UBS Issues Most Detailed Dress Code in Corporate Sector

BS AG, Switzerland’s biggest bank, has taken its corporate identity seriously by issuing a 43-page document outlining a dress code for its staff.
UBS Issues Most Detailed Dress Code in Corporate Sector
12/20/2010
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.
UBS AG, Switzerland’s biggest bank, has taken its corporate identity seriously by issuing a 43-page document outlining a dress code for its staff.

The extent of the detail covered in the guidelines for business attire ranges from the color and size of suits as well as dietary suggestions and the length of toenails.

The documentation was leaked to the media, revealing details instructing employees to touch up hair color and specifying the quality of the underwear worn to work.

According to the Christian Science Monitor, employees of the Zurich-based bank were instructed that “suits must not only be charcoal grey, black, or dark blue, but dress coats must always be buttoned when employees stand, and open when sitting. Skirts must reach the middle of the knee with a tolerance for extending 5 centimeters (1.97 inches) below the joint.”

Generally speaking, all companies are entitled to dictate the type of clothing that is acceptable in the workplace. However, due to the economic pressures that challenge businesses, some have argued that management can opt for more drastic measures in terms of what is expected of employees.

According to Dick Lerner, author of “Dress Like The Big Fish,” “The takeaway from this recession is the reality most firms are doing more with less. For survival, there has been a lot of belt-tightening, and companies look at every aspect of their business, and that includes who will keep their job[s] and who won’t. … Sloppy dress in the workplace is gone. Businesses can’t afford sloppy dress, sloppy work, [or] sloppy attitude.”

Although there has been a backlash against the company for the UBS dress code “manifesto,” rules like this are almost always found to be legal. The exercise is also likely to be a costly project.

“An impeccable appearance can procure interior peace and a feeling of security,” says the guide for the UBS look, which is being tested with staff at five of the bank’s 300 branches.