Dressing for Success

The results are in from KarenZupko&Associates' Dress Code Survey, so tuck in those shirts and listen up. Representatives of 73 plastic surgery practices filled us in on what's hot and what's not in the office.

The Highlights:

• Nearly 88% of the respondents' practices have a dress code, leaving a very small 12% minority without. When the respondents described their practice dress code, it was obvious that there is a fairly wide range. Dress reflects the practice personality just as it does the expectations and needs of the patients.

• Some of the descriptions were a little vague—it's not easy to make a good dress code:

  • "Don't dress like you're going to a club."

  • "Look the way you looked when we hired you!"

  • "If you question the appropriateness of it ... it's probably NOT appropriate."

• If anyone needs help writing an effective dress code, do what this respondent did: "We follow Karen's dress code policy in her office procedure manual." You can order the KZA Employee Manual on CD-ROM© from our website.

• A little over one third (35.6%) of the practices require traditional business clothing—described as professional attire, dress clothing, conservative, and consisting of suits and ties for male physicians and staff, dresses and slack suits for female physicians and staff.

• The next step down, as well as the next largest group (30.1%), requires business casual—collared shirts, khakis, capris, closed-toed leather shoes, but no jeans or T-shirts.

• Nearly one quarter (24.7%) of the practices surveyed said that scrubs are worn in the office at least part of the time by at least some staff; 15.1% said clinical staff—and in some cases other personnel—can wear scrubs every day.

• Some dress codes are apparently only paper tigers. One respondent complained that, although the practice supposedly has a dress code, it's "not enforced in any way and we have never seen a copy." Another said, "Unfortunately it is not enforced. The nurses wear sleeveless tops, one receptionist wears tops that show skin when she moves, and several wear blouses/tops that show so much cleavage, let's not even go there."

• Five respondents mentioned that their practices prohibit visible tattoos and piercings, along with excessive makeup.

• Fewer than half (43.7%) think uniforms would improve staff's appearance, while a majority (56%) are against uniforms. About 15% of the respondents indicated that staff in their practice already wear uniforms—although uniforms can involve something as casual as T-shirts with the practice logo.

• An overwhelming majority (83.6%) feel that staff appearance reflects positively on the practice; 54.8% say they don't want to change their dress code—whatever it is, they are satisfied.

• The practice staff dress codes have not changed in the past two years ago for two thirds of our respondents (66.7%). As for the rest, 12 have moved toward casual and 12 have moved toward conservative.

• Meanwhile, physicians are also generally dressing about the same as two years ago—84.5%. Those doctors who haven't stayed the same have tended to dress down, though—9.9% are more casual, while 5.6% report being less casual.

• Only 2.7% of respondents want to relax their dress code, while nearly half (42.5%) want to move toward more conservative dress.

Read Further Research on Dress Codes

When Young Doctors Strut Too Much of Their Stuff

An Evidence-based Approach to Getting Dressed