Informal wear: does dressing down send productivity up? - corporate dress codes

Entrepreneur, Jan, 1996 by Mark Henricks

Put the staff of Open City Communications on a fashion show runway during a typical workday last summer, and you'd have seen president Phil Hall resplendent in khakis, a Southwestern-style short-sleeved shirt and black Reeboks; senior vice president Karen Freid in a cotton gauze gypsy dress with sandals and a blue T-shirt; and vice president Robert Toledo sporting a sleeveless yellow T-shirt, jeans, sneakers and an American-Indian necklace.

"I specifically do not want my staff to dress up," says Hall, who founded the New York City public relations firm in January 1994. "I don't see the correlation between suit-and-tie and quality and productivity."

Hall is not alone. Major American corporations have recently instituted dress-down policies. And even in Japan, known as one of the most conservative business climates on earth, colored shirts, plaid trousers and even sneakers are appearing in corporate offices.

"The trend is really expanding," says Jerry Kline, editorial consultant for newsletter John Naisbitt's Trend Letter. "It started with casual Fridays during the summer. Then it became casual Fridays year-round. Now it's casual every day."

Dress-Down Benefits

The casual movement isn't the only trend affecting what people wear to work. Uniforms are also becoming popular. (See "Leading Edge," September 1995.) A similar force drives both trendsuthe perception that what people wear to work is a corporate as well as a personal concern.

"There are a lot of reasons businesses are [encouraging casual dress]," says Massimo Iacoboni, fashion director of The Fashion Association. Indeed, casual dressers cite improvements in everything from morale to customer relations after dropping neckties and high heels in favor of open collars and flats.

First is the perception that casual dress equals high productivity. "I believe that if the employee is physically comfortable, then that individual will give 110 percent," says Hall. "Whether a person is wearing a T-shirt or an Armani suit is, in my opinion, not relevant."

Another reason is modern communications technology, which allows people to do most business without ever coming face-to-face with each other. "[Virtually all] our work is done by telephone and fax," says Hall, "so the people we're in contact with have no idea what we look like and don't care how we're dressed."

Casual dress policies may also help break down the social and communication barriers that often exist between higher- and lower- paid employees. "When everybody's wearing casual clothes, everybody looks the same, at least from a financial standpoint," says Iacoboni.

There is also a widespread perception that looser dress codes equal greater creativity and innovation. Particularly in Japan, a corporate culture requiring strict conformity in dress and behavior is beginning to be blamed for complacency and lack of imagination, says Kline.

Finally, the casual dress movement may be a minor manifestation of a general trend toward greater informality in American culture. Says Iacoboni, "People just seem to be feeling more relaxed and comfortable."

Limits And Risks

Casual dress has its critics as well. "I don't think it creates a good image for the companies involved," says Gerald Andersen, executive director of the Neckwear Association of America.

Image is an issue. Many firms limit the dress-down zone to places where employees are not likely to have contact with customers, according to Nancy Nelson, president of Onpurpose Inc., a Brookline, New Hampshire, consulting firm that advises companies about corporate culture.

Dressing in jeans and a sweater when you're meeting with blue-suit prospects, for instance, is generally inadvisable. "Some credibility may be lost, particularly with a new client," Nelson says. "Once you've developed some rapport and there's a working relationship with a client, there's a little more space for relaxing."

Customer-contact dress codes should be guided by what customers themselves wear. "Chances are you're going to be a lot more effective in developing rapport with your customers if you dress similarly to the way they dress," Nelson says.

That means formal businesswear isn't desirable for dealing with every customer and may even be a negative in some cases. Nelson cites the software industry, which is famous for eschewing fashion. "If I call on a programmer and I'm wearing a three-piece pinstriped suit, I'm probably going to look like a salesperson and someone they [won't] trust," she says.

Some purely in-house occasions, such as board of directors meetings, are probably better attended in traditional attire, again for the sake of image. "There are definitely occasions where a suit is still the most appropriate thing to wear," agrees Iacoboni.

The issue of workplace productivity is harder to nail down. The idea that casually dressed employees are better workers is widely accepted. But Andersen says no formal study has ever looked at the impact of a casual dress policy on an office's productivity.

"I don't think [casual dress] contributes to a good workplace atmosphere," Andersen says. "In today's business world, where every little edge counts, why not give yourself the edge and look good? There have been lots of studies saying that how people perceive you is a function of how you're dressed."