Does your dress code hurt retention?
July 23, 2008 by Bill MeltzerPosted in: Compensation, Human Resources Administration, Recognition programs, Special Report
Companies have the right to decide what image to portray to their customers and prospective hires. Should dress-code enforcement be a top priority?
Many employers would say yes. But with alarming turnover rates among Generation Y employees (the 18-to-25 group is the most frequent offender), some firms are calling a truce.
Reason: Apart from educational benefits, surveys show that a flexible company culture is the single most coveted benefit among these employees — far more than health coverage, a 401(k) plan, or other big-ticket plans most firms consider their core benefits.
Every employee defines company culture and flexibility differently, but for a large segment of younger employees, freedom to dress down at work is part of the equation.
Employers that go on a dress-code enforcement kick run the risk of winning the battle but losing the war, hurting employee morale and retention. On the flip side, the inmates shouldn’t be allowed to run the asylum when it comes to dictating the company image that senior management wants to create.
In either case, people who handle HR and/or benefits duties at their company get caught in the middle of what the top brass demands and what employees want.
Setting limits
For employers, the problem becomes one of re-defining what is and isn’t appropriate dress for employees. Here are four questions many of your colleagues are grappling with at their companies:
- Are flip-flops OK at work?
- How about visible tattoos and/or body piercings?
- Should your handbooks spell out examples of appropriate and inappropriate attire (e.g., shorts are OK, but short shorts are prohibited)?
- What is the disciplinary process – if there is one — for dress code violations? Alternatively, how heavily is dress code compliance weighed in employee’s annual reviews?
Consistency is key
Consultant Eric Chester, author of Getting Them to Give a Damn, is of the opinion that it doesn’t really matter how your organization answers these questions, but it’s crucial to define these expectations to employees up front — and then drum home to supervisors that they need to be consistent in how they enforce or relax these rules.
I agree wholeheartedly. As long as the employer sticks to its policies, the burden falls on the employee to conform or find another place to work.
Communicating these expectations upfront — and addressing questions or concerns right away — saves endless hassle down the road.
Example: It’s reasonable to spell out dress-code expectations to candidates during job interviews. This is also the time for would-be hires to ask questions about dress expectations.
If your policies don’t match up to the job candidate’s preferences, he or she may not be the right fit for the job. Better to find that out up front.
Flip-flop Friday
If you already find yourself in the middle of a dress-code war at work, there are still ways to regain control of the situation.
Here’s how one What’s New in Benefits & Compensation reader helped turn an area of discord into a win-win situation for management and employees.
She suggested an update on the old “Casual Friday” idea. Two days each month, the company relaxed the dress code to suit employees’ tastes: They had a “Flip-flop Friday” and a “T-shirt Tuesday.” Since then, morale is up and there have been fewer dress-code battles.
There was still a related, more contentious issue: a policy banning visible tattoos and body piercings.
No, the firm didn’t launch “Tattoo and Tongue-ring Thursday.” Instead, it created a compromise policy as a performance incentive for employees who felt strongly about the issue.
The deal: Keep productivity high and we’d relax the rule prohibiting their display at work. But if performance slipped or customers complained, the privilege would disappear. So far, it’s worked out well, and the affected employees have lived up to their end of the bargain.
A similar strategy may work — or be all wrong — for your organization. The only approach that’s guaranteed to fail, however, is to do nothing and hope the problem gets better on its own.
Tags: Company culture, Dress code
July 24th, 2008 at 1:17 pm
Our policy is kind of wierd. Piercings and visible tattoos are OK, but long hair is not acceptable. Flip Flops are not allowed but there is not a problem with some of the employees taking off their shoes.
July 24th, 2008 at 1:30 pm
CAN OBESITY HURT YOUR CHANCES OF BEING A NEW HIRE EVEN IF YOU ARE WELL ACQUAINTED WITH THE WORK THAT YOU WILL BE REQUIRED TO PERFORM?
July 24th, 2008 at 1:37 pm
It is a disgrace to see how some people in the office dress for work. Old jeans, sneakers, sweatshirts – just about everything short of pajamas! If it were up to me there would be a dress code but I am alone in my opinion.
July 24th, 2008 at 2:03 pm
Our policy is fairly relaxed. We are a business casual office all the time with Fridays being reserved for jeans and tee-shirts. Shorts, halters, flipflops are not allowed. No one has any visible piercings and we have no issue with tattoos. Hair length is not an issue – for men or women.
July 24th, 2008 at 2:23 pm
We maintain a dress code because we feel that our employees are more productive and professional in their actions when they dress in that manner. Even though our employees do not interact with customers, we still maintain that type of dress code.
However, we have relaxed it enough to allow for capri pants during the summer and have banned hose entirely. We have a semi-casual day on Thursdays and casual days on Fridays.
Between the managers and me (HR), we stay on top of it. Generally it is me that enforces the dress code. We have one location in another state that does not maintain the dress code, and from what I have been privy to, it has made quite a bit of difference. The entire culture of the organization is less professional than ours and their people conduct themselves in a manner that is not acceptable at this location.
So, long story short, I believe it in, I always dress up, all candidates see me and understand what our expectation is prior to hire. Still have problems, but even our younger people comply. They even agree with how different they feel when they are dressed “up” or dressed “down”.
As in everything, consistency is everything…
July 24th, 2008 at 2:48 pm
I believe all companies should enforce a dress code. Men and women represent their company are a direct reflection on the “professionalism” of their company.
In this day and age where anything goes in some companies, it is important to be a team and not an individual whom stands out and is distracting in the work place. Distracting is the key word here.
I am a woman, and I also believe women should dress appropriately as well as men. At work clothing should not be revealing – for men or women! I suppose women have more of a variety of poor choices to make referring to clevage, inappropriate “night wear” dresses, stelletto high heals and poor choices of accessories and severe make up.
If an individual values themselves it is a reflection not only upon the company, but upon potential customers and staff. Unfornuately first impression are lasting.
July 24th, 2008 at 3:09 pm
Do I like it when job candidates or current employees come in looking like they’re going to a trashy nightclub, the beach or a frat party? Absolutely not. I also agree that it can reflect poorly on professionalism.
But I also know that a dress code has been a losing battle for us. We still have one, but we only really get upset if something is too far over the top. We once had a male employee come in wearing a shirt with an obscene phrase on it — we sent him home.
July 24th, 2008 at 3:48 pm
Our office does not have a dress code, but we do not have walk in business. When we have clients visiting we dress business casual. It is concerned a wonderful perk to all employees. Out of 25 employess, we have only 3 employed here less than five years, most over 10 years.
July 24th, 2008 at 4:17 pm
We changed our dress code a few years ago to a business casual logo wear option. It has helped in some ways, but in others is just as difficult to enforce as when we had a typical dress code. It is a concern to me in recruiting gen-y. As much as we might like to relax it, as a credit union it is appropriate to present a professional image to our membership – tattoos and piercings don’t fit. It is a constant battle to make sure all supervisors are consistent. These days it requires education – why doesn’t a flip-flop with sequins count as a dressy sandal? Not everyone knows. We hold each other accountable as managers and supervisors to address issues as they come up. It can be offputting to employees to be confronted, but hopefully in the long run we’re doing a favor by teaching them what is not acceptable in the business world while maintaining the image and brand we desire.
July 24th, 2008 at 4:30 pm
Interesting that the dress code violator is a woman. Unfortunate, but true. “Business casual” capris have turned into fruit salad and Hawaiian themes. Even more disturbing are the denim capris with sandals and white socks! Flip flops have not been an issue since they are strictly forbidden, but try as we might, our employees just can’t seem to put the term “business” with “casual.”
July 24th, 2008 at 7:38 pm
This issue is part of a bigger problem. There are exceptions but in general the Gen-Y employees come in wanting to do as they please, dress as they please and make top dollar for mediocre work. There’s a loss of respect for professionalism, and dress is just the most immediately obvious part.
July 25th, 2008 at 8:46 am
I once worked for a company that had a casual dress code policy and posted the following in highly visible areas for customers and clients to see: “Our dress code is casual but our business is anything but casual”. Because employees also saw this message, dress code never got too casual – everyone maintained a professional appearance.
July 25th, 2008 at 11:33 am
We require a professional dresscode. Body art(tattoos and guages)are not to be visible. We do not have a casual Friday. We did try to loosen our belt so to speak by allowing capris. However, it became a problem when employees began showing up looking like they were dressed for the beach instead of the office. We have since disallowed capris.
August 20th, 2008 at 1:58 pm
The dress code should be appropriate to the actual work being done.
I worked in an office where where we had little or no direct contact with people from the outside. Most of our contact was in the form of phone calls, email and letters. Our dress code allowed jeans and sneakers, and ties were seldom spotted in the office. However, if any of us had a meeting with someone from the outside, we dressed professionally, which included a tie for the men. This compromise was great for moral. Enforcing a rigid professional dress code when we rarely saw anybody that didn’t already work there seemed arbitrary and pointless, but employees could readily see why they needed to show up in their ‘good clothes’ for an outside meeting. I should add that our normal dress code was casual, but not sloppy – no shorts, torn jeans, t-shirts, etc were allowed and we rarely, if ever, had to do anything more than mention to an employee that their clothing was a little too casual. The employees understood that the casual dress code was a bonus that would be lost if it was abused. Most of the time, the employee’s own judgment and peer pressure from other employees was enough.
On the rare occasion that people from the outside came through the office, they saw casually, but neatly, dressed employees hard at work…
January 15th, 2009 at 4:56 pm
When I was hired in my current job, since our department (HR) is geared towards internal customers, we had a relaxed dress code. We could wear business casual (dress/khaki slacks and button-down or polo-type shirt). If we had planned meetings with senior management or similar situations, we were expected to dress appropriately for the event/meeting. We got in a new HR director and he required the men to start wearing ties and generally wanted a more “formal” day-to-day dress code. This did nothing for our productivity or relations with our customers, but did decrease the satisfaction of the current employee base.
February 19th, 2009 at 3:51 pm
Not sure what the big deal is about this. I can see requiring individuals who meet with customers and the public to maintain a business dress code, but it does not make much sense for individuals who don’t interact with customers/public. Professionalism comes from within, not from what one is wearing.