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Article 7: Dress for Success or for Comfort?
So you’re an informal guy,
and think you work best when you’re comfy in an
old pair of jeans? Maybe not.
Studies show people actually are more productive
when they dress for, well, working.
“Clothing affects how people think, how they
feel and how they act, as well as how others
react to them,” explains Judith Rasband, CEO of
Conselle Institute of Image Management, who
created a four-level style scale to business and
personal dress.
When employees wear casual clothes, “You can
expect tardiness to increase, manners to
decrease, productivity to decline and
communication quality to deteriorate,” she
asserts.
By contrast, a national survey commissioned by
the Men’s Apparel Alliance showed that returning
to professional clothing could increase company
productivity an estimated 3.6 percent.
Rasband believes her four-level clothing scale
will carry a businessperson through any
situation, but says everyone’s closet needs at
least two levels of work attire.
Level 4 is the power suit,
worn by top execs.
Level 3 features softly
tailored sports jackets with trousers or skirts,
appropriate for front office staff.
Back-office staff would be
properly dressed in Level 2: casually tailored
collared dress shirt or polo shirt.
But Level 1, with its jeans
and T-shirts, she says, is just inappropriate
for the office, period.
One key to dressing well is
investing in the best quality you can afford,
starting with mix-and-match basics. Even little
things count. The right accessory—a coordinated
scarf, say, or newly shined shoes—can bump
clothing up half a notch or so.
No style sense? Follow the sartorial lead of
co-workers who clearly are on the way up. And
take the “mom test.” If mom wouldn’t let you out
of the house looking like that—change clothes.
If you’re still unsure, err on the conservative
side. Notes Dorothea Johnson, president of the
Protocol School of Washington, “You are never
wrong to be formal, but you can be dead wrong by
being informal.”
Bottom line, if you’re expecting a hard day,
dress up for it. You’ll naturally work harder.
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