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Stylish Evolutions
Over
the past 20 years, employers have seen everything from navy suits to
navels, and have had to adjust workplace expectations accordingly.
Sandy Dumont has a difficult job. As an international image consultant, employers often ask her -- some even beg -- to explain to their mostly 20-something employees why flip flops, lacy camisoles, faded jeans and tops that bare navels are not proper business attire. "It's the first generation I noticed in 30 years that thinks one way of dressing should suffice for their entire life -- going to a wedding, church and the office," says Dumont, also executive director at Impression Strategies Institute in Norfolk, Va. Employers are in a quandary. Never before has office attire been such a hot button. In the late 1980s, the worst they had to contend with were boring, dark-colored ties, form-fitting suits and maybe bloated hairstyles resulting from an overdose of mousse. But the 1990s changed all of that when the concept of business casual was introduced. That's when the rules for workplace dress began to get blurry. Over the next decade, dress-down Fridays slowly turned into a daily habit. In some cases, employees became too lax, sometimes showing up in lounge pants and culottes instead of work-appropriate clothes. Productivity often lagged as a result of the laxness. Now employers are searching for a compromise between the starched suit and the jogging suit. Dumont says finding ways to reach a middle ground between comfortably casual and professionally smart has become a common corporate request. Since she believes dress codes are usually unsuccessful because they create resentment, she offers three half-day workshops designed to change employee perceptions about workplace dress. ( See sidebar .) "You need to have people understand why you're telling them what you're telling them," she says. "It's a process of discovery," says Dumont, who has conducted hundreds of these workshops for corporations throughout the United States and Europe. "That's the only way to get long-lasting change. What they learn from me is that if they dress provocatively, they're put in the bimbo category and will never advance in their careers." But the dress-down phenomenon hasn't been the only seed of change. Other factors have influenced business fashion over the past 20 years, ranging from television shows such as Dynasty, which promoted padded shoulders and lavish lingerie, to designers such as Ralph Lauren, who created an elite sporty look that later pushed its way through office doors. In the '80s, women were wearing long, flowing, loose-fitting skirts and boots to work. That changed in the early '90s to become the shorter skirts with form-fitting jackets. By and large, whatever style was being sported around the water cooler, workplace dress was essentially under control until the early 1990s. But there was one monumental force no one saw coming: techies. The Tech Invasion
In the 1980s, a typical organization "had a very small IT department, which was quiet, unobtrusive, barely brought to board meetings or trotted out," says Anne Warfield, outcome strategist at Impression Management Professionals in Minneapolis. "They were the background people. They dressed the way they wanted to and that was fine." Not for long. When technology boomed in the late 1980s and early 1990s, IT became central to every organization. When techies came out of the back room, she says, they brought with them their own mentality about comfort and intellect. As they began interacting with others, they also began influencing employees in the way they dressed. At the same time, the demand for techies was huge, so formality was out, breaking barriers was in and corporations started letting their hair down. In order to compete for quality techies and conform to society's new relaxed image, corporations created casual Friday. Excluding financial institutions, employees simply dropped the tie or bow tie and stuck with jackets and pants. Soon, the jacket came off. Then the blouse or button-down shirt was replaced with a sport top or golf shirt. Little by little, employees pushed their way into the comfort zone. By the late 1990s, they started doing the unthinkable: wearing tank tops, jeans, T-shirts, shorts and even flip flops to the office. ( See sidebar .) "That's a very scary place that companies landed in when they went to business casual," says Warfield, adding that she warned her clients 15 years ago about the problems it could create. "They're looking at situations of [sitting down] with a 20-year-old [who's] wearing a micro mini skirt and low-cut top. Now all of a sudden, they have to put all of these parameters in -- what's acceptable, what's not. It's very difficult." Worse yet, she says, new problems started surfacing. Employee performance began declining, but employers couldn't pinpoint the reason. She believes that, when dressed inappropriately, employees tend to be less business-focused or aggressive with business opportunities and, ultimately, lose their competitive edge in the marketplace. Her suspicions match the results of a national survey conducted last year by WorkPlace Media, which distributes marketing materials to consumers at work. Of the 1,000 employees surveyed at companies with between 20 and 2,000 employees, 76 percent thought dressing up for work made them more productive in their jobs. That could be one reason why the pendulum has begun to swing back. Look around. Dining rooms and living rooms are now in vogue. So are cigar clubs, wine clubs and quaint restaurants with white tablecloths. Even hats and gloves -- the Jackie Onassis look -- are creeping back into business fashion. People now want formality and more structure, says Warfield. But telling employees what to wear is never the answer. A better strategy would be to call a corporate meeting and ask employees a series of questions: What are the company's values? How do we want to be perceived by customers? How does the way we dress convey who we are to our customers, our respect level for them and our ability to deliver for them? How can we package ourselves to reflect those values and perceptions? Warfield also asks employees to list 10 words conveying how they want to be described by their peers, then has a candid discussion if their appearances don't match the descriptions. "You'd be surprised how many employees see it and want to change it," says Warfield. "Set [the dress code] with employees [and they'll] be far stricter than you will ever be, once they understand the impact." Stretching Boundaries
Some companies -- especially those in creative industries -- are trying to meet employees halfway. At Manning Selvage & Lee, a global public relations firm, management is trying to find some common ground with its 1,000 employees, many of whom prefer to dress down, says Tara Lilien, director of HR at Manning's New York office. She says creative types are more productive when informally dressed. During a recent photo shoot of the firm's employees, she says, they were asked to dress in a suit and then change into a sweater or more casual wear. "Even the photographer noticed that the pictures were extremely serious and, as soon as people put on that sweater, it was like a different person walked into the room," she says. "We want [employees] to feel comfortable, collaborative and creative. That's a function of being able to dress more creatively." But every employer has its limits. During the summer months, Manning was hit by one of the more recent fashion epidemics: employees wearing flip flops to work. "One of the heads of our office said, 'If I hear your shoes clicking and clacking all the way down the hallway, then you should not be wearing them,' " she says, adding that clients equate inappropriate dress with immaturity. "I tell a lot of people, especially the junior staff, that one of the ways you want to gain the respect of your fellow employees is to ensure that you're dressed in a way that shows you're a professional in the workforce and that you understand you're not on the beach." Other employers have adopted more formal processes to deal with employee dress. AFLAC, the supplemental health and life insurance company based in Columbus, Ga., offers three half-day workshops, says Chad Melvin, manager of employee learning there. "We have a common problem with new employees coming out of high school," says Melvin, adding that the company's dress code changed from business attire to business casual back in the late 1990s. "They'll routinely test the dress code." The most popular of the three workshops -- How to Be Successful in Your Career -- was introduced last year and has an employee waiting list. It focuses on appearance and how employees can project themselves professionally in the work environment. Another course is Business Etiquette, which was introduced about four years ago and includes a portion on workplace dress. The last course, Image and Career-Goal Setting, was created about 10 years ago. It explains professional dress and the company's suggested dress code. When employees understand the reasoning behind a dress code, they usually don't fight it and build peer pressure for other employees to conform, he says, adding that HR doesn't want to assume the role of fashion police. "People want to advance, grow and develop," Melvin says. "Unless someone points it out to them, they don't realize [dress] is so important to get them to the next level." Custom Fit
Not all dress codes are one-size-fits-all. Some employers defer to the discretion or judgment of their employees. Consider Exelon Corp. in Chicago, which was born out of the merger of two utilities -- Unicom in Chicago and PECO Energy in Philadelphia -- back in 2000. Before the merger, the company was very structured. White shirts and dark suits were the norm, says S. Gary Snodgrass, executive vice president and chief HR officer. As at other companies, he says, problems with employees dressing inappropriately would surface occasionally. However, since the merger, "we decided as an organization to sweat the big stuff, not the small stuff," he says, explaining that the company's top priorities focus on creating policies and behavioral expectations that foster trust, respect and a productive workplace. "Those are the big-picture questions we ask ourselves, whether it's business attire, flex-time or telecommuting." He says deciding what's appropriate dress and what's not really should be left up to employees, since it's based on their positions, work schedules and customer or client interactions. Some days, for instance, even senior executives wear sweaters or turtlenecks to internal meetings. He believes it's important to give employees the flexibility to manage themselves or make up their own minds, something that was never considered years ago. Ever since he proposed this approach roughly eight years ago, he says, his boss has jokingly referred to it as, "Gary's slovenly dress policy." Considering the company's paternalistic history, he says, this was one way to move into the 21st century. By embracing adaptable HR policies and practices that still focus on productivity and performance, HR can give employees an opportunity to breathe. "There's an emerging
war for talent," says Snodgrass. "Companies that get diversity, respect
and engagement right are going to be the companies that win. You can do
it with little things like the attire policy."
April 1, 2007 Copyright 2007© LRP Publications |
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