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Dress smart at the workplace (View Comments)
Ankita Shreeram
Posted On Tuesday, June 01, 2010 at 12:02:59 PM
As people become more grooming conscious than ever, let’s take a look at the prominent trends in dressing at the workplace
Does your outward persona reflect your inner one? The answer to that question may be debatable but most people have realised that smart dressing can do wonders to the way they are perceived at work. A recent survey by TeamLease on this topic threw up a number of findings, some predictable and others simply startling. We ask the experts for their take on a few of the issues highlighted.
“In a growing competitive environment where performance is a key metric for survival, having the upper edge by projecting the complete package is becoming increasingly imperative. Almost 89 per cent of the surveyed respondents gave the green signal to the impact of dressing / grooming at the work place, with 74 per cent agreeing that well dressed people are taken more seriously. Moving from a casual attitude of “anything goes” to “impactful” has been a slow but sure transition. Projecting a positive and presentable image catapults one the extra mile,” says Surabhi Mathur- General Manager, Permanent Staffing. Alok Pant, Senior VP - Marketing & Strategic Alliances, Intelligroup agrees with that partially, “People are dressing more conservatively. With the passing of the irrational exuberance of a few years ago, business is taking on a more serious face. It also depends on the industry. In software, people dress more business casual. In banking and finance, the suit is till the way to go.” Preeta Bahugune, HR Manager, Altair India pitches in with her views, “It is a proven fact that a good looking and well groomed person always attracts more attention than his/her not so good looking counterpart. I believe the growing trends in corporate dressing are moving towards more classic casual or comfortable and smart dressing.”
Pant advises, “A rule of thumb is that you should dress like your boss if that is the position you aspire to.” “They say the first impression is the last impression. Credentials are undoubtedly important as that would help the employee to survive in the organisation. However, if there are two interviewees with more or less equal merits, the person with a proper corporate dressing and a better appearance would surely hit the bull's eye,” believes Bahugune. And according to Mathur, it isn’t women alone who focus on their appearance. TeamLease findings reveal that 70 per cent of the respondents feel as much time is spent by men on grooming (if not more) as it is by women.
Most workplaces do have a dress code still. So what are the pros and cons? “It is essential for each organisation to outline the dress code or acceptable form of grooming synonymous to the branding it chooses to build. After all, the people are ambassadors of an organisation and their interaction with the outside world is reflective of the internal expectations. Surprisingly, 89% of the respondents are inclined towards this, with almost 47 per cent agreeing that though it is restricting it is essential,” says Mathur.
Bahugune affirms, “I believe it entirely depends on the nature of job/industry/profession. For example, banking and marketing demands a specific dress code, whereas creative and vocational industries like web designing, fashion designing, advertisement, disc jockeying hardly require any corporate dressing. Having said that the importance and necessity of corporate dressing cannot be ignored. A well dressed office instills a culture of discipline, efficiency, positive body language, and in general, adds value to the credentials of its employees.”
Even in today’s world where men and women work in equal numbers and capacities, we still perceive glimmers of a sexist attitude where women are judges according to their clothes. “Yes, dress is a tricky area for women professionals. Wearing bold colours can signify power and confidence. At the same time, women need to be very careful what they wear, lest they be perceived as not being serious about their work,” says Pant.
Mathur agrees, “57 per cent people agree that dressing makes one of the juiciest gossip materials, and we have further seen that 72 per cent agree that how a woman dresses is distracting from work. With a fair mix of people at metros and large cities, one would have expected to see a more unbiased response, but it would seem that change is yet to come.”
Thus, the winds indicate that people are moving away from strictly formal or overly casual to ‘smart’ dressing and if you want to crack that interview, spend as much time on your suit as on reading up on the organisation!
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