gardening (at no cost to the volunteer).  I stress at my annual training the need to wear the appropriate attire.  I bring samples and do a show and tell.  I also put it as a question on the post test for training.  The show and tell is a bit elementary, but, it gets the point home.  We also have a corporate wide policy of "natural" hair color, covering inappropriate tattoo's and face piercings.  These issues are stated at interview.

We have gone away from volunteer uniforms. The only things we issue are polos for teens. They are to wear black or khaki pants with the navy blue polo that I provide. Adults are to follow the dress code for employees: business casual. We also have the "natural hair color" and "no visible tattoos" in our policy.