Many people think that my styling world only consists of rich, bored women who eat bon bons and hang out on the couch all day. Major misconception. Many of my clients own their own businesses, including an awesome company called Tribe. Their client, UPS asked Tribe for help in communicating their 1st wardrobe guidelines in 90 years. So what did Tribe do? Called me in for advice and coaching for this huge transition.
In 2008, UPS went business casual after 90 years of corporate dress attire – a major cultural change. The shift was part of the company’s efforts to recruit and retain top talent. Aside from a small group of renegades who refused to stop wearing suits, the revised dress code was well received. And not just by Millennials; Gen X and Boomers were glad for the new freedom, too. See below how I helped Tribe with this process. (excerpt from Tribe’s blog)
UPS released written dress guidelines, but knew that people would still have questions. So it hired a third-party wardrobe consultant, Robanne Schulman of Plaid Monkey, to offer advice and tips on dressing UPS business casual. She’s done this before for other companies, so she was prepared for the typical concerns that usually pop up. Here’s what those are, in case you’re curious and/or considering a move to business casual yourself:
– “If all an employee has ever worn is business suits, then casual styles can be intimidating,” says Robanne. “Suddenly they have to mix and match; suits don’t require that. I talked with them about color, shape and material, how to layer and basic pieces to buy that are easy to put with different outfits.”
– It can be expensive to update a wardrobe to business casual, even though a more versatile wardrobe can be less expensive in the long run. “People who wear suits tend to have suits or weekend wear in their closets – and nothing in-between,” she says. “I developed a Top 10 list of must-haves for women and men to refer to as they went through this transition.”
– There always will remain times when an employee still needs put on that business suit, like for a big presentation to a client – or even for an important internal meeting. “Making that call isn’t intuitive for everyone,” says Robanne. “Just in case they get it wrong, they should always keep a clean, pressed suit near-by for a quick change.”
business casual corporate attire Plaid Monkey Recruiting and Retention Robanne Schulman UPS
