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<\/div>\nWhat to wear!? A law firm wants its employees to be \u2018wildly fabulous\u2019 and dress to impress at work, while HSBC has followed Virgin Atlantic and BA with new casual uniforms for its 4,000 branch staff. Meanwhile, research has been carried out into the most awkward questions faced by HR \u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n With so many of us working from home, the question of what is suitable attire for the workplace has been reduced to what you can get away with on Zoom meetings. And even then, if you have doubts, you can turn the camera off.<\/p>\n It\u2019s probably fair to say that the effect of the homeworking switch is that less consideration is given to what we wear day to day, even when in the office, but law firm Vardags has turned this rather grey thinking on its head by injecting couture into its culture.<\/p>\n Inspired by celebrity-riven Mayfair nightclub Annabel\u2019s, Ayesha Vardag, the firm\u2019s founder and president, has, says The Guardian<\/a>, invited her staff to \u201cbring their personality to work\u201d, and to \u201cbe as wildly fabulous as you feel like and express yourself to the full\u201d.<\/p>\n Her memo to employees added: \u201cIf you fancy an electric-blue sequined jacket and gold leather trousers, if you want pink hair or scarlet DMs, if you want a purple velvet jacket, that\u2019s all good.\u201d<\/p>\n For court work, staff were told suits would still be needed, however, and attire had to be \u201cstill absolutely top-end and appropriate to the luxury market with which we engage, not undermining your gravitas as a professional\u201d. So that\u2019s pyjamas ruled out.<\/p>\n The Guardian quotes Peter York, the writer and style commentator, who questioned whether the new dress code<\/a> could be successfully adopted by Vardag\u2019s 120 employees. He says: \u201cThey should dress like they\u2019re going to Annabel\u2019s? How many of those people have actually been to Annabel\u2019s?\u201d<\/p>\n HSBC\u2019s new outfits<\/a> feature t-shirts, jeans, jump-suits and Converse pumps, rather like a sales rep at an HR technology event.<\/p>\n HSBC UK\u2019s director of distribution, Jackie Uhi, said the days of \u201cbowler-hatted bankers\u201d were over. Clearly, she\u2019s right, but didn\u2019t hats fall out of favour in finance 40-50 years ago? In fact, you\u2019re more likely to spot the clientele at Annabel\u2019s wearing a bowler hat; ironically of course.<\/p>\n With Vardag\u2019s new dress code employees won\u2019t feel the need to double-check what they plan to wear at work with their boss. There will be no need to ask, for example: \u201cWould it be OK if I wear my Dior shift dress with knee-high boots and beaded flapper hat tomorrow?\u201d<\/p>\n HR solutions company Remote tells us that, via Google searches, it has determined which are the 10 most awkward conversations one can have at work. Wearing couture fashion items isn\u2019t among them, disappointingly.<\/p>\n They tend to focus on more prosaic concerns: \u201cHow to ask for a pay rise\u201d is top, followed by \u201cHow to tell your boss you\u2019re sick\u201d and that trying task, \u201cHow to give negative feedback\u201d. In fourth place was the somewhat mystifying \u201cWhat do I say on my first day in a new job?\u201d. \u201cWell, that should depend on what you\u2019ve been asked\u201d would be one response.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat do you say to an employee who\u2019s leaving?\u201d was also Googled. One worries about what\u2019s happening to levels of articulacy if a search engine is needed to provide the answers. Luckily we\u2019ll soon have artificial intelligence<\/a> to handle these difficult conversations on our behalf (joke). Phew, no more \u201cAwks\u201d.<\/p>\n Nadia Vatalidis, VP of people at Remote, shares sensible advice for dealing with difficult conversations at work: \u201cEstablishing regular one-to-one meetings with direct reports is a critical step to enabling this culture of direct communication. Ensure all team members have a designated safe space to have these difficult conversations.\u201d<\/p>\n Whether such conversations would be made harder or easier if their participants were wearing \u201cwildly fabulous\u201d high fashion fit for Annabel\u2019s \u2013 makes for delicious speculation.<\/p>\nAwkward questions<\/h2>\n
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