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Working
Abroad -
Techies change their dress code
The
slowdown has brought about a significant change in the dress code of
techies as casuals are replaced by formal wear. Apart from looking
different, better clothes now also symbolise that one is feeling better,
writes MOHAN BABU
Slowdown in
the high-tech sector has had an impact on one unexpected area—the attire
worn by techies. The “informal dress-down culture” that swept across
America during the nineties, spearheaded by the Silicon Valley “bring
your dog to work” culture, is slowly leading to the advent of formal
attires at technology companies and departments. This change from
informal to formal is due to several reasons. In a sluggish market,
techies are looking for ways to differentiate themselves from their
peers and what better way to do it than to look different, literally? Of
course, during a slow economy, dressing-up a notch is also a way to
signal to one’s peers and colleagues that one feels better by dressing
better.
The
origin of the “well-dressed” techie goes back to the
white-shirt-and-formal-suited IBMers of the seventies and eighties. In
his recent book Who Says Elephants Can’t Dan-ce? Louis Gerstner talks
about the changing dress code: “It was well-known throughout business
circles that IBM salespeople wore very formal business attire. Tom
Watson established that rule when IBM was calling on corporate
executives who wore dark suits and white shirts. ...Watson’s direction
was: Respect your customer, and dress accordingly. However, as the years
went by, customers changed how they dressed at work, and few of the
technical buyers in corporations showed up in white and blue. However,
Watson’s sensible connection to the customer was forgotten and the dress
code marched on.”
Now that
we are seeing another shift in the business world from informal to a
more button-down culture, the techies are trying to keep pace. During
the nineties, technical departments, even at regular companies operated
as “independent” units with their own sub-cultures. This was because the
market was so “hot” that companies tried especially hard to manage and
retain their technical folks, even if it meant providing them special
perks that other departments and employees in the company were not
entitled to.
When it
comes to business attire in the consulting world, there are perhaps two
schools of thought: the first approach, followed by most consultancies,
is the “in Rome, do as Romans do” model. The other is the IBM-like
“uniform culture” where regardless of local client culture; consultants
follow their own firm’s dress code. Some companies, notably the Big Five
consulting houses, have long maintained their own standardised dress
culture, regardless of the clients they serve. In a recent assignment at
Agilent, it was interesting to note that the only
people in
business casuals (Dockers, dress shirts/polos) were the Deloitte
Consulting folks. All other people, including Agilent employees, were in
a totally dress-down mode wearing jeans, shorts, flip-flops and
everything else in between. Since the project was being managed by
Deloitte, it made sense for them to stand out from others and in a way,
their standardised attire helped them achieve this!
Indian
techies have traditionally been conservative when it comes to dressing.
Many Indian companies regularly expect and entertain client visitors,
and so have their techies dress up a notch most of the time.
Dress
code management becomes more complicated when one starts discussing
women’s attire. In India, workingwomen alternate between sarees and
salwar kameeze; the “formal” being the saree. However, the question then
arises, do lady consultants at a client location dress in a saree or
would it be seen as too “foreign?” Indian women in American offices have
taken a more “in Rome do as Romans do” attitude, dressing in formal
western or informal western clothes, depending on the location and local
dress cultures with an occasional attire of saree or salwar kameeze to
add colour (pun intended). And this model seems to be working fairly
well. It is the Indian men who sometimes seem to get confused and are
torn between their official company policy and the local attires worn by
colleagues at client locations.
The
arrival of multinationals, especially American giants and software
companies, spelt the importation of the informal culture in India, at
least at their subsidiaries. Given that there is no right or wrong way
to create and manage a dress code, most Indian companies try to take a
laissez faire attitude towards dress code, focusing more on work on hand
and creating and maintaining morale. For instance, British companies
regularly follow a tie-and-jacket standard all through the year.
However, most American companies take a middle ground by expecting a
business casual. Also, since Indian companies regularly deal with
organisations from many countries, it becomes difficult to customise a
dress-code for each individual country/client. Uniform dress culture is
the way out.
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