Non Eye-Roll-Inducing Tips to Communicate Dress Code to Employees

The second year of my career, I met my new manager, Peggy, who was promptly horrified that I came to work wearing sandals with no pantyhose.

She reprimanded me immediately. I was dumbfounded at Peggy’s suggestion that I wear pantyhose. No one that I knew still wore pantyhose slips. It was the 90s! What’s more, it was August in Dallas, Texas.

Peggy’s attire convinced me that she’d taken a time machine to work and landed in the wrong decade. I didn’t respect her opinion and ultimately viewed it as just a suggestion.

The  power struggle ended days later when she sent me home for wearing my black suede, chunky heeled sandals with bare legs.

While there’s some debate about whether dress codes are still necessary, it’s an indisputable fact that dress and grooming standards help define your company culture.

So if you have a dress code, employees will need to understand how to create their personal flair in the context of that policy. That requires knowledge of the dress and grooming guidelines and regular reminders.

Here are some tips for ways to keep slipping appropriate dress in front of employees without becoming a Peggy.

Before You Communicate the Dress Code…

Confirm that the dress code is easy to find. Don’t just send employees to the Intranet or break room to root around hoping they’ll find the right thing. Also, be sure the policy is available in more than one location.

Familiarize yourself with the dress code. Your communication cannot enforce guidelines that are not in the dress code. Let’s say the Director of Finance comes to you complaining about an employee’s beard and wants you to send a reminder to everyone that beards are not appropriate. You shouldn’t do so unless beards are actually covered by the policy.

Consider legalities. Since we’re discussing communication and not the actual development of the dress code, the chance of writing something that lands you in front of legal due to claims of harassment or discrimination, is unlikely but not out of the realm of possibility. Stick closely to the policy and if you have any doubts, don’t hesitate to confirm with legal. Also, be careful to not single out a certain group (for example, women, young people or lower paid workers)if you use examples and photos.

What to Say

Give them context

Every company is working hard to engage employees to make sure they are productive and positively contributing to the company’s goals. The requirements for their appearance can be a significant part of their attitude around working for the company.

A few of the factors that prevented Peggy and I from ever finding common ground about my bare legs:

I had worked at the company for a year and had never been reprimanded for not wearing pantyhose.
Peggy was new to the company and brought personal expectations that she expected to be followed.

I never received the dress code.
Peggy never reviewed the dress code.

I didn’t understand why she would want me to be unfashionable and uncomfortable.
Peggy  didn’t understand why I wouldn’t just do as she said.

Prevent the tug-of-war with employees by doing more than just sending them a list of rules. Take the opportunity to explain why the policy or guideline is important.

  • Is it because you have a client service environment and the way employees appear can influence whether your clients trust you?
  • Is it for safety reasons and people could be harmed if they’re not wearing an appropriate shoe? Or, could their clothing be ruined in the course of work?
  • Is it to minimize distractions and create a collegial atmosphere?
  • If you can’t find a logical reason, it may be time to reevaluate the dress code.

Explain the differences

Different parts of the company need different dress codes. The salespeople meeting with clients would need to wear different attire than the IT people who crawl around the floor looking for the ever-illusive power outlets). It may seem obvious, but if someone is reprimanded for wearing jeans, they might bring up that a coworker walks by them daily in jeans, not understanding that person’s department allows it.

State (and follow) the consequences

Be sure to clearly state the repercussions of not following the dress code.  Employees should know what will happen if they don’t dress inappropriately. This will ensure fairness and help prevent power struggles.

Tell them how request accommodations

Make sure that employees know what to do if they need an exemption from the policy because of religion or disability and request a reasonable accommodation.

Communicating With the Workforce

Hopefully most of your workforce is on point with dressing appropriately for the job they do. However there may be a few problem individuals who just don’t get that you can’t wear sweatpants, even on casual Friday.

Remind employees regularly

In order to reduce the number of managers that need to deal with infractions, establish a cadence of regular communication around dress code.

Consider:

    • May, immediately prior to casual summer and the influx of interns and recent grads
    • August, because it can be brutally hot and difficult to balance comfort with appropriate appearance
    • November, prior to the holiday season and parties

Get creative

Here are some creative ideas you could try in addition to your standard communication methods.

    • Create a video. A low-production video featuring employees illustrating dos and dont’s. Keep it fun and as short as possible.

Humor is a great way to communicate dress code!

Check out this fun video and feel free to share with your employees.

Dress-code-video-title-page (1)

Dress code video

    • Stage a Fashion Show. Have interns or volunteers put on a fashion show. It will be entertaining for the participants and the live audience. You can also live stream it and record it for broader use.
    • Feature employees in a poster campaign. Make the dos and don’ts visual via a poster campaign, but ditch the meaningless stock photos. Instead use real employees or create illustrations. Another idea.
    • Create a seasonal infographic. Share infographics and other visuals to illustrate proper dress code.
    • Make sure it’s a part of  your new hire orientation. These days, new hire orientations have been stripped down to just the essentials. Consider dress code as essential. Make sure your employee dress code or uniform requirements are included in new hire materials and that materials are consistent, clear and easy to understand.

Communicating With Individuals

Mass communication to employees naturally provides the opportunity to make corrections on their own. Yet invariably, there will be some that are not in compliance. No one wants the task of telling someone their dress is inappropriate. It’s a tough conversation, but must be done.

Since your managers are on the front lines to both see and correct infractions, they are the natural fit for the appropriate individual to communicate directly with employees. Managers will need tools and resources to prepare them to take appropriate  actions, including having a tactful, non-judgmental conversations with employees:

    • Create a scenario-based guide. Depending on your dress code criteria, pick the infractions you most often see and create role plays. Managers can review the guide prior to having a conversation with an employee. If a male manager is uncomfortable or unsure about how to tell his female employee that her skirt is too short or tight, he’ll have suggested language to do so.
    • Encourage managers to use themselves as an example. One way to relieve the tension of such a conversation is to approach the employee and perhaps tell a story about a time they made a fashion faux pas in your career and what you learned from it. I’m sure that most of us have a story about wearing flip flops to the airport and getting to the destination and realizing that you forgot to pack your shoes and will have to attend the meeting in flip flops (or is that just me?). if you don’t have a story, create one! Or, tell your “friends” story. This will help put the person at ease, feel less embarrassed, and hopefully make them more receptive to being corrected.
    • Timing is everything. Managers should speak to employees without delay and they should not belabor the point during the conversation.