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Dress Code Policies for Different Offices

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When establishing our dress code for our company, should it be different for the hotter regions, such as Florida, than for the colder regions, such as Alaska?

Good question: is a company’s dress code necessarily the same across all divisions and temperatures? No, it doesn’t have to be. When you establish the dress code and other policies for your company, you can build them however you want. If you want to have a policy different from one branch to the next, that’s fine. However, keep in mind that you will want to ensure that all of your employees at all of your divisions are equally as happy with the arrangements that you have made for them in the workplace. If your employees at different branches get to talking about the difference in the policies, they could get unhappy if they feel that a particular policy is unfair or biased. In such a case, you might have complainers, unhappy folks, and people who cry discrimination.

However, when it comes to establishing the dress code, you are okay making it different, as long as you feel comfortable with the changes. You may, for example, want to allow employees to wear outfits with thin straps to work in Florida, while a standard 2-inch thick strap might be the policy for your Alaskan office. You want your employees to be comfortable in the heat, after all.

Bear in mind, though, that most modern offices these days are temperature controlled. As such, your employees may not actually need to change their dress codes in order to accommodate the outside temperature of the building. They can always take off a jacket or put a jacket on if they need to.

When communicating your dress code to your employees, make sure to tell them the reasons for the dress code so that they do not feel that their personal liberties have been taken away while at work. Let them know the importance of image and professionalism while they are in the office and let them know what they can expect if they violate the dress code.