by Hanna Hurley, BaySide Media
Jeans, polo shirts and sweaters now replace suits, ties, heels and hose as the norm in many California companies. As the trend of casual dress in the workplace spreads, do employers get the short end of the deal? Do casually dressed employees produce less than those employees in a power suit?
A Tale of Two Companies
For many business owners and HR directors, a person’s choice of work clothes does not indicate work ethic.
“If we put restrains on our employees to wear dress clothes, it would hamper productivity,” said Liz Crawford, HR director and producer at RotoFactory and Factory VFX in Santa Rosa. “I don’t want our employees to worry about what they wear to work. I want them to be comfortable so they can create something magical.”
RotoFactory, which creates visual effects for studios such as Disney Pictures, Industrial Light & Magic and Paramount Pictures, fits squarely into the artistic, creative category of businesses that support a casual environment to spur productivity and innovation. Service-oriented companies, such as banks, retail and law firms that interact with the public, typically apply stricter policies.
At the accounting firm A.L. Nella & Company, employees may not wear jeans, t-shirts or flip-flops. The downtown San Francisco firm maintains a business casual dress policy that Audit Partner Ken McCauley said gives clients a higher level of trust in the firm.
“Clients want their accountants to be serious people. I don’t see a correlation between productivity and a person’s dress,” McCauley said. “Our policy is more about perception than about an actual reality.”
Pros and Cons
Reliable statistical data that supports the case that dress impacts productivity is difficult to find and often outdated.
“It’s hard to give hard data, but forcing people to dress a certain way that is not indicative to their jobs will not increase productivity,” said Terri Carpenter, public information officer at the Sacramento Employment & Training Agency (SETA).
SETA works with job seekers and employers in the Sacramento area. For the employers she counsels, a bigger concern is that casual attire creates distractions in the workplace, especially in the summer. When temperatures rise, employees slip on shorts, flip-flops, halter tops and sheer fabrics to beat the heat.
RotoFactory’s Crawford dealt with this problem at other companies where she worked. “I’ve seen jeans too low and too much cleavage,” says Crawford. “Too much skin is always a mistake. If someone looks at an employee and says, ‘Oh my God,’ the attire is inappropriate.”
Resolving these types of judgment mistakes usually takes only a conversation. McCauley says that A.L. Nella faced a few small issues when they moved to a business casual policy. “We had to point out what type of attire wasn’t appropriate.”
If the company maintains a dress code policy, remind employees of the guidelines. Companies with no policy need to clearly state what is acceptable and what is not acceptable and communicate that to all employees. A.L. Nella sent a company-wide e-mail to employees.
Dress Code Basics
Aligning the dress code with the business is important.
“To develop a dress code, businesses need to first ask why a dress code is necessary and create a policy based on the business’s legitimate objective,” said Jessica Hawthorne, employment law counsel for the California Chamber of Commerce. “If you can’t address legitimate objectives in the dress code, such as safety and client base, you need to step back and reconsider why you need a dress code policy.”
As body piercing and tattoos become fashionable among the 20- and 30-year-olds, some companies struggle with how to add guidelines to address these personal styles in the workplace. Employers can prohibit body piercing, tattoos and multiple earrings in the workplace, but the policies must be nondiscriminatory.
“Companies can give guidance about what is acceptable in the workplace,” said Hawthorne. “Where they must be careful is around gender lines. The policy cannot be discriminatory around gender or race.” For example, a gaming casino added a clause to its dress code requiring female employees to wear makeup, polish their fingernails, wear pantyhose and “tease or curl” their hair. A former employee sued, claiming the company’s policy held female and male employees to different grooming standards and was discriminatory. (Ultimately the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals sided with the casino, but employers should be wary of applying different standards to different employees.)
Do Looks Shape Work Ethic?
Younger employees who want the freedom to dress as they like will gravitate to companies without dress codes. As employees self-segregate into industries that match their comfort zone, though, companies could be losing talent because they make hiring decisions based on appearance.
“Managers should be open minded and recognize that the younger generation has a different perspective,” McCauley cautioned. “Some bright people may be free thinkers and have an entrepreneurial spirit. They will wear what they want to wear.”
Michelle Walker, for example, worked at three different companies since graduating from the University of California at Berkeley in 2005. She is now a creative specialist with Sony Computer Entertainment America Inc. She’s tattooed both arms and pierced her lower lip.
“A corporate job probably wouldn’t take me seriously. I’ve given myself an uphill battle, based on having tattoos and all, but I have been incredibly lucky that interviewers looked at my experience, skills, education and personality,” Walker said. “They took a chance on me and allowed me to prove myself. I’ve always tried to exceed their expectations.”
Some hiring managers would hesitate to hire Walker or interviewees whose appearances fall outside the usual business standards. Though this perspective could mean that companies turn away great talent based on appearances, SETA’s Carpenter expressed doubts.
“Companies don’t have to compromise on their new hires in this job market. They can hire good talent and get the look they want.”