Dress to Impress

UX Designer Ishaani Saini and her two best work buddies often sport dresses, T-shirts and jeans. The troika feels utterly comfortable working in attire that they call is ‘’non-regimented’’, allowing them to fully explore their creative potential and innovate products that provide a superior user experience.

Had Saini and Co been working in SBI, instead of a design consultancy, they would have had to adhere to the bank’s new dress code policy, which calls on its 2.69 lakh employees to come dressed in smart formals (Indian/Western) with shoes and belts in matching colours, socks and trousers colour coordinated, and plain ties on checked shirts, or printed ties with solid colour shirts.

But is such a dress code needed in today’s open work environment?

“Not really”, feel experts. “I’m all about comfort dressing which enhances the confidence level and sense of belonging. There should be no objection to any kind of work attire as long as one is feeling in charge of work and ready to deliver results,” says Zarina Poonawalla, life coach and founder, Abbzoh Expertise Unique, an innovative solution provider for employee-related challenges. Poonawalla feels in this era, businesses are adapting and evolving and ‘’work cultures are moving from the formal tie and suit attire to semi-formals and office casuals”.

HR officers say in the knowledge economy, what matters is the value a professional brings and the confidence with which he/she delivers. “A person should dress for himself/herself. Dress code will not go with this generation. The dressing is a way of expressing and we should let this generation do that,” says Sriram Vaidhyanathan, chief human resource officer at BankBazaar.com, explaining the bottom line is “that you need to give your stakeholders the confidence that you will deliver. At the end of the day, that is what matters.”

Organisations like Cleartrip give employees the flexibility to wear what they like, says the company’s senior vice president – human resources, Prasad Menon. “We appreciate individuality and want employees to consider the office as their second home. Whether people come in shorts or sarees, we welcome them all.”

But there is a downside to casual dressing, feels Poonawalla. “Until there is a switch in perception and acceptance of casual dressing throughout the workplace, an individual who dresses casually may not be taken seriously. Traces of underconfidence or overconfidence might be visible and there may be a slack in professionalism and work decorum.”

Rohan Vaswani, chief human resource officer, Nexus Malls, says employees have to be presentable at all times. “It is our intent to promote a professional image to our clients, affiliates and other employees when on the office premises and while on company related activities. Even if an employee is not at the actual location, they are still a part of the organisation and represent it. They reflect the company’s standards and culture wherever they go and whomsoever they meet professionally,” says Vaswani.

So agrees Deodutta Kurane, group president, human capital management, Yes Bank, who believes that employees are brand ambassadors for the company.

What’s needed indeed is ‘’dress ethic’’, feels Kurane, saying that the dress ethic “gives companies an opportunity to relay the brand’s values and goals to its employees and make a small step in ensuring that employees feel included in the company vision.’’

A dress ethic, say experts, is not a strict code, but a more malleable guideline that encourages employees and consultants to be well-groomed in terms of dressing, personal hygiene, clean-cut appearances and body language. “The basic idea is to help you play your part with total conviction. Dressing in smart casuals can help to balance the scales of result and confidence proficiently,” says Poonawalla, adding that organisations should initiate capsule programmes on healthy hygiene and share snippets on grooming and etiquette.

WEAR YOUR CONFIDENCE

• What’s needed is dress ethic saying that it gives companies an opportunity to relay the brand’s values
   
• A dress code is a small step in ensuring that employees feel included in the company vision