In recent years, there is more comfort in office attire, particularly among younger employees. Many people argue that employers should let staff members wear as they please as long as they fulfill their obligations. In my perspective, I completely disagree with this argument.
It is acceptable that employers should not regulate their employees’ clothes. After all, productivity should be the major goal of any company, and personal problems should be left to the employee’s choice. However, this argument fails to take into account negative impacts on employee freedom of clothing. This is because, in some industries, particularly those where advertising or presentation in front of clients is important, clothing reflects the organization’s reputation. Employees who dress professionally might provide a great impression on consumers and stakeholders. Inversely, if employees dress sloppily, potential customers and members of the public may have an unfavorable impression of the company. The fashion business is known for this, since staff cannot afford to be perceived in public as sloppy or overly casual. These reasons suggest that workers’ dress contributes to an enterprise’s reputation, and hence worries about it can be legitimate.
Furthermore, dress also has many impacts on employee work efficiency. Although dressing comfortably will make the working environment more comfortable and pleasant, it may not bring much efficiency at work. Sometimes it also causes serious problems such as harassment and isolation, negatively affecting the quality of work if office attire is inappropriate or offensive. Additionally, some employees may exploit this freedom by choosing ethically or sexually inappropriate attire, leading to distractions among colleagues. Briefly, it is important that businesses should have office attire policies.
In conclusion, although I disagree that companies should allow employees more freedom in their work attire and should instead be concerned with work performance, I also feel that organizations should adopt policy standard rules to monitor certain cases and situations.
