How To Centralize The Formal Dress Code For Employee's

Dear Seniors,
Very good evening,
In my present organization im facing the problem of dress code. here some employees are wearing formal and most of them are in casuall. even i circulated the rules and regulation in notice board but still some employees never mind all these things.
Can any one help me how to overcome this.

Check the dresscode policy given in the below link
Dress Code Policy « hrmexpress

1. Sent an email to all - stating that even when there is a policy introduced for the dress code to be followed, there are many employees not following the same.
2. Also inform them in that email, that the organisation would take strict disciplinary action if the aforesaid policy is not followed.
3. Set up a meeting with the department heads, and make them understand the need to follow this policy.
4. Ask these heads to keep reminding their respective team to follow the guidelines of the policy.
5. Send reminders on the same email twice again.
6. I suppose this procedure to help you lessen the individuals not following the policy.
7. Lastly , give warning letters to the individual for violating the policy

Hi

Bhakti has shared both the policy and has also quickly reverted with excellent suggestions on how to tackle the problem.

My sense of the problem on dress code that NN is facing is primarily due to lackadaisical attitude of the senior management, It is therefore essential that you first get the buy in of the senior management and seek their support to implement the dress code seriously. This can be done by implementing step 3 of Bhakti's suggestion at the earliest.

This can then be followed by NN implementing steps 1and 2 to reinforce the existing policy. Those not adhering to the policy can be issued an email with a CC to their immediate boss by NN as suggested in step 5.

For persistence non compliance a note must be send by NN to the superior of the deviant employee outlining the dates in which warning were issued to the employee and recommending that the superior personally issue a warning with a CC to the HR head.

Finally of course only top management can take any drastic step if they deem fit. You could also explore the possibility of factoring in the warnings into the annual appraisal system and clearly outlining the effect of the warnings on the increments and promotion to the employee so that the lesson is firmly learned.

What is essential as I have stated in the beginning is the commitment and support of the top management for the dress code policy. To this end it is very essential that the top management strictly follows the dress code themselves else it would be difficult to get the other employees commitment to it.

Regards

After all the steps Bhakti and Jacob suggested, have been exhausted and some still persist in defying the dress code, you can take disciplinary action by issuing showacuse notice eiteher for not wearing uniform (if it is mentioned as misconduct under your conduct rules/standing orders) or for wilful insubordination of lawful instructions of superiors which is normally enumerated as misconduct under servcie rules and pass appropraite penalty if the explanation is not satisfactory after an enquiry.This will send a message to all concerned that indiscipline is not tolerated.
B.Saikumar
HR & Labour Law advisor
Mumbai

I just do not understand disciplinary action, meeting, education etc on dress code. If an employee has to wear uniform , do not allow him inside and the security will stop him at the gate and he will be marked absent. If you are not talking about uniform and formal dress code like, full shirt, pant, no tea shirt, must wear shoes etc, then stop them at the gate if they are not following the code.
I have been stopped in clubs on days when I was not adhering to dress code. I have impolemented this in organisations and I have even sent workers out, in spite of strong unions, when they were without shoes inside, If one consider "not adhering to dress code or uniform" is a misconduct, you can never make people to follow.
Considers Dress Code as a necessity to carry out the job, then you do not allow him for work. If the policy has been discussed and finalised by the Top Management and given to you for implementation, just do it. Do not hesitate

The act of turning away an employee who presents himself for work, though wihthout wearing uniform, may pose other legal problems. When an employer refuses to give work to a workman when he presents himself for work, amounts to lay off and since such lay off is not in consnance with Sec.2(kkk) of the Industrial Disputes Act, it may be termed as illegal lay-off and may lead to an industrial dispute, compelling the employer to pay wages on the day on which he is so laid off. In all likelyhood, the deduction of wages for the day on which the workman is marked absent, may be termed as unauthorised within the emaning of Sec.7 of the Payment of Wages Act since the workman did not abstain from duty.These are the risks that can stick to the action of marking a workman absent and turning him away on the day, he did not wear uniform. That's why a risk-free route of counselling,warning and initiating disciplinary action has been suggested by members.

B.Saikumar



Mumbai

Dear Mr Saikumar
Stopping anyone at the gate for non wearing of uniform is not a lay off. We can legally stop them. Similarly we can stop on shoes and any safety measures
Stopping a worker dues to lack of order. electricity material etc will be declared as lay off. Legally a Management can stop. I am not discussing on practical
issues here

Dear Sivasankaran

I respect your view on the subject but my view was prompted by the urge to eaxmine whether the act of stopping a workman at the gate for not wearing uniform, has any risk of industrial dispute more so in a factory setting since the act has the effect of casusing unemployment to the workman whether it is for one hour or one day or more than a day.If an employee is stopped at the gate to merely make him to wear uniform and then enter the factory, then there is no issue. However if the empoyee is stopped at the gate and not allowed to work and marked absent for not wearing uniform, then the workmen may have a chance to agitate the issue for the following reasons.

1) Stopping a workman at the gate and not allowing him to report for work for not wearing uniform evidently amounts to refusal of the empoyer to provide work to the workman when he presents himslef for work.

2)Such power to refuse to provide work to a workman cannot be inherent since the rights and obligations of the employee and the employer are defined by a contract of servcie and thus it needs to be a part of contract of servcie.

3) If there is no such clause in the contarct of servcie, such power must flow from the standing orders/ servcie rules which a workman undertakes to abide by at the time of appointment.However the model standing orders on the basis of which certified standing orders are made, do not have any provision permitting an employer to refuse employment for not wearing uniform. More over the model standing orders of some states like Maharastra even contain a provision that no workman who presents himself for work within 15 minutes shall not be shut out.

4) If there is no such provision in the standing orders, such power to the employer must flow from a statute. The only provision in a statute that permits an employer to refuse work to a workman is contained under sec.2(kkk) of the Industrial Disputes Act 1947 which terms such refusal as lay-off. However sec.2(kkk) specifies certain reasons like shortage of coal or accumulation of stocks or break down of machinery etc for which the employer can refuse work to a workman. There is no other way an employer can refuse work to a workman under the Industrial Disputes Act.

Thus it is obvious from the above that the employer cannot exercise any inherent power to refuse work or cause temporary unemeployment to a workman unless he is emplowered to do so by an enabling provision.

Therefore in all probablity, a workman can contend that he has been illegally refused work or laid off and can raise a dispute.

5) This apart, stopping an employee at the gate and not allowing to perform work may also be contended by the workman to amount to suspension that is not in accordance with the standing orders/ servcie rules/contract of servcie since suspension can either be effected either as a punishment or pending investigation or enquiry by way of a written order.

I respect your view since the object of it is to compell a workman to comply with dress code.There may not be an industrial dispute either in this case but the potential for is urking around for reasons stated above. This is my view..

B.Saikumar

Mumbai

From practical angle except for factories where unions are pretty much active it won't be a problem in office.Morever making them understand the importance of wearing uniform & shoes will go a long way in fostering relationship.I think sufficient notice should be given as to adhering to stopping employees from entering office without proper dress.This will give advance warning to defaulters.Morever follow up the advance warning notice with a penalty of say Rs 500/day from salary for breaking rules.This will work.One can sugar coat this with penalty money being used for celebration among employees.This will create peer pressure.