Too much skin showing? Create an office dress code

Tag : Dress Attire
Here's a scenario very likely to happen at a smallbusiness this summer: The owner arrives in the morning, and isgreeted not only by the company's receptionist, but her exposednavel. And maybe her nose ring, too.
In the summer heat, many employees, particularly those in theirfirst jobs, may show up for work in rather skimpy attire that asmall business owner feels is unsuitable for the workplace. Thesolution is to create a dress code — something that everybusiness has the right to do.
Tory Johnson dealt with the issue just a few weeks ago. Threeinterns, ages 19 to 21, showed up at Johnson's Manhattanrecruitment services firm with tank tops, exposed bra straps andflip-flops.
"Not only is that totally inappropriate in any office — Icouldn't care less how hot it is outside — but since mycompany focuses on the advancement of professional women, it'sdoubly unacceptable to me," said Johnson, CEO of Women For Hire.
Johnson spoke to the young women, and "they got it immediately." Asis often the case, they had no idea about how they should dress forwork.
Bonnie Beirne, director of service operations for Administaff Inc.,a Houston-based company that provides human resources outsourcing,says a dress code should be in writing, but even if a businessdoesn't have one yet, an owner still has the right to tell astaffer that he or she needs to wear more appropriate attire.
That means telling an employee: "I realize we don't have somethingin writing, but I'm going to be putting together a policycommunicating our dress code policy more formally."
An owner also needs to explain to workers that how they dressdelivers a message to customers and vendors.
"It goes back to image and branding for your company — whatare you saying to your customers," Beirne said.
When staffers dress for work as if they're going to the beach,there's also likely to be plenty of resentment among co-workers whodo dress more professionally.
At Logos Research Systems Inc., the dress code was ultra-casual;even the president came in wearing shorts. Just about anything wasOK — until a new employee showed up not only in sweats and abaseball cap, but not having taken a shower for several daysrunning.
Dan Pritchett, vice president for marketing and businessdevelopment for the Bellingham, Wash.-based software company, said,"sadly, we were big chickens, we waited longer than we should have"to address the situation. But after about three weeks, it had to bedealt with and the staffer was told to dress better and take ashower.
"The reaction was much rejoicing because the majority of the peoplecouldn't take the smell and the look," Pritchett said.
Logos does have a dress code now, but it's still quite lenient;shorts, but not cut-offs, are OK. But Pritchett said the generalattire in the company, while casual, has become much more seriousbecause the president, Pritchett's brother Bob, is dressing alittle more professionally.
"He got tired of being embarrassed" when customers, vendors, evenjournalists would show up wearing business clothes while thepresident was wearing shorts, Dan Pritchett said. When Bob starteddressing better, wearing slacks and a button-down shirt, so didstaffers.
There are other issues beyond appearance that can make a dress codecrucial, such as worker safety. Many manufacturing companies havedress codes to ensure that garments aren't caught in machinery, forexample. Even in an office setting, safety can be an issue. Ifsomeone drops a box of computer paper and it lands on the foot ofan employee wearing only flip-flops, that can lead to injury and aworkers compensation case.
A dress code should spell out what is and isn't appropriate forthat company. But it should be specific: For example, if you wantto allow workers to wear shorts, you should make clear how longthey should be, and if you are banning cut-offs, say so. If it'sall right for women to wear sleeveless tops but not tank tops, andif their blouses shouldn't be made of see-through fabric, you needto state that as well.
When you do address the issue with an individual employee, Beirnesuggests doing so in a non-threatening manner. Very often, a workertruly doesn't realize that his or her clothes don't belong in aworkplace. And make it clear you're not singling out this employee— you'll be creating a dress code for everyone to follow.
"Keep explaining, this is how we want our company to be run," shesaid.
With that context, employees aren't likely to balk, as Johnson andPritchett's company found. If they do, then an owner is likely toend up dealing with a performance and discipline issue.
You should also consider the physical environment in your company— is there a lot of exposed skin in your office because theair conditioning is faulty, or because there are no shades on thewindows to prevent the sun from streaming in? If so, you shouldremedy the situation, and, in the process, acknowledge youremployees' needs.