While the big tech startups like Google and Facebook may be the companies who are known best for a casual office dress code, nowadays more and more companies are taking the idea on board.
If you are a business owner who is also thinking about running with the idea and letting your workers go casual, then here are some pros and cons for you to consider before making your final decision.
The Pros of a Casual Office Dress Code
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Switching to a casual office dress code can be a very easy way to give your employees a morale boost or work benefit, and the great thing is that it doesn’t cost a penny for you to implement it.
Casual dress codes can increase worker satisfaction, as they allow employees to have a measure of control over a simple – yet important – area of their working life.
In this simple area, workers will be free to choose what they wear based on their own preferences, rather than the preferences of their employer. This could make a worker feel valued and respected.
Some may choose to stick with the kind of smart business clothing that they are used to wearing, while others may prefer to work in jeans or something similar.
The important thing is that – as long their choice of dress doesn’t affect their ability to work or act as a distraction to others – there is very little harm in giving employees the freedom to make decisions in this area.
Workers won’t just feel a measure of freedom from a dress-down policy at work, they will also feel that they are trusted by their employer. It could be extremely encouraging for a worker to know that they are trusted by their employer to make wise decisions about the way that they dress.
This could also encourage employees to have greater confidence in their abilities and ideas, some of which may greatly benefit your business.
We’ve seen that having a casual dress code could go some way to improving the mental state of your employees, but what about their physical health?
One other potential benefit of a dress-down policy is that it may lead to a more physically fit and healthy workforce, as workers may be more inclined to head out for a brisk walk during their dinner hour if their attire is more suited to this kind of activity.
The potential cons (and how you can manage them)
So, now that we’ve examined the potential pros of a casual dress policy in the office, it’s time to think about the potential cons.
Perhaps the most obvious risk of implementing a casual dress code in the office is the possibility that one of your workers may take things a little too far. After all, there’s always one who likes to push the boundaries, isn’t there?
If you want to avoid this issue from the outset, then it would be good to make it clear to your employees from the get-go exactly where you stand on this and where you will draw the line.
You could have something put into writing and issued to your staff explaining your position. You could also place it in a prominent place in the office, so that there can be no excuses if somebody does try to take things that bit too far.
Another possible con to a casual dress code is that your workers themselves might not even want it. If the majority of your team would feel uncomfortable working in a dressed-down environment, then it is unlikely to be perceived as a benefit by your employees.
To avoid this issue, be sure to discuss your ideas of a casual dress code with your team before implementing it and perhaps even putting it to a vote. You should then make sure that the results of the vote are made known to your workforce afterwards.
Doing this will enable you get a clear idea of how your staff really feel about the prospect and if there are only a few who don’t feel happy with the casual policy, then they will hopefully feel more inclined to go along with things once they know that most of their fellow employees were hugely in favour.
Again, it might be good to reiterate that it is still ok for workers to stick with their smarter outfits if that is what they would prefer.
Making the change
If after reading all of the pros and cons above you have decided that a casual office dress code could be right for you and your business, then here are the important points to remember.
Start by laying out your guidelines, such as what dress-down really means, who is allowed to dress-down and whether there are any exceptions to this?
Then you need to make sure that your management team and workforce are on board. You can do this by having a few discussions with your team and perhaps putting the idea to a vote.
When you are sure that most of the team is on board, you’ll be all set to make the switch.
You can find more tips and advice from Opus Energy, specialists in supplying business energy, on brighterbusiness.co.uk and on opusenergy.com
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