The relationship between professionalism and organizational dress code

The way people dress can have a huge impact on how they are perceived and treated. At the same time, there are standards of what people in society expect in the dress of the professionals they meet. Lawyers are typically expected to show up in a business suit because it is a part of their image; attire may also be a contributor to their ability to command a larger salary for their labor. The president of a company generally dresses much more formally than the janitor, but if the janitor was dressing like a chief executive people would wonder how the work was getting done.

The professional image

Businesses that deal with the public have an image they want to maintain. Best Buy has their sales staff in a blue shirt with the corporate logo; the sales personnel for a car dealership generally wear a sport coat over a shirt with tie and various government employees wear either business casual, a sport coat with tie or a suit for men with corresponding levels of dress for women. Businesses engaged in the trades will generally have their personnel in some sort of work uniform supplied by the company or they will provide guidelines for the type of clothing the company expects its employees to wear.

The company’s professional image isn’t limited by the clothing either. For some businesses, the addition of safety gear such as hard hats, safety glasses, gloves and steel-toed boots can be just as much a part of the organizational dress code as a three piece suit is for another business. Having items like helmets and color-coded jackets allows others to quickly identify the type of trade, the company and even management personnel. By keeping the issued uniform items in good repair so that the employees seen by the public have a positive image of the company can lead to additional business and sought-after referrals.

Communicating the dress code

Just as important as having a dress code is communicating the dress code to employees. While some may decry the invasion of the business into the everyday dress of its employees, the right of a business to control the image it wishes to project is very well established. While there are several ways to communicate the dress code to the organization, the best is the company memo or policy handbook that clearly defines what is expect out of executive, administrative, mid-level management, along with shop or production personnel. Some companies allow employees to dress down on the last work day of the week, commonly called causal Friday, and by specifying what can be worn on this day will also prevent confusion amongst the employees while maintaining the level of professional image that the company is seeking to project.

First impressions only happen once

Just as a prospective employee will arrive for an interview in a clean and pressed business suit in order to present a good first impression, so too does a company seek to have a good first impression with prospective customers. This is done by having a professional image through an organizational dress code. Then it is up to the employees to continue to sell that professional image by their actions. If image and actions match, the likelihood of the company achieving business success is enhanced. It may be an old adage, but its truthfulness endures: You never get a second chance to make a good first impression. A dress code makes that more likely, and without it, the company may very well lose the chance to make that good first impression.