Most businesses in India suffer from a deeply rooted complex – “Should we bother more about being called professional or cool?”
And if you are wondering if Mark Zuckerberg’s T-shirt, jeans and sandal attire helped in debunking this question off the roof, then the answer is ‘not quite’. Yes, the IT industry in India has been indeed liberalized as far as dress codes and other forms of formalities are concerned, things that were once considered a painful necessity. The latest in theme was Infosys who now allows smart casuals all throughout the day, laying the final nail in the coffin of Casual Fridays!
However, the use of strict dress codes and hyper-formal work environments are widespread in India. The most common reason given is overseas client visits. What they don’t realize is that in all likelihood their clients themselves don’t care much about what employees work at a vendor’s end, and care more about the quality of the service being provided. After all, that is what they are paying for.
Investing in a liberal and more focused work environment
Even more, a liberal work environment usually goes down very well with customers, whether domestic or international. It sends out a clear message that “don’t worry about our cloths, judge us by our work!”. And that is also the same message every employee yearns to send to the senior management.
Another challenge commonly seen amongst traditional employers is the issue of “growing with the times”. Many have simply refused to accept the fact that millennial employees are staunchly different from their predecessor workforce whom they are rapidly replacing as latter continues to enter retirement age or gets bumped up to senior positions. And once they hit these positions they continue their own legacy of workforce management.
In order to grow in the 21st century, employers need to adapt to changes expected by employees who hit the workforce in this century. One of the ways to do so is to first understand their expectations beyond dress-code and snack bars.
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