Getting Employees to Dress for Success

If you are pleased with the way all your employees dress while representing you and your business, move on. But if you’ve wondered how to deal with sticky office fashion problems, read on.

The subject is so touchy that “Dave M.,” a Maryland business owner, wanted to conceal his full name and company for fear that his employees would read his comments in this column.

It seems that one of Dave’s biggest customers is upset by how Dave’s saleswomen dress.

“Apparently, his staff remarked to him that the split skirt my salesperson was wearing was not very flattering,” Dave writes. “He personally saw her and added that the outfit was not very professional. . . . I am used to making business decisions every day. Yet, I think you can note my discomfort in dealing with this issue.”

Although good managers feel comfortable criticizing an employee’s tardiness, work habits or sales material, criticizing an employee’s clothes or personal grooming causes consternation. If you are not tactful, you may damage a good working relationship.

“Even if you have a problem with one employee, it is important not to single anyone out,” advises John T. Molloy, author of “Dress for Success” (Warner Books). Molloy has been invited to speak at big meetings just to get the message across to one vice president.

“Try to hold a group meeting to discuss appropriate attire,” said Molloy. “And be sure to inform every new person you hire about how you expect them to dress.”

Business owners should be concerned about how their employees dress because appearance can affect profit, Molloy said.

“A poor first impression loses more sales than anything else,” said Molloy. “A large percentage of sales die as soon as a person walks in the door.”

When in doubt, Molloy advises business owners to encourage conservative, non-faddish dress.

“If people are dressed conservatively, people . . . will buy from you,” said Molloy, pointing out that although critics frowned on IBM’s insistence that employees dress conservatively, “IBM laughed all the way to the bank.”

Fashion editors say that although shorter skirts are acceptable for business wear, employees should dress to please their boss and their industry colleagues.

“I don’t think it is unfair for a business owner to expect his employees to project a certain look,” said Cathy Horyn, fashion editor of the Washington Post.

Horyn encourages business owners to keep up with fashion trends when setting rules.

“A lot of women look incredibly dowdy if they cling to that mid-calf skirt length,” said Horyn. “It says to people you are not in touch with things.” But if skirts are too short, she said, “it’s ridiculous and becomes a distraction.”

Horyn and Lynne Cusack, lifestyle director for “Working Woman” magazine, suggested that small-business owners invite a representative from a local fashion boutique or department store to conduct a workshop on business dress for their employees. This way, the advice comes from a third party and not from you personally.

“Be consistent and set a standard of dress at the top,” Cusack said.

Gregg Pawlik, a property director for Jon Douglas Co., a Los Angeles real estate firm, confronts the question of proper business dress by being open about his fashion likes and dislikes. His pet peeve is colored or patterned hose, and he asks women who work for him not to wear them.

“It’s very difficult for a male manager or business owner to say something to his female employees because women feel the way they dress is a statement,” Pawlik said.

Jay Berger, a principal in a Pasadena executive recruiting firm, said he frequently counsels job candidates about how to dress for the company they want to work for.

“I’ve had to tell my own employees to class-up their act,” said Berger, who, on one sizzling summer day, informed a secretary wearing a low-cut blouse with nothing underneath that she was not properly dressed for the office.

The owner of a successful food manufacturing business said she has one employee who shows up for work every day in some kind of costume. Some days, it’s a sailor’s uniform or police hat. Other days, she wears thrift shop finery, with 20 bracelets on each arm and six or seven earrings in each ear.

But dealing with the flamboyant dresser pales beside her worst experience: “We had a plant supervisor who had such bad body odor that the executives our company dealt with insisted I speak to him,” she recalled. “I did it, but it was a horrible experience, and our relationship was never the same.”

Home-Based Business Conference Is on Tap

The Fourth Annual Southern California Home-Based Business Conference is Saturday at the Grand Hotel, 7 West Freedman Way in Anaheim. The session, from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., will feature exhibits, workshops and round-table discussions. Fee is $50. For information call (714) 647-1135.

DRESSING FOR SUCCESS Encouraging your employees to clean up their act can be a challenge. Here are some tips on how to do it.

Set a good example by dressing professionally yourself.

Be clear about how you want employees to dress for work.

Ask other business owners in your industry or profession how they handle fashion problems.

Suggest that your employees dress to please your customers.

Compliment employees who look great and express your dismay immediately when they don’t.

When you have to criticize someone’s appearance, be diplomatic and do not mix it in with other work issues.

Be informed about fashion trends so you are not labeled as a stick-in-the-mud.