How to avoid dress code issues in the pub trade

A key factor in the promotion of your business and attracting customers is the appearance of your employees, especially those front of house because they give the first impression as customers walk in. Therefore, the way they present themselves is important to you and you may want to implement a dress code in the workplace.

You are well within your rights to implement a formal dress code for your employees both to ensure that they are safe in the workplace and are appropriately dressed.

Here are some considerations when organising your dress code:

■ You should ensure that the requirements relate to the job in question and are reasonable in nature — for example, if employees are working in the kitchen then you could request that they tie their hair back for hygiene reasons

■ If you are using your policy to make clear that there should be a certain standard of dress and/or appearance while an employee is at work then you should ensure that the requirements are non-discriminatory and should apply equally to both male and female employees (although there can be different requirements, eg, it could state male employees should wear a tie)

■ You should ensure that any difference in the rules for male and female employees are both justifiable and proportionate

■ You should ensure that the code makes provisions for any reasonable adjustments to be made to it for disabled employees

■ You should consider including provisions dealing with religious dress and, ultimately, that if you are saying employees cannot wear a certain item that you are not being indirectly discriminatory — for example, you can refuse to allow them to wear an item for their own safety

■ If you are considering including a provision to allow for more casual dress during the summer months to make the working environment more comfortable for your employees, you can do this, but ensure the advice above is still followed — for example, that there are to be no flip-flops permitted because these are not safe footwear for the workplace

■ If you want exceptions to the code then you should make this clear — for example, if you are proposing to have a ‘dress down Friday’ or are going to allow employees to request to take part in charity days such as ‘Christmas jumper day’

It is good practice to consult with employees prior to the implementation of a new, or amendment of any existing code to ensure that the code is acceptable to them as well as you. You should then ensure that the code is circulated to all employees.

Once the code is in place, if employees do not comply they could find themselves in a disciplinary hearing, and so it is important that the code is right for everybody.