Does dress code affect productivity? (If it’s not the birth suit, it will be okay)

A jacket doesn’t make the man, a tie doesn’t focus the mind, shoes don’t energise the body and pants bestow no known superpower. Sloppy dress leads to sloppy work? Rubbish!An individual I worked with back in the day must have signed a contract with a suit company because he never run out of them. The man always dressed like he had a luncheon at the State House. I wish he had put even half of the energy he used when picking out his suits into doing his job!The man gossiped like a bitter neighbour; once he started talking, you’d need to staple his lips together to get him to shut up. He liked starting projects he damn well knew he wouldn’t finish – and to top it all off – he had the attention span of a poodle!Allow me to ask, which part of the above sounds even remotely productive? Sure, I like a man in a suit but when that man comes to work and opens his mouth to speak and all I register is the mind of a fetus, dude, we are safer off calling in the beggar on the street for some ideas.As long as someone isn’t waltzing around the place in their birth suit then I think we’ll be good. However, some people – especially women –are abusing lenience at their workplaces and are now dressing like Rwf 1000 hookers! No matter how casual it gets, dress codes - or at least some semblance of guidelines - are still a good thing to have in place. Why? Because there’s always somebody that’s going to push it and take things too far. I went to a friend’s office last week and their receptionist wore a top I suspect had been borrowed from her baby sister. Her boobs were swinging all over the place; if there was music, I would have sworn I was in a strip club! Now that might not affect her productivity but it will definitely distract a couple of individuals who enjoy the sight of dangling boobies! Let’s not put vulgarity or just plain raggedness in the mix. Dress codes are about keeping up appearances and standards, not productivity. You can dress for success all you want, but it won’t actually make you better at your job if you are not actually good at it! I’m just saying!