Business attire guidelines help dress you for success

By Markus Allen

Whether it's fair or not, people judge you by the way you dress.

A quote from Henry Ward Beecher reads:

"Clothes and manners do not make the man; but, when he is made, they greatly improve his appearance."

Bottom line about your business attire: Looking the part helps boost a good first impression -- it might even swing more business your way.

Juanita Ecker is president of Professional Image Management offers this exhaustive business attire guidelines checklist below:

Revamp your current dress code

Tailor the standards to your industry.
What's appropriate for the entertainment business would not be acceptable for more conservative fields like banking or law. Take industry norms into account when deciding on proper business casual for your business.

Eliminate ambiguous language.
Define what you mean by "professional," "businesslike" or "appropriate." Your current dress code might state, "Employees need to dress professionally when dealing with new clients." What does that mean? Young people in the workplace confuse what's in style with what's appropriate for work. Many employees also assume that "casual" and "sloppy" mean the same thing. When the dress code is vague, your staff members may take too much liberty in their clothing selection.

Include specifics.
Conversely, specific dress codes make everything clearer and facilitate compliance. Do not be afraid, therefore, to mention specific items of clothing in your dress code. If you expect women to wear hose at all times, even in the summer, include that. If you want salespeople to wear a suit, you need to state that. If there are certain items that are unacceptable, list them.

Provide training.
Are you willing to let one group of employees, who never see the customer, wear jeans at work, while another group, like sales executives, have a different dress code? Providing training on business casual will define the standards that are expected for each department.

Implement guidelines for dress code violations

Give specific guidelines to managers.
Managers have shared with me how they are uncomfortable discussing dress and grooming habits with employees. Give managers guidelines on how to discuss dress issues, what to do upon the first offense and how to handle subsequent violations.

Coach managers on effective communication skills.
Teach them to discuss dress issues in private. They shouldn't say, "You must be an idiot for wearing that to work. What were you thinking?" Instead, they should say, "The outfit you have chosen today is not representative of the image we would like to project." Instruct them to ask the employee not to wear that outfit again.

Create standards for repeated violations.
What will be the company policy on the second or third offense? Will the employee be sent home to change? Will the incident be written up in that person's file? It's important to have clear-cut written guidelines for management to follow in the event of violations. When managers know what is expected of them, they will feel more comfortable addressing these issues.

Use these guidelines to create standards for casual dress. Don't let casual days be the casualty that negatively affects your corporate image.

Business attire articles and sources

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