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 While clients are buying skills, image does make a difference, and appropriateness is the key.
Is relaxing your organisation's dress code simply a favor to staff, or is there a strategic benefit? Geoffrey Colvin, writing in Fortune magazine, says recruits from business schools "want to be valued for what they can do, and they'd like some stock. Offer them that, and they'll wear sarongs and babushkas if you make them."
Time was when an employer made the rules about employee attire. During the 1980's IBM was known as 'big blue' because male staff were obliged to wear blue pinstriped suits. However, says Colvin, the US’s oldest firms are discarding their suits, collars and ties and donning sweaters and sports jackets to outdo one another in "youth-pleasing casualness".
The reason: to create a conducive environment for young creative people "who are tempted by the no-rules, Darwinian life of dotcom start-ups".
Is it working? Colvin thinks not, citing Siebel Systems, where men wear suits and where the stock is up 1 700 percent in the past three years, and Oracle, whose CEO wears Savile Row suits and where stock rose 500 percent in the past year.
There is clearly more to corporate dress code than meets the eye.
"One must be careful not to generalise," says PAG executive John Sheratt. "Appropriateness is the key. The first driver is: will the person be dealing with clients? Your approach to dress rules should be client-focused. If staff members are going to see an auditing firm or a banker, they should not sport a ponytail or an open-neck shirt."
What is important is the message you are sending to the market—the shareholders, clients and potential clients, says Sheratt.
The use of more electronic communication and less face-to-face interaction is a factor in the new dress rules.
"The emphasis is on service. Clients are saying 'don’t impress me, just get the job done’. Companies are buying skills and performance rather than people." Introducing a dress-down policy may be used to create an ethos internally. The last Friday of the month is a "dress-down" day at PAG, says Sheratt. The custom began as a team-building effort, when staff could arrive in casual gear and use the day to market to clients and set up interviews. "The intention was to break the mould for a day—to have fun and be productive."
However, subtle sociological forces are at work, and Sherratt agrees: "It made a difference for staff to see the MD in jeans; it somehow made communication easier. A dress-down policy can enhance the breaking down of barriers. The corporate environment is claiming to be more people-orientated and less hierarchical, and a dress code that applies to all can be a leveling exercise."
In SA, as in the US, staff are not rushing to join firms because of their dress code. "The opportunity to dress casually can assist in creating a more conducive environment, but it is not a major factor in looking for a job."
Having a challenging job and being given the chance to learn new things are the incentives most employees in SA seek, says Sherratt. In a US survey, "ability to dress casually" came in last on a list of 35 desirable job attributes.
{Accenture} relaxed its dress code this year and provided staff with a handy guide describing office attire. Predictably, suits consisting of jackets and trousers or skirts are acceptable for women, but so are trendy, sleeveless long dresses, mid-calf "pedalpusher" pants, strappy sandals and boots.
Men are eminently acceptable in grey or black suits with collar and tie, but also in sports jackets, modern suits that can be worn without a tie, short sleeved shirts and sleeveless cardigans over shirts without ties.
Traditional wear, with African print dresses and saris for women and Mandela shirts for men, also get the company nod. The guide bans tackies, baseball caps, dresses with spaghetti straps and jeans.
Gary Parkin, director of people matters at {Accenture}, says staff have always been required to dress according to the client; the more relaxed the client, the more relaxed the consultant's dress. The booklet was published to create clear and firm guidelines as to what is acceptable, says Parkin. "Some staff were coming to work in combat gear and that was unacceptable.," he says.
Parkin agrees that the trend is market-driven: "People in business are younger and there is an emphasis on being yourself."
{Accenture's} new dotcom centre has way-out décor "to suit the type of people that work there," he says.
Sherratt, who regrets the passing of the versatile safari suit, agrees that {Accenture} cannot allow too much licence due to the kind of business it is. "On the other hand, people who work in information technology are known to be 'propeller heads'—a bit weird. They work strange hours and are back-room people, so who do they need to dress for?"
Still, he advises against opening the door completely to accommodate the whims of unconventional IT people.
A practical solution may be to allow casual dress, but require staff who interact with clients to keep items such as a blazer and tie on hand for meetings. Introducing an optional corporate uniform at PAG helped instil a "sense of belonging and pride", says Sherratt.
Senior executives need to be circumspect, he says. A CEO who is immaculate in suits while staff dress down may be perceived to be unapproachable. At the same time, "if executives dress casually but expect the staff to be smart, it will diminish the effect of their corporate image."
They should be sensitive also to the needs of staff. "Do not demand a style of dress that staff cannot afford."
Ironically, says Sherratt, casual wear often costs more than formal attire.
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