Many office workers, some for the first time, embraced the laid-back dress code that working from home brought them, as traditional office attire was abandoned in favour of a more causal look.
Now that your client’s staff are back in the office, relying on an informal understanding no longer seems enough. Your client could introduce a dress code for staff, however there are a number of important considerations in designing this.
The Government Equalities Office has provided guidance around dress codes, including:
- Not be a source of harassment at the hands of colleagues of customers
- Take into account relevant Health & Safety requirements
- Allow for reasonable adjustments under the Equality Act 2010
- Allow transgender staff to dress in line with their gender identity
- Allow flexibility around religious symbols and jewellery
Non-discriminatory
The expectations in the dress code must be free of discrimination, and reasonable. Followers of certain faiths choose to, or are required by their faith, to wear particular items of clothing or jewellery. Prohibiting these is likely to be discriminatory, and so your client must ensure to design a policy that accommodates these.
It is also important, as highlighted by guidance from the Government Equalities Office, that no one group is disadvantaged by the dress code. This is especially important in regard to the differences between the sexes. Imposing requirements of a specific dress code must have a legitimate reason behind them. For example, office wear in more organisations would not be an issue but extending that to high heels for women could be both discriminatory on grounds of sex but also disability (as some disabilities may mean this is not possible).
Harassment
Harassment is defined as unwanted conduct, either in relation to a protected characteristic or of a sexual nature, the effect of violating that person’s dignity, or creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment.
On the one side, having an accepted dress code can help with this, as it will give your clients employees guidance on what is deemed appropriate to reduce the possibility of harassment. However, it can also lead to standards that encourage it, and as such your client must balance these requirements carefully.
Not only must your client take care in designing this policy, they must also consider the consequences of doing so. Increased focus on what individuals are wearing, can lead to harassment as the focus of attention becomes what the individual is wearing, rather than, for example, the quality of their work. A recent well publicised example of this in the House of Commons has shown the attention women can draw for how they dress, and how they may be targeted for what they wear in a way that a man would not.
Next steps
It is open to your client to design a policy, and if they take the above into consideration, this will reduce the possibility of claims arising as a result. However, before taking any action, your client might consider instead an informal discussion, perhaps via line managers in team meetings, about appropriate dress. They may also want to consider how much their employee’s appearance affects their ability to perform the role, and how the employees will react to a formal policy, before deciding whether a formal policy is a necessary step.
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