Posted in Management Best Practices

Casual, Formal, or Somewhere In Between? How to Define Dress Codes That Reflect Your Company

When was the last time you evaluated your company’s dress code? If it’s been a while, today should be the day.

Your company’s dress code should change with workforce trends and cultural standards. Reevaluating your policy ensures you aren’t enforcing outdated, unnecessary rules.

Workplace shifts, including younger generations of employees and remote work, require dress code updates that align with cultural and workplace norms. Filling business needs and employee expectations help attract and retain top talent.

Tips to Define Your Company’s Dress Code

Consider these factors when defining your company’s dress code:

The dress code should reflect your company’s mission, vision, and values. Appropriate attire helps attract and retain talent likely to succeed within your organization. Therefore, whereas formal business attire should be required for accounting and finance and other client- or customer-facing roles, it might not be relevant for IT roles.

Employee expectations are changing. The coronavirus pandemic impacted employees’ desire to wear comfortable clothing while working remotely. As a result, many remote and hybrid employees prefer balancing comfort and professionalism. Therefore, modifying your company’s dress code to fill business needs and employees’ preferences strengthens engagement, productivity, and job satisfaction.

A relevant dress code helps find and keep talent. Preferred work attire, unique hair colors, piercings, and tattoos don’t impact an employee’s knowledge, skills, experience, and organizational value. Therefore, employees should feel comfortable expressing themselves while fulfilling their duties and responsibilities.

Methods to Modify Your Company’s Dress Code

These steps can help you modify your company’s dress code:

Analyze your competitors’ dress codes. Visit competitors’ websites to view dress codes and employee pictures or videos. Use these guidelines to adapt your company’s dress code.

Consider safety issues. Specific clothing, hair, and jewelry options might require limitations to maintain employee safety. For instance, although law firm employees might be allowed to wear high heels, construction employees might need steel-toed boots.

Determine the message you want to send to clients and customers. Employees in client- and customer-facing roles might be required to wear formal attire to convey professionalism. Conversely, employees in roles not visible to clients and customers might wear more comfortable attire within company guidelines.

Include your company’s culture. A more serious culture might require a formal dress code. In contrast, a more relaxed culture might offer a casual dress code.

Create realistic dress code standards. Set relevant dress code rules to support productivity and employee retention. For instance, clothing with offensive slogans, graphics, or wording should not be worn and tattoos with similar characteristics should be covered.

Ensure your dress code is fair. Be mindful of diverse employees’ cultural and physical requirements to avoid interpretations of discrimination:

Not allowing hats and head coverings can discriminate against Muslim employees.
Women cannot be required to wear dresses or skirts while men wear pants.
Hairstyle regulations must consider ethnic differences in hair textures and styles.
Many states prohibit regulating certain hairstyles such as locs, braids, and twists that many Black women and men prefer.

Allow variation in employees’ self-expression. Provide parameters for how employees present their unique selves through clothing, hair color and style, shoes, makeup, tattoos, and piercings. For instance, use your employee handbook to show looks that comply with your dress code. Also, encourage employees to contact Human Resources with questions or for additional guidance.

Need to Hire Employees Who Align with Your Culture?

PrideStaff can fill your staffing needs with qualified employees who follow your dress code and fit your culture. Contact your local PrideStaff office to discuss your hiring needs today.

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