What Not To Wear - Call Center Dress Code

There is no one right dress code policy for call centers. What’s right for a particular call center depends upon the nature of the business, the background of its employees and even the geographic location. While more and more companies are relaxing dress code policy, many do still have definite guidelines. The guidelines often are stricter if there are occasional client or customer visits to the call center – and – there are quite a few companies who believe that dress code guidelines increase the overall professionalism and quality of its employees. I have to agree.

When I managed a small group of call center reps for a start-up web company, at first we didn’t have a dress code policy. During that period, most employees including the CEO and president of the company wore jeans and the chairman even occasionally wore shorts, t-shirt and sandals. However, as the company grew and the number of employees became larger and more diversified, the attire that employees wore to work was becoming an issue. Some of the call center reps would show up in what looked like pajamas, some in dirty t-shirts, some in raggy sweatsuits and some were dressed like they had a career “in the oldest profession in the world” like the singer in this music video.

A number of the other employees (both male and female) didn’t like it because it made them feel they weren’t working with other professionals - or - in a professional environment. Much to my surprise, the majority of the reps in my center actually wanted me to institute a dress code policy. So I did – with input from the employees. I knew what I wanted in a dress code policy, but I knew that I would get better buy-in from the employees if I solicitated their ideas and comments. I was very impressed at how much thought and consideration they put into helping me establish the dress code policy. It was still casual, yet sensible, more professional-looking and it took into account the diversity of our employees cultural, family and economic backgrounds. Was everybody happy with it? Of course not, but the majority of reps embraced it.

Most dress code policies include this list of 15 Don’ts.

Why should you give a hoot about your call center’s dress code policy? Because if you don’t it could be a career killer. Putting aside the disciplinary action that would most likely be imposed on you, not dressing appropriately for your job gives management a bad impression of you. You may just be a call center rep now – but if you want to get promoted to another position in your call center or another department in your company, then dress the part now. As much as we might not like it - Image Does Count.