MBA & Education with license to dress: the "Dress Code", more flexible and informal, which advances after the pandemic

In Santander Bank, in Chile, they went from wearing more comfortable clothes during the summer and jeans every Friday to wear this type of clothing throughout the year.The measure, which emerged four years ago, after the crisis by the pandemia arrives to stay: although a specific Code Dress is not established, it is recommended, even for managers, that only when they serve customers do not look too informal.

"These measures have allowed us to give our collaborators greater comfort to work, more balance between working and personal life," explains María Eugenia de la Fuente, manager of the Division People, Communications and Sustainability of Banco Santander.

After the period of confinement product of the pandemic, the companies that had already initiated a process of change accelerated their flexibility in the matter of clothing.This has been accompanied by the change of habits that many people have experienced, who got used to dressing and wearing comfortably.Somehow, all this has pushed companies adapt to this new reality and needs.

In addition, it is attributed that this flexibility goes hand in hand with a new look at work, where the focus is on the objectives and in which it also seeks to give a comfortable space to the workers.Jimena López, ManpowerGroup Chile Recruitment Manager and selection, indicates that “in Pandemia we had to adapt to do everything at a distance, leaving in the background the clothing and the presentation.The era of the suit and tie is no longer stipulated, but that does not mean that this is not respected on certain occasions, as in meetings with clients and headquarters ”.

In turn, another of the factors that seems to influence this greater opening in terms of clothing, are the new generations, who often drive certain levels of "informality" in the work environment.

A pre -pandemic change

“We noticed that there were some changes in companies, but they were pre pandemic.We saw it very marked in what has to do with the financial industry, many banks began to make their clothing more flexible, ”says Emanuel Barattucci, consulting manager and content, of BW Internal Communication, a company specialized in internal communication in Latin America.

Another is the case of Paraguay, where several companies have made their clothing codes more flexible, especially for areas that do not have customer service.“A banking institution had already been working on the pre -pandemic issue and deepened it in its returns to the offices from May 2020.The main objective is that each one goes comfortably, that reflects their personality, because they consider it important that a person can work comfortable to do their best, and that the aspect does not determine the performance or ability of the person, always taking into accountThe work scope, ”says Andrés Stremiz, director of BW Internal Communication Paraguay.

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In addition to the companies that had already initiated the change, those youngest and rupturist organizations or those that were born in the transformation, in the 2020s, being digital and flexible.

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However, there are also exceptions."The companies that did not have it in their plans, did not drive these changes during the pandemic," says Barattucci.And Riquelme complements: "In countries like Panama, the collaborators who have returned, continue for now, with the same clothing code".

Flexible in other areas

Together with being more permissive in this area, companies have also been flexible.With teleworking, many organizations went from setting their attention to the hours worked to consider much more the achievement of the objectives.​

“The flexibility at the schedule has to do with greater autonomy and the focus on the results.Therefore, we can talk more about autonomy related to responsibility.Freedom at this time is related to responsibility and results, ”says Paula Molinari, president and founder of Grupo Whalecom.

As an example, since this year that in the Santander Bank they carry out what they call "flexivierns", where admission is at 8.00 hours and departure at 14.00 hours, with a collation schedule in 30 minutes, to anticipate the departure schedule every day, which before the pandemic was until 16.30 hours.

As with Santander, several organizations have implemented flexible entry and exit schedules, different from the traditional “9.00 to 18.00 hours ".Natalia Terlizzi, CEO of Hucap, Argentine company of strategic management of human capital, change and organizational development, says that “they realized that this greater flexibility reduced absenteeism and late arrivals, given that collaborators, while still completing the hours hoursAgreed, they could accommodate it to their needs, which can range from studies, care of children or people in charge, even some hobby that may not do so because of time impossibility ”.

Present leaders

Along with the bosses establish individual and group goals so that collaborators know what is expected of them and thus can perform autonomy;It is convenient not to lose the culture of the company, but it adapts to the different formats."It is important that the company is convinced and that they are not only cosmetic changes: the transformation must be accompanied by other changes," says Barattucci.

For this reason, it is essential that the leaders be able to order their teams, managing these measures and avoiding falling into excessive control, limiting the autonomy of the equipment.To this.In order for productivity not to decrease, it is important to have an orientation to the results, and for this it is necessary.

Finally, as well as more companies are implementing teleworking and hybrid format, little by little they will be giving greater freedom in the clothing of their workers and the schedule, which ends by reducing stress and day -to -day pressure, motivating the equipment.

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