Should you cancel casual Fridays?

Team leading / 19 August 2011

Gone are the days when everyone in the office wore a suit and jeans were a no-go at work. But does dressing down encourage creativity or simply appear unprofessional? Laura Johnson asks what we should be wearing to work

Would you trust advice on an important merger delivered by a lawyer wearing anything but a smartly pressed suit? Are you offended if a supplier turns up for a meeting in jeans and trainers? We all expect certain standards of dress in our working lives – except for Fridays, it seems.

Organisations offering the option of ‘dress down’ days for staff are now fairly commonplace, allowing staff to come into the workplace in their off duty attire, usually on a Friday. Whether it’s a formal policy or an unwritten rule, a charity fundraiser to boost a company’s social responsibility credentials or an attempt to lighten up an uptight office mood, on Fridays most people ditch the suits for more casual clothing. But is this trend, which emerged in most offices during the nineties, starting to look dated as office wear in general becomes more casual?

Research by online bank first direct suggests business casual dress codes are spreading further into the working week. The report reveals just one in 10 workers wear a suit to work on a daily basis, and less than five per cent regularly wear a tie. With more business being conducted online and over the telephone, what employees wear to work has become more a matter of comfort and convenience than projecting a professional image. In the creative, media, online and IT sectors, even the ruling elite no longer see the point in restricting casual dress to Fridays.

Evolving dress codes

“If you look at school uniforms, they’ve evolved over time,” says Paul Say, head of marketing at first direct. “Look at uniforms of organisations – for example the police force and our health care system – and they’ve all evolved as well. The evolution has been focused on comfort and convenience.” It makes sense that the business world should follow the same patterns.

Leading by example with its own full-time business casual policy, first direct is convinced of the business benefits of dressing down.

“We believe for people to give more of themselves in the workplace, we need to allow freedom of expression,” Say says. “People feeling comfortable in their workplace, feeling relaxed, it really helps to foster that environment.”

Certainly in the City, with all that’s happened, people are getting much more conscious of being smarter. Also, I’m finding people are coming to me as they need to smarten up because they’re starting to deal with China and the Far East, and they dress smarter.

Angela Marshall, image consultant

And casual dress doesn’t necessarily result in a slack attitude. For those looking for a more compelling business justification to wear jeans everyday, the first direct study also found a third of workers felt a casual dress code would boost their productivity. As a result, it’s not only employees that benefit from this laissez-faire approach to office attire.

“We’ve got great engagement skills here and this then manifests itself in material benefits for the customer,” Say explains. “Our customer satisfaction levels are the highest in the banking category. Customer recommendations are the highest in the industry too.”

Customer facing

Dress down Friday may no longer be relevant in businesses like first direct where employees have little face-to-face customer contact, but not every business (or customer) is as forward-thinking. Comfort and convenience will resonate less with accountants, lawyers and blue chip executives more concerned with financial returns than releasing the creative spirits of laid-back employees. A predictably professional appearance and impeccable grooming reflect the reputation and quality of service on offer in these professions, especially in today’s fickle economy.

“I would say a lot of companies are going back the other way,” suggests image consultant, Angela Marshall. “Certainly in the City, with all that’s happened, people are getting much more conscious of being smarter. Also, I’m finding people are coming to me as they need to smarten up because they’re starting to deal with China and the Far East, and they dress smarter.”

An organisation’s brand, customer base and the nature of the products or services offered are important factors to consider when deciding whether dress down should remain restricted to Fridays.
 
“The first time I saw casual was about 15 to 16 years ago when I was in Toronto,” Marshall remembers. “I went into a bank and the cashiers were casual. I said, ‘so you have a more casual attitude on a Friday - this is the day to come in for a loan’”. This wasn’t the message the bank was aiming to communicate to customers.

Before turning a blind eye to the increasing casualness of your team, Marshall advises sparing a thought for how customers will interpret your employees’ work wardrobe. How would you feel about handing over your life’s savings for investment to a banker wearing ripped jeans? Probably not as confident as if he had a silk handkerchief slipped meticulously into a Savile Row blazer.

Equally, as a manager, you should be wary of bending the rules too far yourself, giving your subordinates license to tweak your dress code further. Warning of the perils of over exposure of the four b’s - bum, belly, back, bosom – Marshall suggests that making guidelines stricter than you want is the most sensible approach.

Business casual may be taking over in some industries, but for more traditional companies, restricting dress down days to Fridays (and those without external client meetings) remains relevant. It offers employees an occasional relaxation of the rules that’s a boost to the a team without making addressing the delicate issue of a staff member’s inappropriate wardrobe choices part of a manager’s daily duties.