Question: My question is about dress code. Is there an industry standard dress code for call centers that are considered professional and great places to work? We believe in making our employees happy, yet when we have visitors, I'm often embarrassed by the appearance of some of our agents. We are a large financial institution. The people who work in the public office are required to wear business attire. The call center seems excessively casual at times.
Carol: Thanks for asking about this topic! Timely too with summer ahead! As managers, we often assume our teams are happiest in jeans and tennis shoes! So we meet with Human Resources and insist we must have a casual dress code policy. That is 50% correct! We must have a dress code policy, which addresses the needs of the business and the employees.
Recently, we surveyed the employees at a large reservation center. The survey was prompted by an increased attrition rate, excessive absences and general complaints that were labeled "low morale"!
Prior to the survey, management had tried relaxing the dress code that was business casual. Things only got worse. We were not surprised. There were two categories in the survey that cleared up this perception of dress code; one was "What do I like the most?" and the other "What is most important to me?"
Results indicated that although the staff ranked the relaxed casual dress code high in things they like - it ranked last in the things that were important to them!
Dress code policies are a must in every organization and this is the perfect time to take a look at yours as the seasons change. There are some key issues to consider:
- Corporate image. How is your company perceived in the community? Customers who visit their banks expect to see professionalism.
- If you have visitors in your call center or member service area, most visitors will accept business casual. Many companies do not include blue denim jeans in business casual attire. Fridays are often reserved for a jeans casual day.
- Location often affects the dress code. Visit competitors in your city and observe their appearance.
- Join a call center association in your community. They are likely to schedule tours and often will share policies with you. Benchmark with those centers that are perceived to be leading employers.
- Consider organizing a team with representatives from each group. Ask them to meet, review the current dress code policy and make recommendations for revisions. If you don't have a written policy this is a good time to develop and document one. Having a team involved is a great way to ensure acceptance.
- Pay close attention to the appearance of the leadership team. If they are role models agents on their teams will more likely follow suit!
- Be very specific when writing your policy. Define casual and business casual and give examples.
- Finally, when the dress code has been defined and implemented, enforce it. If someone is not following the dress code, it should be addressed immediately.
Don't make exceptions or your policy is worthless. Good luck!
If you have a specific dilemma relating to customer contact centers or have a question you would like addressed, please send your question to question@trostle.com. Sources (name and company) are not used in Q&A articles.
Trostle & Associates, LTD, is a nationally recognized customer contact-consulting firm. Carol Trostle is the Founder and CEO. They specialize in helping customer contact centers achieve peak performance through consulting services, training solutions and outsourcing programs. To learn more about them visit www.trostle.com, send an email to info@trostle.com or call them at 210-492-1887.
