A question about work perception...

[Rowboat]

Hi folks
I was wanting to get a bit of anonymous feedback to gauge general perceptions of people in a work environment. I work in the public sector and it is quite relaxed in terms of work wear. I am new to this job so I am making more of an effort but will likely relax soon as the majority of the workplace are dressed casually. I have noticed, though, that more senior people dress smarter. Obviously without knowledge of the people themselves, what is your general impression? Do more senior people dress smarter because they are more senior or are they more senior because they dress smarter. (Obviously not entirely because but as a factor). I know what the answer should be, but do you think that there's always going to be subconscious bias? I work really hard and am good at my job, but don't put a lot of effort into my appearance. Would you be more likely to promote a smarter dressed person?

I think smart dress shows that you are serious about the job and can help you develop a 'work persona'.

Sometimes (pretty often, unfortunately) the work environment does culturally approve of more senior people dressing up more. "Power dressing" really is a thing. It ain't subconscious on the part of the dresser, it's entirely intentional.

And sometimes they're just older, or come from a dressier background.

I deliberately dress smarter as I am senior. I am a right scruff bag at home. I am also trying to wear make up to work in an effort to retain credibility as I age. I just consider it a uniform tbh. Rather like men wearing suits.

96-98% of my job role is site based. I wear jeans, primark tops and high vis!

When I’m in the office I am expected to wear ‘smart clothes’ however this proves hard when I’m on site and pop in for an hour or so! I’m not wearing my smart suits on site as they will get ruined on days I know I am office based I wear my smart stuff.

All my managers and co-workers dress smartly. It’s an unwritten rule. In our office we have 3 teams, ours is always smart, one is semi smart and the 3rd is completely causal, I know meeting have happened about the 2 other teams, and I believe a new ‘uniform’ policy is in place.

Where I am (also public sector), the people who are senior generally dress smarter, but dressing nicely doesn't get you any further.

Some of our best staff have been quite scruffy, if you are good at your job and work hard, that's what gets you further. There's just a general unwritten rule that once people are in a management grade, they generally dress a bit smarter, but not everyone follows it.

We do all however, usually wear 'business dress' but sometimes quite a casual version of it (eg smart trousers and cardigan over a smart t shirt for women) when meeting clients.

If someone came in looking extra smart and they didn't have a meeting with an external client, people would start making jokes about them having an interview elsewhere.

Barbara- that's exactly what would happen here or previous jobs. I guess I am just conscious of that "dress for the job you want" kinda mentality and whether it still rang true.

I work in a creative environment, where one can wear anything they please (within reason, we did have a junior staff member who wore quite office inappropriate attire, and a quiet work was had). The senior staff don't wear formal business wear, but are often a bit smarter - I think this is often because they are generally interspersing their day with meetings, so always need to be on show. They don't ever wear formal business wear though, that would look very out of place.

My boss is often in workout leggings TBH.

I’m quite smart generally but also definitely dress up for work - dressier dresses, good leather shoes and boots. But I also have a style and do things like wear mismatching earrings, statement rings and bright lipstick. Essentially, I need to be ready to attend an unscheduled meeting with clients or Board in any day, so turning up in scruffs isn’t ever an option.

I wouldn’t say I’d promote somebody who dressed smartly over somebody who didn’t - but depending on the role it might form part of a decision making process between two or more candidates. I think it does demonstrate professionalism and pride; and certainly in my experience as a manager there’s at least some correlation between how people present themselves and the attention to detail they give their work, although that’s obviously anecdotal. Mostly, I’d just need to be sure that somebody who usually dressed on the scruffy side understood how and when to dress more smartly.

Would you be more likely to promote a smarter dressed person?

^

Yes.

Management in companies I've worked in often dress smarter due to their days containing meetings with external clients, going to work lunches, presenting etc.

I work in Public Sector digital. There's a supposed rejection of business attire - Jeans and Tshirts are fine.
More senior folk may still opt for the shirt and trousers, sometimes tie, or female equivalents; but that tends to be because they meet with more senior people and/or ministers, or senior bods from other parts of Civil Service where traditional attire is the rule.
I used to work in a UC service centre (call centre, never customer facing) but they had quite stringent business attire rules, oddly.

I think in my office the difference is partially age and partly seniority. The two do often coincide.
Most of all I notice that senior staff are much less likely to dress down on Fridays - they generally stick to their "uniform"

We're semi-relaxed about uniform where I work. I've also noticed that the higher ups often dress smarter, but I have assumed it's because they're in more meetings with even higher ups or external suppliers and so have to keep up appearances more. I've also seen some mid management coming in for a half day in jeans and a t-shirt, so it's not a constant rule.

In an office based environment where meetings take place or customers clients visit the office then a minimum level is expected.

Not only would i not promote someone who didn't dress to a minimum standard, i wouldn't take them seriously.

Thanks for everyone's thoughts. To be clear I rarely have to meet with anyone external and would obviously dress appropriately. I certainly do meet a minimum standard for my office. I'm not scruffy, I just don't dress up and wondering whether I should.

Age, it's mostly just age, the more senior tend to be older, older people tend to dress smarter in the workplace because that was the code when they started work.