MORGANTOWN — Employees are swapping sweatpants for workplace attire as businesses return to in-person work, but what is considered appropriate dress may be shifting.
Pajamas likely won’t be welcome in the office anytime soon, but the COVID-19 pandemic is shifting views on dress code policies for some. That is the case at West Virginia University, which decided to loosen its dress code policy as employees return to campus.
“Throughout the past 18 months, many of our employees who have worked remotely became accustomed to dressing more casually while also remaining productive,” said Cris DeBord, WVU Vice President for Talent and Culture. “Rather than expecting employees who are returning to on-campus work to resume wearing their pre-pandemic work attire, we now are encouraging employees to ‘dress for the occasion’ and use good judgment.”
DeBord said these changes come from what he views as one of the few silver linings of the pandemic — it provided a once-in-a-career opportunity to hit the reset button. Working remotely allowed WVU to take a fresh look at traditional practices, including its philosophy on remote work as well as expectations on how employees should dress.
Recently, a survey was taken asking about employees’ experience working remotely, including a look at dress code policies. When the prospect of a change in required attire was presented, DeBord said employees’ responses were overwhelmingly positive.
“The changes to our dress code were designed to create a more welcoming workplace environment and promote comfort among employees while helping to increase productivity at the same time,” he said. “We also hope a more-relaxed dress code will help foster more relatable relationships among our students and employees.”
Shifts in workplace attire following historical periods is nothing new when looking back through history. Katie Jones, WVU fashion, dress and merchandising program coordinator and associate professor, said she would relate this shift to one we saw following World War I and the Spanish flu, as society entered into the 1920s.
“It was this kind of same sort of relief having gotten through it and this new era of excitement and possibility in front of the younger generation in particular,” she said.
As the nation entered into the Roaring ‘20s, Jones said dress codes began relaxing. With the new generation came shorter hemlines and a new approach to what is considered appropriate fashion. After spending more than a year navigating COVID-19 restrictions, Jones suspects a similar trend is making an appearance.
“I think particularly for the younger generation, there’s going to be that same sort of excitement to move past and use dress as kind of a similar sort of celebration,” she said.
However, not all workplaces are jumping on the trend just yet. Morgantown’s Spilman Thomas and Battle law firm is one business in the area choosing to keep a strict, business-attire dress code.
“We have a lot of litigators that go to court and a lot of people that come into our office that we just need to keep up a business appearance,” said Delores Graham, office manager. “We need to maintain a business-like decorum.”
Meena Ahluwalia, owner and CPA of Padgett Business Services accounting, said her office does not plan to make any major changes to their dress code either for similar reasons. She said the dress code doesn’t require employees to wear formal business wear, but does require business casual.
However, there is one change Padgett made due to COVID-19 that is still in effect, and that’s wearing masks.
“The only additional article of clothing is our face cover,” Aluwalia said. “Even when the mandate went down, we still wore masks in the office.”
Although loosening dress codes might not be possible in all workplaces, DeBord expects to see more businesses making similar changes and loosening dress codes in the future where possible.
“The COVID-19 pandemic has fundamentally shifted workplace culture within most organizations,” he said. “Employers must remain adaptive and respond to feedback from their employees to ensure they remain satisfied and engaged. As such, I feel we likely will see many organizations adopt more-relaxed dress code policies as more employees resume working in-person.”
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