I never knew why Saturday was flat cap day

Apr 8 2003 By Bill Midgley, The Journal

The recent tribunal case regarding alleged discrimination against a male employee who would not wear a tie causes me some not inconsiderable fascination.

Not least because in 2003 there are still debates as to what mode of dress, and perhaps degree of smartness, is acceptable in employees of both sexes.

This is a long-running issue, perhaps highlighted in the 1970s when long hair became the fashion, and employers in particular objected to their male staff appearing in ponytails or with hair that often fell well below the shoulders.

That in itself was not new, as my mind can go back some 40 years to my very early days in banking when an edict was issued that flat caps would only be worn on a Saturday.

To this day I still do not appreciate why Saturday was seen as "flat cap day", or perhaps in those long-gone days such attire went with string-backed gloves and an open-topped sports car. The pay in banking, however, would only stretch to the flat cap!

What is more serious is that issues such as this should remain contentious and that there is not a meeting of minds between employer and workforce.

Companies have a right to expect that their staff are presentable, and project the image they would wish to see to their customer base. It is wrong to assume that this only applies to "front of house" staff, for many visitors to organisations see individuals throughout the entire workplace-

That is not to say that protective and appropriate clothing should not be worn in the right circumstances, but very often the attitude of those who wish to dress down gives an appalling image of a company which is trying to impress its customers. The issue is also about standards and trying to drive up a degree of pride in the workforce, and to take part-ownership for the image of the company which they represent.

An image which can take a great deal of effort to build but can be destroyed so quickly through ill-thought-through knee-jerk reactions.

The fault, however, does lie on both sides. And employers have to be more specific in what they expect of their staff - and this should be set out at the time that any new recruit joins an organisation. This obviously has to apply to both sexes.

I appreciate that there is legislation in place which means that discrimination must not take place, although I might question the common sense of such legislation or, more particularly, the common sense of those who arbitrate on that legislation and the interpretations they bring forth from time to time.

That may satisfy the judiciary and provide employment to certain areas of the legal profession but it hardly makes a basis for good employer/employee relations.

Employers need to ensure that staff are aware of why standards of dress code need to be enforced, and the implications if they are not.

These could well be lost customers, lost jobs and failing companies and the workforce, as stakeholders in the organisation which pays their salaries, have an equal responsibility alongside their managers.

Dialogue between the two parties, however, will be needed if each is to understand the other. And, as often is the case, if such dialogue starts at an early enough stage understanding is not difficult to achieve.

One of the greatest pleasures I had in a former existence was to give a short lecture - a talk - to groups of new employees.

A question put to me very early was what was the image of the organisation which I managed? Clever words followed based particularly on what our advertising agents were trying to achieve but, eventually, it occurred to me that the most important image of any business was its staff.

All companies need to impress upon staff that they can make or break an organisation, and how employees present themselves to the public is vitally important.

It is interesting that the "dressdown" days which emanated from the US financial services sector are now becoming yesterday's practice, no doubt reinforced by the fact that financial services are not quite as successful as they have been.

The days have long gone when only white shirts and dark suits could be worn by the male staff, and whatever may have been deemed as sensible clothes for the female staff.

However, a degree of smartness in the way in which staff present themselves not only helps the company but, more importantly, will in the longer term provide better rewards for the employee.