Dress Code Considerations

This week I stumbled upon an HR forum discussion about tattoos and how their rise in popularity has changed attitudes towards them. This, along with a client request to update their dress code got me thinking about what is and is not reasonable in organisation dress codes.

An employer has the freedom to define how its employees should appear to their clients and visitors in line with their corporate image and values – but image and values do change over time.

Thirty years ago, 1 in 100 people had tattoos. Now 1 in 10 people have them, and one-third of those aged 25 to 30 have tattoos (workingworld.com). Times are a-changing and attitudes towards tattoos are relaxing in line, for example:

“We have no formal policy about tattoos because we value our differences and recognize that diversity and inclusion are good for our business and make our company stronger,” Bank of America

However 60 percent of employers still said that they were less likely to hire a candidate with tattoos or piercings (vault.com).

A degree of caution is needed where restrictive employer requirements could infringe the Equality Act.

One of the comments on the HR forum was from an employment solicitor who when she was a trainee worked for a firm that had dress code stating women employees may not wear trousers (which she happily violated and eventually instigated a policy change). In this example there is no business case or objective justification for women to be treated differently from men and the employer leaves themselves at risk of a sex discrimination claim.

My advice to clients is to firstly consider any dress code in line with:

• business and health and safety requirements – eg the need for a uniform or banning wedding rings in an engineering environment where moving machinery could pose a risk
• the corporate image – eg is the culture formal or relaxed, is the sector formal or informal. The more aligned, the easier the justification for the code and implementation will be
• discrimination law – does the code directly or indirectly disadvantage or make a distinction due to a protected characteristic (such as sex, age, religion and disability – where reasonable adjustment should be considered).

Then, before implementing any new code, consult employees first to assess the impact of any requirements.

Having a policy avoids doubt and helps confirm the organisation culture and set a standard. Get in touch to discuss our policy writing services or details of our HR Health Check which includes a policy compliance review.