Social distancing has upended the daily routine of the modern office, including the dress code. Is it necessary to dress up while working from home or is comfort the best strategy?
Social distancing measures to curb the spread of the coronavirus have forced millions of workers to do their jobs from home rather than the office. This transition has brought a long list of new challenges to sort out, from technical issues to improvised desks and disruptions from unruly children.
Some business experts say employees who appear underdressed during conference calls could be perceived as not taking the job seriously, even if their work output remains strong. Sticking to a daily routine that’s as close as possible to the one practiced before lockdown, including getting dressed, can also boost productivity by signaling to the brain that it’s time to get things done. Without that trigger, it can be hard to transition the mind from leisure to work, some psychologists say.
Even productive workers can come off as lazy if they’re dressed sloppily“The disruption also means some people aren’t looking as crisp as usual because they haven’t been able to visit barbers, hairdressers, nail salons, gyms and dry cleaners. But employees generally shouldn’t give off an appearance of slacking off just because they are working from home.” — Ray A. Smith, Wall Street Journal
Getting dressed can be part of a routine that breaks the monotony of being stuck inside“A lot of what people are experiencing right now is a disruption of their routine. When you don’t know what’s coming next, that can be a challenging thing for some people, so a lot of it is about having some semblance of what your day and week looks like. Knowing what’s coming next can be comforting.
Dress codes should go away even after the pandemic is over“The more comprehensive the expectations for presentation, the more resources required to meet them, and buying a closetful of work wear is a lot more expensive than just using what you already own. Racial bias, or at least blind spots, has also been embedded in dress codes, perhaps most notably in prohibitions on hairstyles popular among black people, such as braids and afros.
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