DRESS CODES AND APPEARANCE NORMS AT WORK: BODY SUPPLEMENTS, BODY MODIFICATIONS AND AESTHETIC LABOUR
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Author
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Department of Business Administration and Management
Executive Summary
This report discusses the findings of a study that examined employee perceptions and experiences of, and organisational policy and practice in, the area of dress codes and appearance management at work.
Significance of dress norms and appearance for organisations
- Dress and appearance standards were perceived to offer the organisations in our sample a number of benefits. Broadly, the advantages included alignment of employee appearance with the organisation\\\'s brand, the professionalisation of a job role, attendance to health and safety concerns, and the creation of a sense of organisational identity.
- As might be expected, the majority of respondents emphasised the need to project a brand-congruent physical appearance to external service recipients, largely cited as being professional or exhibiting an appropriate image. Attending to self-presentation was perceived to enhance the credibility and trustworthiness of the firm\\\'s product and / or service offering.
- The business-case for appearance management was generally based on wider assumptions surrounding what organisation-specific service recipients or society in general, might find acceptable versus unaesthetic or objectionable.
Organisational policy and practice
- Dress codes were more explicit and comprehensive in larger organisations compared to smaller firms, and for employees in public-facing roles. However, implicit dress norms operated across the sample, with smaller firms resisting the institution of official appearance guidelines due to the more informal nature of labour practices in some of these workplaces. Public sector respondents and larger employers stated that they consulted with staff associations and / or trade unions in relation to dress and appearance policy, where relevant.
- On the whole, although dress and appearance issues appeared quite significant in terms of representing the organisation\\\'s brand, these issues were not discussed with applicants during recruitment and selection processes. Appearance features were taken-for-granted in most cases and potential employees were expected to demonstrate their fit with the organisation by dressing according to industry or company standards and by presenting a certain look. The demonstration of one\\\'s religious identity through appearance was met with disapproval during the hiring process in one case. Opinions were at times quite strong in relation to visible tattoos and body piercings at work. Individuals with visible tattoos / piercings appeared to be stereotyped and faced stigma within particular organisational contexts, and indeed within more traditional firms. Here, an individual\\\'s perceived (un/) aesthetic qualities appeared to serve as a proxy for other personal, character-related attributes during selection.
- Training in appearance management was not widespread, except in larger organisations where health and safety standards needed to be adhered to or where a professionalisation agenda was being pursued in the workplace (e.g. in the Emergency Services).
- Section heads and line managers were predominantly tasked with monitoring and upholding dress and appearance norms. There were reported variations however in appearance monitoring and enforcement within and across organisations. Individual manager predilections, the centrality of health and safety regulations and the importance ascribed to brand performance appeared to dictate the approach taken in regulating employee appearance.
- The appearance enforcement strategy in most organisations largely revolved around using humour or having an informal word with the employee who went against accepted appearance norms; however, most of the larger firms in the sample also had more formal processes where recurrent transgressions might be recorded and included in the appraisal process. While none of the respondents mentioned witnessing the use of formal procedures in their organisation, the larger firms as expected, had disciplinary processes in place which could take into account persistent dress / appearance related violations. However, the threat of disciplinary action was reportedly seen as sufficiently effective in eliciting compliance with dress codes.
Employee perceptions and experiences of appearance norms
- Several employees in the sample used dress and appearance standards to their advantage and highlighted the many benefits offered by dress norms in their organisation / sector, including its positive effects on self-esteem. Work performance was also perceived to be enhanced particularly in interactive service roles because of the favourable impressions made on service recipients, thereby preventing client disengagement.
- Despite a few employees recognising and even providing examples of potentially discriminatory organisational practices of hiring and promotion decisions being influenced by individual appearance features, most individuals in our sample readily accepted the dress and appearance norms within their sector. Some employees clearly defined the problems that appearance standards could create for people who \\\'went against the grain\\\' including the inevitability of being judged based on dress and appearance and facing workplace discrimination.
- Employees who reported being typecast on occasion due to their religious dress and appearance, or because of their body modifications, seemingly adjusted to the perceived prejudice by justifying such attitudes as ignorant, or by engaging in strategies to overcome biases (e.g. concealing their non-traditional identity markers or searching for employment in more inclusive workplaces).
Challenges of managing employee appearance
- Dilemmas were raised about the effectiveness of both explicit and implicit dress and appearance norms. Selective enforcement and the presence of prejudicial attitudes could also affect employee attraction and career progression, and potentially present legal challenges for organisations.
- A number of recommendations are made based on the study\\\'s findings, including the need for employers to recognise and address appearance-based prejudices in the workplace through initiating more transparent and structured interviewing processes and providing ongoing unconscious bias training for those involved in staff selection. It is clear that employers need to be educated further about the moral implications and the legal ramifications that could arise when specifying dress codes and employee appearance issues at work.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Executive Summary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1. Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1.1 Background to the study . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1.2 Research aims. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1.3 Research method . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
2. Literature review . . . .
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