💾 Archived View for gmi.noulin.net › mobileNews › 5777.gmi captured on 2021-12-05 at 23:47:19. Gemini links have been rewritten to link to archived content

View Raw

More Information

⬅️ Previous capture (2021-12-03)

➡️ Next capture (2023-01-29)

-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Have we taken casual workwear too far?

As jeans and hoodies become more common in the office, those who cross the line

from relaxed to slovenly could cause problems for firms looking to promote a

professional image.

By Renuka Rayasam

27 January 2016

The older employees were not happy.

Can you believe they wear this? vented a group of Silicon Valley-based

professionals in their late 30s and early 40s, to researcher Laura Sherbin.

They were part of a focus group addressing generational issues in Silicon

Valley, when frustrations about their younger colleagues, most in their 20s,

took a surprising turn: dress code.

Dress is the first filter, said Sherbin, who is director of research at The

Center for Talent Innovation, a New York-based think tank. One thing dress

signalled was lack of respect for the environment.

Can you believe that they wear this?

Many companies have moved away from formal dress code policies in recent years,

giving employees more freedom in what to put on for work. That trend towards

casual wear is something that spans geographies and industries, said

California-based consultant Jacob Morgan, author of The Future of Work. Bankers

and lawyers are loosening their ties more frequently, while hoodies made

popular by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg have become standard in the

technology world.

Employees who take casual office attire too far could cause problems for

companies that want to promote a more professional workplace culture (Credit:

iStock)

We used to live two different lives work and home, said Morgan. As these

things start to blend, we start to see dress codes get relaxed.

But employees who take casual office attire too far could cause problems for

companies that want to promote a more professional workplace culture or signal

competence to clients.

That s why many retailers such as Walmart and Starbucks continue to maintain

dress codes even as they debate adding flexibility to their workwear rules.

If you work in retail or in a restaurant, you come face-to-face with people

who will make specific judgments about quality of product or service based on

persona of the employee, said Edward Yost, a human resources business partner

at the Society for Human Resource Management.

Tell me what s acceptable

Beyond being good for business, guidelines around workwear can also be a relief

for employees. A lack of guidelines around what to wear can be challenging for

employees who want to dress properly for their jobs.

The broader the language in the policy, the more onus on the employee to make

a good choice, Yost said.

He said rather than specifying what to wear, many companies now have general

guidelines asking employees to dress appropriately . But, said Yost, that s

like defining art it s different to whoever is looking at it.

Sherbin said that when people encounter problems in dressing down, it s often

because they don t know better or just get busy.

Policing what s acceptable can be awkward, especially across genders and

cultures.

Having a lot of variability around what to wear can make it difficult to

figure out what to wear to fit in, she said. They see others getting away with

dressing down and gravitate towards that behaviour. If it s six in the morning

and I... am thinking about what to wear, I might think I saw her wear this the

other day, oh I ll be fine .

Being direct about expectations can also be a relief to employees who may not

realise that others may judge them based on what they wear. If there something

I am supposed to wear, tell me, Sherbin said. Don t make it an invisible test

saying I ve chosen the wrong thing.

In addition, without a formal policy, managers bear the burden of policing what

s acceptable, which can be awkward, especially across genders and cultures. A

male manager, for example, might not want to have a discussion with a female

employee about tube tops or too-short hem lines.

Presenting an image

Rather than solving the problem of sloppy workwear by issuing standard

suit-and-tie dress codes, experts advise employers to think about dress

policies as a reflection of their overall workplace values.

Just putting together guidelines can be an incredibly useful exercise,

Sherbin said. It helps companies figure out the image they want to convey to

their target audience.

Yost suggests that companies should start with their organisational philosophy.

For client-facing companies, it helps to look at the image you want to present

to clients coming through the door. If you run a surf shop, it s OK to wear

the shorts and Billabong shirts that you sell there," he said.

Once companies get guidelines in place, they should communicate them as part of

more general training, Sherbin said. She suggests starting with employees on

their first day. Including dress guidelines in a new employee orientation, for

example, stops workplace wear from becoming an issue before it starts.

To reinforce the message, she advises making conversations about dress part of

larger discussions around professional behaviour in the workplace. For example,

companies can include appearance as part of more holistic leadership trainings

for high performers, alongside topics like communication and presence.

Companies have tried to get away from saying, do it because it s in a

handbook', she said. Instead they are giving employees more context around why

appearance is important. Ideally, the message being, if you want to telegraph

professionalism, here is how you do it .