Whether your employees are interacting with clients, customers or other members of their team, it’s important that they present themselves appropriately. A dress code can guide employees to best represent themselves and your business, but it’s important to consider employee diversity to develop an inclusive dress code policy.
What is a dress code policy?
A dress code policy provides employees with a set of guidelines as to appropriate workwear. Dress code policies are generally defined in new hire or employee handbook documents and specify what is and isn’t appropriate to wear to work. By setting clear expectations, dress code policies help employers keep employees informed and accountable.
Dress codes often vary according to workplaces and industries. A medical employee, for example, may have a dress code for safety reasons, but customer-facing employees may be required to wear professional clothing to better represent themselves and the business.
An inclusive dress code policy is important to ensure all employees feel respected and comfortable. This means paying attention to diverse qualities such as religion, gender or disabilities to promote an inclusive workplace.
What are the advantages of having a dress code policy?
An inclusive dress code policy provides a number of benefits to keep your employees both happy and professional. Some advantages include:
- Employees appear professional and on-brand: If your employees interact face-to-face with clients, customers or other individuals, a dress code can help them to appear professional and represent your brand or business appropriately.
- Promotes inclusivity and equality: A dress code policy that accounts for and respects employee diversity can promote equality and help employees feel more empowered in the workplace.
- Maintain consistency and clarity: A clearly communicated policy ensures that employees understand dress code expectations and guidelines.
Read more: Dress Code Policies for Your Business (With 3 Samples)
How to design an inclusive dress code policy
ou may choose to implement a dress code policy for many reasons, but it might be time for a dress code if your employees interact with customers or clients, perform labor-intensive or hazardous tasks or if there have been complaints about a lack of a dress code. Consider the following tips to create a customized and inclusive dress code policy.
Discuss dress code options with employees
It’s important to involve your employees when developing a dress code policy. By listening to feedback from a variety of employees, you can get a better sense of the current dress code equality and inclusivity issues in the workplace. This information helps you create a policy adapted to the needs of your employees rather than surprising them with an arbitrarily developed dress code.
Promote employee ownership
There are a few ways to promote employee ownership in dress code policies and how they present themselves. One way is involving them in the development process as mentioned. Establishing trust is also a way to promote ownership. Although you may be tempted to create a strict dress code policy, a loose but still clearly defined set of guidelines shows employees that you trust them to make good decisions about personal presentation and don’t want to micromanage them.
Communicate dress code policies
To avoid confusion, be sure to clearly communicate your policies. This means keeping policies accessible either in a handbook or document or available digitally. It also means defining context and specific terms. A casual dress code, for example, might mean T-shirts are acceptable but sleeveless shirts aren’t. You might also choose to have different dress code standards depending on whether employees work in-person or remotely. Whatever policies you develop, make sure employees can understand exactly what they mean by practicing good communication.
Promote gender-neutral workplace dress codes
Inclusive dress code policies should describe standards that promote gender equality and inclusivity. A gender-neutral workplace dress code doesn’t target or discriminate against a specific gender, sexual orientation or expression. This means that you shouldn’t require women to wear dresses and men to wear suits, for example. By eliminating gendered policies, your workplace can better accommodate and include all genders and identities.
Related: Gender Pronouns in the Workplace
Avoid non-inclusive policies
Your current and future employees are a diverse group of people. They may come from different religious backgrounds, have different racial or cultural identities or have a disability that means they must dress a certain way. An inclusive dress code policy accounts for this diversity to avoid employee discrimination and ensure that employees feel welcome, understood and respected. Some employees may need to wear religious-specific clothing, or others with certain hair textures may need to groom it in specific fashions for health or cultural reasons. This makes it important to develop dress code policies that accommodate these needs.
Encourage personal expression
Dressing and grooming are personal matters and allow employees to express their individuality. While you may be tempted to create policies that strictly dictate employee hair color, hair length, facial hair and more, these policies can undermine personal expression and discriminate against some employees. Instead, consider developing a flexible dress code policy that allows employees to express their individuality in a professional manner.
Keep it simple
Make sure that your dress code policy is clear without being tedious. Rather than micromanaging your employees with irrelevant policies, provide them with clear and simple guidelines that allow them to make their own dress judgements.
Inclusive dress code policy FAQs
How do you write an inclusive dress code policy?
An inclusive dress code policy accounts for and promotes diversity. You should consider qualities like religion, gender identity and expression, cultural identity and disabilities. Make sure that your policy doesn’t discriminate against individuals for any reason.
What are the four types of dress code?
Generally, the four types of dress codes are business formal, business professional, business casual and casual.
Can employees be fired for breaking a dress code?
Employers are generally allowed to require employees to dress to meet certain standards as long as the dress code policy is inclusive and nondiscriminatory. If an employee violates the dress code, they may be subject to dismissal.
How can dress codes be discriminatory?
Dress code policies may be discriminatory if they require employees to dress or groom in certain ways that conflict with their religion, gender identity, disability or any similar quality. If a dress code holds certain groups to different standards on the basis of such qualities, then it may also be considered discriminatory.
