Need help getting Gen Z hires to dress better at work

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was unprepared for the aesthetic of this year's crop of new hires. They dress horribly - sweatpants, messy hair (looks like they just got out of bed), crocs or other plastic shoes, rumpled t-shirts. For some tasks this is OK, but a lot of the time we are meeting with clients and doing site visits, and we are in the design industry, meaning we generally consider our look part of our branding. Our brand is high end but creative, so there is a lot of leeway, but I just don't know how to tell the younger adults how to dress without offending anyone or being seen to police bodies or hairstyles. But I need them not just to adhere to a list of "don't wear this," but to actively look good. Like, hair combed and styled, preferably some makeup for women, and so on. Does anyone else have this issue and how did you handle it?

Right....and Im sure you would consider a man wearing makeup and nail polish to be suitably dressed and pleasingly aesthetically to your clients?

I dont wear makeup because its dumb, expensive, and lots of chemicals for no real purpose. Sunscreen chemicals get balanced with sun exposure and risk of cancer. There is no balance benefit to makeup besides societal expectations. Not to mention that most people have no idea how much makeup it takes to make a "no makeup" look.

I'm fine if they don't want to wear makeup, but I'm not fine with a messy, frizzy ponytail topping it off. I don't care what the specific look is, but I need them to look good. Our clients are dressed up, our brand is high end and all about aesthetics. I can't even bring them into the sites with me sometimes because they look so bad that I'm sure they would cost us a sale.

You know some people can't help if they have frizzy hair? You sound seriously superficial. You are going to get your workplace sued for discrimination if you keep this sh*t up.

Even the most frizzy hair can look styled and put together.

OP said women must wear makeup, and can't have frizzy hair - a pony is considered a style. S/he sounds like an awful manager. Misogyny at it's finest!

Actually, he/she didn't say must. said it's preferable. But an unkempt pony is not a style. It looks lazy and like you just rolled out of bed. Are we going to consider eye boogers a style too going forward? How about bad breath?

You cannot dictate women wearing makeup as a job requirement. You cannot "prefer" women wear makeup as a job requirement. You cannot dictate that women don't have frizzy hair. OP is a misogynistic POS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was unprepared for the aesthetic of this year's crop of new hires. They dress horribly - sweatpants, messy hair (looks like they just got out of bed), crocs or other plastic shoes, rumpled t-shirts. For some tasks this is OK, but a lot of the time we are meeting with clients and doing site visits, and we are in the design industry, meaning we generally consider our look part of our branding. Our brand is high end but creative, so there is a lot of leeway, but I just don't know how to tell the younger adults how to dress without offending anyone or being seen to police bodies or hairstyles. But I need them not just to adhere to a list of "don't wear this," but to actively look good. Like, hair combed and styled, preferably some makeup for women, and so on. Does anyone else have this issue and how did you handle it?

Right....and Im sure you would consider a man wearing makeup and nail polish to be suitably dressed and pleasingly aesthetically to your clients?

I dont wear makeup because its dumb, expensive, and lots of chemicals for no real purpose. Sunscreen chemicals get balanced with sun exposure and risk of cancer. There is no balance benefit to makeup besides societal expectations. Not to mention that most people have no idea how much makeup it takes to make a "no makeup" look.

I'm fine if they don't want to wear makeup, but I'm not fine with a messy, frizzy ponytail topping it off. I don't care what the specific look is, but I need them to look good. Our clients are dressed up, our brand is high end and all about aesthetics. I can't even bring them into the sites with me sometimes because they look so bad that I'm sure they would cost us a sale.

You know some people can't help if they have frizzy hair? You sound seriously superficial. You are going to get your workplace sued for discrimination if you keep this sh*t up.

Even the most frizzy hair can look styled and put together.

OP said women must wear makeup, and can't have frizzy hair - a pony is considered a style. S/he sounds like an awful manager. Misogyny at it's finest!

Actually, he/she didn't say must. said it's preferable. But an unkempt pony is not a style. It looks lazy and like you just rolled out of bed. Are we going to consider eye boogers a style too going forward? How about bad breath?

You cannot dictate women wearing makeup as a job requirement. You cannot "prefer" women wear makeup as a job requirement. You cannot dictate that women don't have frizzy hair. OP is a misogynistic POS.

Of course, you can!!! For example, news anchors, actors, models, etc.

[Anonymous]

You should be putting this in a job contract - when customer facing, you must dress professionally.

-signed someone who works in tech and wears ratty clothes sometimes, but I am not client facing.

[Anonymous]

Just send out a dress code with what is acceptable and what is not. And say they will be sent home if they violate the dresscode, and after 3 violations they are fired. If they get sent home for violation, they have to use a sick day if they can't rectify the problem within five minutes (going into the bathroom to finger-comb a messy bun into a french twist or clean ponytail or something).

And say this goes into effect in September, giving people time to save money and shop for new clothes.

Hair must be combed/brushed and neatly styled. Baseball hats are unacceptable.
Clean sneakers are acceptable; Crocs never are.
Joggers/sweatpants/leggings are never acceptable, nor are jeans with rips. Jeans are acceptable (as long as they don't have rips), as are trousers/slacks.

[Anonymous]

If needed, this should be covered by HR in their onboarding training. They are going to need visual examples of what is acceptable and what is not acceptable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If needed, this should be covered by HR in their onboarding training. They are going to need visual examples of what is acceptable and what is not acceptable.

Yes, you must work with HR. I had to write a dress code policy for a local government agency. There may be certain things you can't ask for such as covering tattoos or requiring makeup. You should never address hairstyles as this can be seen as discriminatory. Also be aware that style is subjective and changes. Does anyone wear pantyhose anymore? Are jeans really so bad? Did those guys look good with hideous ties because they were once required?

Also expect pushback and people to get hung up on details and take time to address them; for instance, we said no writing or advertising on clothes; questions were does that mean designer logos? (no) Does that mean no sports team lanyards? (yes). (We ended up buying everyone standard lanyards since they were a requirement to wear them and that ended up looking better anyway.)

We were as specific as we could be. No open-toed shoes because of safety reasons (dropping things on feet) was a way around flip flops. People will still wear open-toed shoes but if you want, you can enforce. No shorts, tank tops. We always gave new hires a presentation about business casual clothes. We also had outside presenters talk about professional dress over the years but people don't like this anymore.

You have to be as detailed as you can and not depend on "use your judgment" or "use common sense."

Management also needs to set an example. If they don't follow it, it won't work.

We also made company logo shirts, jackets and sweaters available that people could order but people also will want you to pay for them. If you can, do it. When you pay, a lot of people will opt for it.

However, in the last few years there has been a lot of push back from supervisors who argued against this for their direct reports, which was an attitude I'd never seen before. They thought requiring business casual was too expensive for them and just unreasonable and discriminatory. So I do think times have changed and they may never go back.

A private company may has a lot more leeway in what they require but I'd still get HR involved and someone should ask others in the field about their solutions.

[Anonymous]

I work in federal government consulting where we meet with military clients. People on my team (new college grads) have worn the following to client sites:

1) crop tops
2) skin tight athletic tennis dress with dirty Air Force ones (saw this one yesterday)
3) ugg slippers
4) running shoes
5) a t shirt advertising a college kegger


It’s ridiculous, and sadly these are the least of the issues we have with these people.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Be prepared for pushback. I have addressed a few of our contract employees with "please no jeans or denim at the office." The response was "these are the only pants I have besides shorts."

You have to be prepared to enforce the dress code or say then you can't work here.

That’s ridiculous. It’s expected that (to work a job) certain expenses will need to be incurred. It would be like if someone said ‘I don’t have a car, I can’t come to the client meeting and I can’t afford an Uber or metro.’

It’s not like you’re requiring $200 jeans. Goodwill and local consignment shop have nice dress slacks for under $20.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My boss told the young people this, on how to dress for a big client meeting.

Imagine you met the love of your life that you want to spend the rest of your life with. The parents are very wealthy, formal and live in a mansion with servants.

You are invited over for a formal Thanksgiving Dinner to meet parents for the first time and really want and need to make to make a good first impression. How would you dress?

They would answer and he would say dress like that for our important client meeting next week.

I would dump this love. As a high earning professional woman, I need a man that can cook, not a spoiled brat from wealthy family where he never learned how to keep a house.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Maybe you are just and old fuddy duddy and not "in" with the new styles? You sound like my grandmother tut-tutting my perfectly normal outfits.

If your clients are creative, they may be more likely to appreciate the GenZ style vs a fuddy duddy.

There has always been business attire and casual attire.
People in my office also notice that Gen Z dioesn't dress appropriately. Today one wore a cream colored see through dreess and we can all see her tongue underwear. Another one is wearing a crop top that exposes her belly with leather pants. Nothing fuddy duddy about workplace guidelines about what not to wear.

So have your HR send out a dress code.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was unprepared for the aesthetic of this year's crop of new hires. They dress horribly - sweatpants, messy hair (looks like they just got out of bed), crocs or other plastic shoes, rumpled t-shirts. For some tasks this is OK, but a lot of the time we are meeting with clients and doing site visits, and we are in the design industry, meaning we generally consider our look part of our branding. Our brand is high end but creative, so there is a lot of leeway, but I just don't know how to tell the younger adults how to dress without offending anyone or being seen to police bodies or hairstyles. But I need them not just to adhere to a list of "don't wear this," but to actively look good. Like, hair combed and styled, preferably some makeup for women, and so on. Does anyone else have this issue and how did you handle it?

Right....and Im sure you would consider a man wearing makeup and nail polish to be suitably dressed and pleasingly aesthetically to your clients?

I dont wear makeup because its dumb, expensive, and lots of chemicals for no real purpose. Sunscreen chemicals get balanced with sun exposure and risk of cancer. There is no balance benefit to makeup besides societal expectations. Not to mention that most people have no idea how much makeup it takes to make a "no makeup" look.

I'm fine if they don't want to wear makeup, but I'm not fine with a messy, frizzy ponytail topping it off. I don't care what the specific look is, but I need them to look good. Our clients are dressed up, our brand is high end and all about aesthetics. I can't even bring them into the sites with me sometimes because they look so bad that I'm sure they would cost us a sale.

You know some people can't help if they have frizzy hair? You sound seriously superficial. You are going to get your workplace sued for discrimination if you keep this sh*t up.

Oh please. We all know what OP is talking about and it's not what you are implying.

[Anonymous]

Come up with a Dress Code that everyone has to adhere to. Say no shorts, flip flops, etc. I thought all businesses had Dress Codes. Send them home if they dress inappropriately and stick to it.

[Anonymous]

Why not just tell them "For client meetings, please dress and present yourself neatly and professionally. Our employees are part of the brand and we need to present the image to our clients that we are also trying to sell to them. Please dress and present yourself accordingly." and see how that goes before trying anything crazy like a specific dress code.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Be prepared for pushback. I have addressed a few of our contract employees with "please no jeans or denim at the office." The response was "these are the only pants I have besides shorts."

You have to be prepared to enforce the dress code or say then you can't work here.

And I hope your reply back to them was something like "I remember what it was like when I first started working. I built my professional wardrobe slowly, but started with a pair of black pants, a plain solid colored top, and back loafers. Those are pieces you can buy at any price point"

When I was 25 years old, my 45 year old male boss asked me to counsel another young woman on her attire because it was not professional (she was dressing for happy hour, not for client meetings). This has been happening forever and you just need to suck it up and be clear..

[Anonymous]

Good advice here: https://www.askamanager.org/2017/08/our-interns-are-clueless-about-our-office-dress-code.html

My Gen Zs do it too. I am embarrassed for them but thankfully the people we liaise with don't care.