Dress Code?

Why do I need a dress code?

Employee: You want me to wear a what??

Boss: A suit or dress/skirt or blouse into work next time.

Employee: Why, what do I ever do to you?

Boss: We need to look professional because we don’t want to scare the customers. And we need to look legitimate.

This was the communication at one company recently when they asked their employees to dress professionally for work.

Changing dress codes can be a touchy issue during these unpredictable times. But the reasons are that the companies need to build a clean-cut image and press team unity needs to be approached delicately by businesses or it could negatively affect productivity and employee morale.

As one sociologist said, when you take away common individuality you diminish their creativity and aptitude to think outside the box. Uniformity in appearance leads to regularity in thoughts, which is damaging to any organization that is trying to develop.

Take for example, Dylan Mulvaney who recently dressed as a woman for the Budweiser beer campaign.?Men in offices are dressing in woman’s clothing and vice versa. It is having a mixed effect on other coworkers’ work beliefs.

One gentleman recently stated that he had two male individuals dressed in woman’s clothing that work at his company. He was asked how he felt about that. He stated, it was their business but he does not come into contact with them until there is a monthly meeting when everyone has to get together to discuss what the company plans to do in the next month.

And when the employees and managers meet he says that it is like “the elephant in the room” where everyone tried to avoid eye contact with them. One manager said that one of the company’s vendors made a comment about one of the men and he went back to his office and was fired by his company for making comments about this gentleman. So he said, “We all are quiet or keep our comments to ourselves.”

One of the gentlemen is in his twenties and is quite slender similar to Mulvaney and can pull off wearing a blouse and skirt but the other gentleman is in his fifties and looks like Rachel Levine who is the first transgender US assistant secretary of Health, who the Biden administration sworn into office.

As one gentleman said, he looks ridiculous because he is overweight, bald also wears glasses and anyone can tell just by looking at him, he is a man.

One psychologist said that not every workplace can accept men in women’s clothing and it depends on the type of work that is being performed. At this place, employees just went about their business but what is alarming is that a vendor was fired for making comment/s about the gentleman.

The psychologist added that this business accepts employee individuality but if judgment comes up or someone is questioned then they are fired.

A lawyer (representing the vendor that was fired) said, “The business needs to reevaluate their human resource department and what is allowed for men and women to wear plus freedom of speech amendment for all employees.”

One company’s human resource department said how they handle different sexes wearing other sexes' clothing is during the interview; they ask if the new hire would feel uncomfortable around people who felt that they should not be wearing that outfit. And they have asked their employees currently working at the company, if they would feel uncomfortable working around a person dressed as the opposite sex. This is before the company brings in the new employee. The company can take a vote on this issue.?

The company said that if you are truthful from the beginning there will be no misunderstandings but the company said they couldn’t control the comments/remarks that may or may not be said in the person’s presence.

One law firm hired a young woman who was working as a receptionist in their office. When they hired her, she was dressed in a suit and had dark hair but as time went on, she dyed her hair an assortment of colors.

Employees thought it was very eccentric but her boss did not think so and she was asked to dye it back to her original hair color or leave the job. She dyed her hair back to her natural color but she was then transferred to the research department where she could go back to her assortment of colors because she was dodging from meeting clients who walked in the front door. Her new boss did not care if she had a variety of colors in her hair but she was qualified to do the job properly.?

Another company recently had a woman who was turning into a man. She had started transgender therapy and had been dressing in men’s suits but what was alarming as some employees had stated she was starting to grow a beard and mustache and the employees were not comfortable with her transforming in front of their eyes.

The company decided in their best interest to ask her to transfer to another office where people did not know her previously as a woman and employees were at ease around her. She had accepted the transfer to another office.

Another woman had worked in a music store and had a punk hairstyle but when she was hired at a record label and came to work with the same punk hairstyle it was frowned upon even though the label had represented punk music artists in the past. Most of the employees including management had thought her style was nonsense, which showed she had never really grown up.

She was asked to modify her hair or leave the new job. She chose to restyle her hair because the job paid well and she needed the money.

According to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) who handles claims of discrimination these circumstances are happening more and more at companies. Where companies run into problems with employees who want to dress differently from other staff or undergo certain medical procedures is having a clear understanding of what the company views are pertaining to dress codes or employees transitioning into the opposite sex.

What also is presenting itself is the fact that transitioning employees are choosing to access the new sexes restroom. This is having a major effect on employees who did not feel comfortable sharing a restroom with the transitioning individual. Companies are now making restrooms more individual compartments so employees will not be viewing others in the restroom at the same time. So companies will not be prosecuted for discrimination.

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has stated that any requests from an employee or from a new hire at a specific company should have deliberate or thoughtful consideration, especially when it comes to dress or bathroom usage.

It is advised by the EEOC that employers should update their workplace discrimination, work policies, dress codes (whether to have them or not) and harassment policies and should provide additional training against employees who feel a need to be diverse.

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