Canadian HR Reporter - Sample Issue

CANADIAN HR REPORTER September 5, 2016 NEWS 3 Starbucks encourages 'individuality' Chain allows relaxed dress code – but employers should take care, say experts BY LIZ BERNIER PINK HAIR, tattoos and pierc- ings — in most workplaces, they used to be strictly verboten. But times have changed, and employ- ers are catching up. Starbucks recently updated its dress code to allow for more "in- dividuality" amongst employees. Tattoos, coloured hair and pat- terned shirts are not only allowed but welcomed among customer- facing employees. e company even produced the new dress code as a visual "look book," providing photos and examples of acceptable sartorial choices rather than just a written policy. "Our success is rooted in our continual innovation and cus- tomization in every aspect of our business and this also applies to offering the best partner experi- ence we can," said Rossann Wil- liams, president of Starbucks Canada. "We are responding to what our partners have told us and are confident this will uplift the Starbucks brand, partner and customer experience." More casual dress codes are becoming more acceptable, said Dianne Hunnam-Jones, district president for eastern Canada at Robert Half in Toronto. "Companies are seeing that dressing up for work, so to speak, continues to go out of style." In fact, 21 per cent of senior managers feel employees wear less formal clothing today than they did five years ago, according to a Robert Half and Office Team survey. And about one-half of employees would prefer to work for a company that has a busi- ness casual or casual dress code, found the 2016 survey of more than 300 senior managers and 400 employees. "ere is a definite movement towards a more relaxed dress code in the workplace," she said. Environment is key Dress codes vary broadly across the board, from casual to business professional, among employers. "It depends on the environment and depends on the role the per- son plays in the company," said Hunnam-Jones. "For most positions, where you're interacting with other business professionals, it tends to be business professional. And as a front-line, reception, customer service (employee), you are look- ing more business professional. In the back office… definitely more casual." It's a good idea for people to always err on the side of caution and to dress for the position they aspire to, she said. "Even if that dress code is all very relaxed and casual and every- body's in jeans, but you ultimately want to be a senior manager with the company, take a look at the senior managers and see how they're dressing. at's how you want to dress." e most common dress code violations include wearing overly casual clothing, according to 35 per cent of managers, and show- ing too much skin, according to 20 per cent, found the survey. Sexualized dress codes Showing skin of course brings up another critical issue employ- ers should keep in mind: at of sexualized dress codes. While relaxed dress codes can be great, it's certainly possible for a dress code to go too far by sexu- alizing the clothing that employ- ees — most often, women — are expected to wear at work, said Da- vid Whitten, a partner at Whitten & Lublin in Toronto. "The Ontario Human Rights Commission (OHRC) in March of this year released some guide- lines on sexualized workplace dress codes, so it's recently gotten quite a bit of attention as a result of that," he said. "The commission's stance in this regard really gives some visibility as to how the tribu- nal will deal with these types of applications." An employer could be exposed to damages if a complaint is made under this ground, said Whitten. "Employers are on notice that to insist that employees wear a certain outfit without a legitimate reason for doing so is really prob- lematic," he said. "ere have been some cases where an employer was held ac- countable for insisting women wear skirts while allowing their male servers to wear pants. And the tribunal found that there's no legitimate reason why a woman should have to wear a skirt in the workplace if her male coun- terparts were permitted to wear pants." ENGENDERED > pg. 12 "It depends on the environment and the person's role in the company."

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