The results are in on our dress code poll.  Here they are:

A whopping 78% said they ”love dress codes:  reasonable restrictions make the workplace better.”

Only 22% said they ”hate dress codes:  jeans, flip flops, anything goes — as long as employees don’t show up naked, I’m happy.”

As promised, here are our Top Ten Tips For Fashion Police Success:

1. Test your current code.    If you already have a dress code, start with this little test:  Would it bar an employee from showing up in a bathrobe, snorkel, chaps, spurs and a beanie with a propeller on top?  If not, you might need to make a few changes.
2. Align the code with business strategies.  Dress codes should reinforce the company’s overall vision and strategies.   Ask yourself:  What image are we trying to project to clients, vendors and the general public?
3. Get employee input.  Consider forming a diverse employee focus group to give input as you create the code.  Doing so will help ensure inclusiveness, buy-in and better decisions.
4. Don’t recreate the wheel.  There are zillions of sample dress code policies available for free on the internet and elsewhere.  Ask your friends for their codes.  Use ‘em to generate ideas and shortcut the drafting process.
5. Keep it simple.  Dress codes don’t have to be 168 pages long with footnotes to cover every possible exception.  Keep the language simple and clear, with concrete, non-discriminatory examples.
6. Communicate, communicate, communicate.  Announce the code, include it in your employee handbook and follow change management principles to ensure that it sticks.
7. Enforce it.  Enforce the code consistently.  Inconsistent enforcement can lead to employee dissatisfaction and discrimination claims.
8. Make accommodations.  Be prepared to consider reasonable accommodations to avoid claims of discrimination.
9. Model it.  If you don’t follow the code, your employees won’t either.
10. Revisit it.  Review the code periodically based on employee and client feedback to ensure that it remains consistent with business needs (not to mention fashion trends).

Thanks again for your participation!  Our next poll will be posted shortly.

This entry was posted on Monday, November 5th, 2007 at 7:21 am and is filed under Poll Results, Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.