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As times change, business practices are evolving to better address workers’ needs and aspirations. Managers and employees alike are placing less importance on certain traditional professional customs, such as dress code.
The unwritten rules of the workplace have changed considerably in recent years. The Covid pandemic resulted in widespread remote work going mainstream, becoming a way of life for many, and this, in turn, has had an impact on the way working people dress.
When a person works from home, there’s generally no need to dress up in a suit and tie or skirt suit. Comfort is the key word. After four years of remote work — whether occasional, hybrid or full-time, this desire for comfort is having an impact of what makes up our wardrobes. So much so, in fact, that it’s now difficult to tell the difference between professional and casual, everyday clothing.
A sartorial evolution that hiring managers are increasingly coming to terms with. Only 31% of those questioned in an Express Employment Professionals-Harris Poll* feel that it’s important to have a dress code and adhere to it.
Five years ago, 49% thought so. The job seekers are of the same opinion: 35% of working people consider it important to adhere to their employer’s dress code, compared with 57% in 2018.
Politeness still prevails
While the trend is for an increasingly casual, less formal dress code in the workplace, employees still need to make sure they’re dressed appropriately and maintain decorum in the workplace.
For example, it’s unseemly to leave headphones, plastic wrappers or a half-empty coffee cup lying around on a desk. Fifty-nine percent of hiring managers say it’s vital for employees to keep their workspace neat and tidy, up from 52% in 2018.
And that’s understandable: researchers at Florida State University claim that an untidy workstation affects the user’s memory, motivation and productivity.
In general, employees need to pay attention to their work etiquette. Punctuality and respect are important. Not greeting colleagues when you meet them in the corridors or at the coffee machine is a real faux pas in the workplace with around one in two hiring managers judging this error severely.
Similarly, lateness is a no-no with 66% of hiring managers placing importance on arriving on time at the office or to a meeting. This is up from five years ago (60%).
Meanwhile for employees, it’s not always easy to know what rules they have to respect in the workplace, as they can change so quickly. Managers are well aware of the confusion their staff face in this regard: 51% of those questioned for the purposes of this survey agreed that it can be difficult to what is acceptable because etiquette changing so much.
*This survey was conducted by Harris Poll, on behalf of Express Employment Professionals, among 1,007 American recruiters and 1,002 active Americans aged 18 and over.