Dress code for work; a dinosaur in the room.

Some companies have strict dress code for its employees. Some even gone so far as determining what materials and colours that the employees can wear. The instructions came with a photo combos to illustrate the instructions. Executive and above expected to wear tie. What you can make up from this? Basically the dress code is creating the upper class and the lower class of workers. The status of the staffs can be seen by just looking at their dress.  

Is dress code have any relevancy to productivity?

There is no definite answer to this question. Research shows some conflicting results. Some research done even says that certain colours have some impact on the work performance.

Sometime it depends on the profession. If you a lawyer, your client may be thinking why the hell are you in T shirt and jeans. Take a moment and think, lawyers been around since hundred of years. Maybe that explain the archaic dress code (my sincere apology to my lawyer friends as I have my my highest respect to lawyers as I too a qualified lawyer).

But when we look at new companies like Google, Apple, and Facebook, you might want to question is there any connection between “professional” look and productivity and creativity. Its a hint on the new dress code. 

There are arguments that if you wear your casual attire like what you wear in the weekend, you may not be able to differentiate whether you are at work or you are at leisure time. This argument seems to suggest that there is a demarcation between your work and doing what you love during the weekend.

I believe that casual wear put you in a relax mode. You need to clear your mind in order to optimised your creativity. That is why in my company, every day is casual day because we are doing what we love for a living. It is also a statement that there is no classes of staff. Every body is equal and be rewarded based on merits. 

This may not be applicable to all companies. You need to wear what suits you and your clients. If you are working for a dinosaur company and serving dinosaurs client, wear something that  classified as ‘professional clothing”. If you cannot imagine how,  just watch how the servant dress in the television series Downtown Abbey to have an idea how. 

If you belong to the new generation, you may want to dress in the new corporate attire. Whether you want to dress like how people dress today or yesterday is all up to you. For me, just wear anything that makes you comfortable so you can focus on what you supposed to do.