Dressing for Success - Really?

It hasn't been that many years ago that the term "business casual" was coined.  To many business leaders at the time, though, the phrase meant little more than allowing one to wear a red tie, and perhaps only once a week. 

Well, that was then.  Today, attitudes and customs are quite different, and typically much less conservative.  For example, it's not uncommon in some circles for male employees to forgo the use of socks within an office environment.  I know this because recently I visited such an office and saw for myself.

But is this clothing revolution a global phenomenon, where everyone is doing it, or are there minefields of differing customs out there, waiting to trip up the unwary business traveler?

According to a global survey (Ispos/Reuters), clothes still do make the man - or woman.  Depending on where an employee lives, putting the best foot forward - at least at work - is still key to upward mobility and career success.

Or Sometimes Not 

As you might expect though, customs of acceptance have evolved - though not in a uniform fashion.  Researchers have found that attitudes about the use of proper attire in the workplace differ from country to country, which leads to some interesting and diverse attitudes about perceived workplace "slackers" and "achievers."

Have you ever arrived at a meeting dressed for the Boardroom, only to discover everyone else wearing collared shirts and slacks?  Awkward, isn't it?  A scenario you would wish to avoid.

Europeans have been found to have the most casual attitude when it comes to work clothes.  Only 27 percent of Europeans reported that they wore traditional business clothes to work (jackets and ties for men, dress suits for women).  People in Hungary might be the most casually dressed workers in the world.  Only 12 percent of Hungarians reported that they wore "business clothes" to work, while 46 percent said they thought clean and pressed shorts were appropriate office attire.  On the other hand, workers in India might be the best dressed, with nearly 60 percent of survey respondents reporting that they wore business clothes to work.

Many workers worldwide no longer equate dressing well for work with what they consider success.  Approximately 40 percent reported that they wore casual business clothes to work.  However, the same percentage of respondents said that people who wore such casual attire in the office would probably not be hired or promoted into senior management positions.  Additionally, 66 percent of respondents believed that senior managers should always appear better dressed than their employees.

For many then, conservative dress is never out of style.  In some circles (usually outside of high tech) casual dress may even give the "perception" of a lack of professionalism. 

Workers in India held the harshest views for people who wear casual clothes to work.  Nearly 60 percent of Indians described casual business dressers as "slackers", and 64 percent said that such casual dressers would never reach senior management positions.

For a contrary viewpoint, where I live in Central Florida business casual is considered the proper attire by many organizations, across the organizational hierarchy.  In fact, wearing a tie in some offices would cause co-workers to stop and take notice.

When it comes to management wearing casual clothes in the office, Swedes appear to have the most lenient attitudes.  Only 27 percent of Swedish respondents reported that they believe that wearing casual clothes on a regular basis would hinder workers from attaining high-level jobs.

Common Exception: Bankers and Lawyers

The higher up you are in the company's structure, the greater the reluctance to "dress down."  One Business Unit Head acquaintance in Europe suffered through so many shocked looks the one time he wore jeans to work that he never repeated the experience.

So, what's the takeaway from the survey data for the business traveler?  When in doubt, ask ahead.  Don't assume.  Getting the lay of the land in advance is always smart thinking.  As a rule of thumb though, remember that men can always dress down by taking off the tie or power jacket, but the opposite won't work nearly as well.

Though admittedly that strategy might be more difficult for women.

So ask.

Chuck Csizmar CCP is founder and Principal of CMC Compensation Group, providing global compensation consulting services to a wide variety of industries and non-profit organizations.  He is also associated with several HR Consulting firms as a contributing consultant.  Chuck is a broad based subject matter expert with a specialty in international and expatriate compensation.  He lives in Central Florida (near The Mouse) and enjoys growing fruit and managing (?) a clowder of cats.

Creative Commons image, "Dress for Success," by Chad Francis

Comments

[Chris Dobyns]

This was good, and if nothing else helped reassure me that not every posting has to have a clear and direct linkage back to pay and compensation (apparently that's been keeping me awake at night, given the sometimes "eclectic" topics I occasionally propose for publication).

The cited faux pas of overlooking the need to wear socks couldn't hold a candle to the need for a very obvious intervention with someone who was recently spotted in bare feet - in the restroom. Their mother would not have been proud of them.

Despite these occasional "outliers" (even in our line of business), we've actually embraced a variation of the dress code policy mantra established by GM's CEO, Mary Barra, who simply stated that employees should "dress appropriately". Sounds right to me.

[Zachary Parsons]

Whenever a (savvy) job applicant inquires about appropriate dress for an interview, I tell them we observe "business casual" (though I'm now understanding that to be a very nebulous descriptor), but that a good rule of thumb is to bump your dress up one "notch" from whatever the standard office culture entails (e.g. business casual means wearing a tie and/or sport coat wouldn't hurt).

The exception is for leadership positions, where I do think you should dress "for the board room", though I don't feel obligated to tell leadership candidates who wouldn't divine this on their own.

[E. James (Jim) Brennan]

Ran an experiment with a sales training class; showed them the group graduation picture of the last class (all strangers to them). When instructed to match the numbered people with gross personality characteristics, their choices (lazy, smart, jokester, honest, liar, etc.) based on mostly clothing alone were almost identical.

Lesson learned: you only get one chance to make a positive first impression. Miss it and you may never be able to correct it. Clothing communicates!