I started my career in an old-fashioned industry, long before the days of work from home. There was an unofficial dress code in the office that was shared amongst the entire industry. Upper management wore a suit, separates, but never the jacket in the office, a crisp dress shirt, never a tie, and loafers. Very few exceptions here. Middle managers and lower staff in the office wore standard office golf attire, and you got a look if your shirt was not tucked in. It was predictable, and I fell in line, bouncing between the two.
As I moved into tech, I quickly went from one of the youngest people in the room to near the oldest (in my 30s), and I was overdressed for everything. I had a routine, a uniform, but flip-flops were allowed in the office. There were only a few people who had updated their wardrobes since freshman year in college. The attention came every day. “You look awfully nice today,” or “What are you dressed up for?” Days when I decided to wear a jacket, I would predictably get the “Where are you interviewing?” My comfort in dressing like I was going to work in business clearly made others uncomfortable.
Their discomfort was contagious a bit. I started to dress in company attire. I wore t-shirts to work for the first time in my 10-year career. Until I hopped on a call with a prospective customer in my company-branded t-shirt, and their CFO made a comment something like “you guys sure look comfortable over there. I guess the tech world doesn’t have a dress code.” He didn’t mean the words in a negative way. In fact, he was probably a little jealous, locked in his own company dress code of tucked shirts and slacks. At that moment, though, even after brushing off the joke, I felt as green as the fresh graduates in orientation. I felt unprepared and unprotected. I was self-conscious. After the call, I had to acknowledge that my consultative call was not as polished as normal, my communication was less clear, and I didn’t feel I added the same level of value that I normally did. Everyone is entitled to having an off day or a bad call. It definitely wasn’t the end of the world. I was shaken, though, by something trivial. All my presuppositions about my attire saying something about me were confirmed. Even if the message wasn’t picked up on by others, I was communicating a lot to myself about how seriously I was taking my work.
Now, I never wanted my performance to be tied to what I wore to work that day. I continued to wear T-shirts on occasion and even more so as I began to work from home more and my kids reached the age where I was wearing their lunch on a regular basis, but I now had a superpower. I was cognisant of the impact my clothing had on my mood and used it to my advantage. On a day when I wore the t-shirts, I was relaxed, contemplative, and it was great for days buried in spreadsheets and admin work. A day full of people interaction, meetings with customers, coworkers, or leadership, I wanted the armor of being dressed for business and the confidence that came with it. I also noticed the handful of days working from home where I opted to stay in pajamas, and I matched that energy. Those were the days when I was distracted and more likely to multitask while watching TV. Could I summon my confidence, drive, and creativity no matter what? Of course, I am an adult after all. However, my default attitude towards the day was impacted by how good or formal I looked.
It sounds like a lack of self-esteem and even a bit vain, don’t worry, I know, but it is something I have seen in my teams as the workplace becomes less formal. That lack of formality bleeds into other aspects of work. The tone and language become less formal, which leads to more misunderstandings and low-level conflicts, partly caused by things getting too friendly. Urgency starts to take a dip, as if importance has to be mutually agreed on. The lack of rules around the workplace starts to open the door to more frivolous demands. It starts to feel something like the social contract of the office was torn up, and work becomes less a place you go, but just part of life. This feeling of the workplace being fully integrated with our identity can be one of the many causes of people today never disengaging from work. If you can work from anywhere, then you should always be working. If you bring your whole self to work, work becomes your whole self. There is no separation and no limits to your obligations.
When you wear your work clothes, your uniform, it signals to yourself what is required of you. It signals to others your commitment. Furthermore, when you are not wearing that uniform, be it after hours, weekends, or sick days, it sends a stronger message. It says, “I’m dressed like you are used to seeing me while at work, I’m not working.” When you run into coworkers at the store, or someone stops into the office on an off day, and they clearly don’t fit in, it sends a strong message of “I have a life outside of this place that you are not privy to.” That signalling is important and valuable to the relationship with you and your workplace.
Lastly, professional dress is a great equalizer. Having a dress code helps everyone fit in. If there is no dress code, the amount of ambiguity can cause stress. It allows team members to signal more and unnecessary income and status in the workplace. Furthermore, it increases pressure on everyone to decide how they are going to present and try to coordinate with everyone. For the one person who meets with big clients, this could mean formal attire daily, and for the developer, they would prefer a t-shirt. Put them both in a room, and while their income and impact may be the same, the perception of hierarchy may be wildly different, leading communications to be skewed. Furthermore, if there are no rules, someone will be empowered to offend others by simply dressing inappropriately. That could mean offensive clothing or sandals, forcing everyone to stare at your feet; either way, a simple dress code could save everyone the time and issues associated with such complaints. Should this be an issue in a workplace full of adults? No, but the reality is that if there are no rules, people will test the limits of what they can do, and as the culture becomes more diverse and open to informality, what people wear can say a lot, and it isn’t all good. Within the bounds of professional dress, there is tons of freedom to express yourself while maintaining a positive public image for you and your organization.
We all wish for a world that will accept us exactly how we want to be, and we all like to be comfortable and expressive in our appearance. However, no matter what you wear, it signals to others and yourself what you are here to do. You do not get to dictate how others interpret your appearance, so the best rule of thumb when it comes to work don’t give others much to interpret, since they will probably get the wrong impression anyway. Dressing for the job you want is always good advice, but you can start with just dressing to work.