Business Casual Services and Programs

Dress Code Consulting Services

Casual dressing in the workplace is one of the biggest challenges facing professional organizations. We wrangle with what is appropriate. Employees report that casual dress is a more popular perk than even flexible scheduling and on-site daycare. Meanwhile, companies report that casual dress policies seem to provoke increased absenteeism and tardiness.

What’s an organization to do? The current trend calls for strict dress standards, says a recent article in USA Today. The number of companies permitting casual attire is declining. In 1998, 97 percent of companies allowed employees to dress casually either every day or once a week. That number has dropped to 87 percent.

The challenges of casual dress include:

• hundreds of interpretations of business casual dress
• lack of a detailed dress code policy/guidelines
• lack of a noncompliance policy
• increased sexual harassment issues
• casual attitude and casual manners
• missed business opportunities
• lack of clothing maintenance and overall grooming standards
• decrease in ethical behavior
• greater incivility in the workplace

Making the best impression when dressing in business casual clothing is a must for all businesses today. Dressing too casually can affect your bottom line. Both employers and employees will benefit tremendously from clearly defined and established guidelines.

Professional Skill Builders is in the business of helping companies establish business casual dress polices that are appropriate and customized to each unique environment and industry.

Dress Code Consulting Services

We can help you define the difference between business casual and casual dress. We’ll walk you through creating or revising policies and guidelines for your company’s professional environment. Our goal in this effort is to help you:

• creating a name or acronym for the dress code program
• position a start date
• recommend a trial period
• create an introductory memo
• address noncompliance issues and policy reinforcement
• designate individual[s] responsible for policy monitoring

We’ll also give you suggestions for employee incentives and gaining “buy-in” from senior management. Once you have completed this program you will know how to:

• maintain a professional demeanor and attitude when in business
casual attire
• find fun methods to “fashion patrol” employees
• communicate the new policies and procedures to employees

We can even provide shopping tips for those who are “business casual challenged” and we can train you or another representative from your organization to train others on how to deal with the challenges of business casual dress.

Additional Services

• ongoing sessions to address and revise policy
• one-on-one consultations
• unannounced visits to monitor policy reinforcement
• image/wardrobe articles for your company newsletter or internal
communication

Seminars and Presentations

Be Better at Casual: Professional and Comfortable in the Workplace, offered in 90-minute and 2-hour formats for groups of 5 to 500

Train-the-Trainer roundtable discussions for managers and supervisors

Fashion shows and critiques involving employees and managers as models

Our training workshops are fun, informative, and educational. They include a comedy skit, pre-test, handouts, props, a customized Power Point presentation, and group interaction.

Individual Consultations for Managers and Supervisors

We can train supervisors and managers who influence business casual dress and professional presence. We can provide specific feedback and recommendations about each manager’s business casual wardrobe. We’ll review and reinforce the new or revised dress code guidelines, provide train-the-trainer coaching, and address noncompliance issues. Most importantly, we can talk to your managers and supervisors about how to confront an employee who is not dressed appropriately.

The consulting services and training workshops offered by Professional Skill Builders provide results that are immediate and dramatic!

Benefits to the Company and Your Employees

Your organization will benefit through increased profits and productivity and a company image that is positively reinforced by its employees. We guarantee that you will witness increased civility and etiquette practices within the organization. You will also find increased cooperation and commitment, decreased flirtatious behavior, fewer sexual harassment issues, and a decrease in employee tardiness. Employees will experience improved communication, increased productivity, and higher self-confidence. The lessons learned here will gain them increased credibility and more respect among coworkers.

All these important changes will lead to more time for you and your staff to stay focused on business-related issues.

Business Casual Products:

Business Casual Consulting Services

This 3-hour package is conducted via telephone. Our consultants will review your organization’s business materials, including sales and marketing kit, company mission, vision, values, and appearance guidelines. You will receive a checklist of appropriate and inappropriate clothing items, accessories, and grooming standards for review prior to our session. Services can include dress code consulting, train-the-trainer, coaching managers and supervisors to confront inappropriate appearance/grooming, policy support and reinforcement, noncompliance issues, etc.

Master Set of Business Casual Handouts

These handouts are required for the training session. We’ll send the materials to you in Acrobat format. The 16-page document includes a 19-question pre-test. For an additional fee, other handouts are available on first impressions, professional dress and building a core wardrobe, business etiquette, hosting skills, dining and entertainment, communication skills, and more.

Power Point Presentation and Script

Our handy Power Point presentation and script are designed to help you roll out your new or revised dress code policy. Presentation may be transferred to overhead transparencies or 35 mm slides.

Visual Display Poster Boards

Our 22 x 28 posters demonstrate appropriate and inappropriate casual items for the workplace.

Posters come in sets of two—one for females and one for males. Includes explanation of inappropriate and questionable items. Available in Spring/Summer or Fall/Winter fashions

Master Checklist of Business Casual Items

Use this checklist to create or revise your organization’s dress code policy or guidelines. We include a sample self-assessment tool for employees to complete in dress code training or during new employee orientation.

Introductory Business Casual Memos

We’ll provide you with sample memos that will help you introduce a new or revised dress code policy.

Dress Code Guidelines

Obtain samples of successful company dress code guidelines to use as a guide for creating a policy for your organization.