UBS Dress Code: No Onions or Garlic, Tie Must Match Face

Swiss banking giant UBS is implementing a strict new dress code for employees, according to MSNBC, which obtained a document of the requirements.
UBS Dress Code: No Onions or Garlic, Tie Must Match Face
12/16/2010
Updated:
10/1/2015

<a><img src="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/09/106282843.jpg" alt="Switzerland's largest bank UBS, is seen through a window in Lausanne. UBS is implementing a strict new dress code for employees." title="Switzerland's largest bank UBS, is seen through a window in Lausanne. UBS is implementing a strict new dress code for employees." width="320" class="size-medium wp-image-1810707"/></a>
Switzerland's largest bank UBS, is seen through a window in Lausanne. UBS is implementing a strict new dress code for employees.
Swiss banking giant UBS is implementing a strict new dress code for employees, according to MSNBC, which obtained a document of the requirements.

The bank is going to test out its 43-page dress code at five branches in Switzerland.

Under the new rules, women’s wear skirts must be knee-length, nothing shorter. Body piercings and some forms of jewelry are banned.

Also, makeup is required: foundation, mascara, and light lipstick “will enhance your personality,” the document says, according to MSNBC.

“Women should not wear shoes that are too tight-fitting as there is nothing worse than a strained smile,” added the document.

Men will have to wear a traditional two-button jacket and cannot wear the same shoes or the same tie for two consecutive days. They also cannot use hair dye, acccording to MSNBC.

According to the document, men can “wear only ties that match the bone structure of the face and do not wear socks with cartoon motifs,” reported the news agency.

In terms of facial hair, three days worth of stubble will not be tolerated, and the bank recommends they get a haircut every month.

Men are also encouraged to wear a watch as it “suggests reliability and that punctuality is a great concern to you.”

For both men and women, eating onions and garlic are forbidden.

UBS spokesman Jean-Raphael Fontannaz told the Wall Street Journal that the guidelines are “in line with Swiss precision,” noting that they were originally set up to guide temporary workers.

If the code is successful at the five banks, the UBS may implement the standards in other Swiss branches.

“Even so, only around 1,500 [employees] would be affected, less than 10% of our staff in Switzerland,” Fontannaz told the WSJ. Workers in the US would not be affected.

“The goal is for clients to immediately know that they are at UBS when they are entering the bank,” he told the newspaper. “After the test phase we may implement the dress code, or adapt it, or not use it at all.”