Dress Codes and Efficiency: The Body At Work

We have all experienced dress code related frustration at some point. The truth is, most company dress codes are somewhat ineffective at serving their intended purposes.

The Wall Street journal recently featured an article discussing a current wave of dress code "crackdowns" at companies across the country. I won't paraphrase that article in this post, but it did get me thinking about common flaws in dress codes and how professional dress codes might be improved. After all, this is a topic directly relating aesthetics and economics.

Behavioral economists study the effect of variables related to the aesthetics and ergonomics of the office on employee productivity. If lighting or the wrong size chair can significantly impact employees' productivity, surely clothes can have a similar effect. In fact, experience and logic tell us that clothes can support or detract from efficiency: Appearances of coworkers and clothing-induced discomfort (in the form of self consciousness or actual physical discomfort) can be distracting.

So what then are the most common flaws of professional dress codes? Let's first consider what such a code is meant to deal with and then step back and see how traditional dress codes measure up.

The first step is to consider how employee dress can be distracting or otherwise negatively impact productivity. (Let us count the ways, in other words.) An outfit can be distracting if it is overtly sexy, repulsive, irksome, disconcerting, or shockingly flamboyant. Additionally, if one feels self conscious in what he or she is wearing, this can also be distracting. The latter could also negatively affect morale and thus result in lower productivity (are we ever at our most productive when we feel we look drap, unattractive, a "mess")? A point that HR departments (or whoever is responsible for drafting the company code) seem to ignore more often than not is the impact of a poorly written dress code on employees' ability to complete tasks indirectly relating to work outside of the workplace. I'd be willing to bet that a substantial number of tardies are the result of a worker's taking an inordinate amount of time selecting an outfit to satisfy a poorly crafted dress code.

It becomes clear, when you take the time to consider the stereotypical professional dress code in depth, that those crafting the codes make the following mistakes. First, they do not go into enough detail. Specificity is a must. Instead of banning shorts altogether to avoid the sloppy look of bare male legs (hairy!) or too-short shorts on women, why not allow women to wear suits comprising fitted, knee length shorts? Instead of limiting women to skirt suits, why not allow pantsuits or cropped pantsuits, so long as they are tailored for the female form? Second, they leave out important items for fear of seeming politically incorrect or insensitive. Adults should be expected to be able to handle mentions of sensitive topics such as body type (or weight), fashion sense (or the lack thereof), grooming (including the finer points of makeup application--how to look decent without overdoing the black eyeliner, for instance) and the merits of good craftsmanship and quality materials (or why one cannot expect to woo important clients while wearing scuffed synthetic shoes or a cheap, poorly fitting suit).

I could expound on the intricacies of dress codes for hours, but I am opting to conclude this post with a link to a what seems to be a decent attempt at a company dress code and asking, what are your thoughts on this issue?

The cropped pantsuit pictured at the top of this post, which I would totally wear to work, is from the Jil Sander Resort 2007 collection.

Comments

[M.]

Thank heavens I work in a creative industry where no dress codes apply (infact the more creative you are with your clothing the more creative you're considered to be!). I think I'd be most displeased at being told what to wear at 35 years old!

Your blog in very unique and I read it often with great interest I must say.

[e]

sorry, you must be joking when you said this oracle dress code is good. truly? i stopped reading once it told female staff to *shave* their facial hair before going out or meeting clients.
i like your blog but this example is ridiculous and crude. you could have done better, surely.

[Elsa]

Thanks for your comments, M and e.

e, I suggest you take a closer look at the Oracle dress code. It doesn't suggest that females shave their facial hair--in fact, it actually says "no facial hair please," which I would interpret as, "please be sure to wax your lip as mustaches on women are distracting and detract from a professional appearance." I think the dress code is good because it addresses such issues. Also, it should be pretty clear from the pictures that the Oracle dress code was written with a sense of humor--it's not meant to be completely serious.

Anyway, I appreciate your being so candid!

[AC]

I had thought your articale was very informative untill the referance to oracle. I also found that page in my reasearch, and found it very insulting. Even if it was writen with humor, it the way it was worded, like how men are sugested not to put on too much calougne, and women are warned they could get sued if their purfuem is too strong, the warnign should be on both. Also, not allowing women to wear pants is jsut not right. In your articale you talk about comfort and sense of self. supporting the other article breaks that down. Also, the general tone to anything other than a fortune 500 company is inferior is not releven in this day and age either. so thank you, but if you say that is a good example of a dress code then you must be really out of the loop.

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