Cracking dress codes can be like tackling a riddle wrapped in an enigma. What does “business casual” even MEAN?

Dress codes can be a tool to ensure that Becky in accounting doesn’t wear something distracting and inappropriate, sure. But for companies and organizations throughout the region, what employees wear can have an effect on the bottom line. Dress codes are less about what employees think of each others’ clothes; they set guidelines for how individuals represent their workplace to outsiders –clients, customers and the communities they serve.

As Edward Yost, an HR business partner at the Society for Human Resource Management in Alexandria put it:

“Every employee is the face of your organization.”

As employees skew younger, Yost notes we are seeing changes around what’s considered “acceptable” in the workplace. Maybe the most drastic shift has come connected to policies around things like tattoos, piercings and hairstyles, which you can’t change out of at the end of the day.

From Yost’s perspective the tricky part is that dress codes are like art. Everyone has a different interpretation of them and idea of what’s pleasing to the eye and acceptable.

“The broader the terminology you use in a policy, the more it’s open to interpretation by individuals.”