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Avatars To Have Business Dress Codes By 2013

Posted by samzenpus on from the no-flaming-hair-at-pretend-work dept.

nk497 writes "With businesses increasingly using digital tech like virtual worlds and Twitter, their staff will have to be given guidelines on how they 'dress' their avatars, according to analysts. 'As the use of virtual environments for business purposes grows, enterprises need to understand how employees are using avatars in ways that might affect the enterprise or the enterprise's reputation,' said James Lundy, managing vice president at Gartner, in a statement. 'We advise establishing codes of behavior that apply in any circumstance when an employee is acting as a company representative, whether in a real or virtual environment.'"

18 of 221 comments (clear)

  1. Resigning Issue... by CowboyBob500 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I'd resign if anyone tried to tell me what to wear in the real world, never mind the virtual. I've never worked at a company with a dress code and I never will. Not because I have an aversion to looking smart, but because that kind of control is normally just the tip of the iceberg.

    --
    Listen to my latest album here
    1. Re:Resigning Issue... by rubies · · Score: 3, Insightful

      This is why you should use social networking services with a pseudonym - otherwise the company thinks you're on their clock, all the time.

    2. Re:Resigning Issue... by Telephone+Sanitizer · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I have the feeling that if you showed up in a Speedo and refused to put on pants, you wouldn't have to resign.

      They'd cut you loose pretty quickly.

      'Point is, you conform to a dress code even if you don't know it. The only way around it is to work out of your home... with the drapes closed. (Please.)

    3. Re:Resigning Issue... by AuMatar · · Score: 3, Insightful

      You're assuming someone wants to get into the executive suite. Personally, I can't think of anything less attractive. The odds of it are low, you have to work hard for years, you have to put up with politics for years to do it, and lets face it the most sure way to get there are to throw all your morals out the window and backstab your way there. On top of that all those years you're doing shit that just isn't fun. No thanks. Give me career options of that or dropping out and flipping burgers, I'll take burgers.

      As for aging and whether people think you look funny- why the hell do you care what other people think? If you enjoy it, fuck everyone else.

      --
      I still have more fans than freaks. WTF is wrong with you people?
    4. Re:Resigning Issue... by TheLink · · Score: 4, Insightful

      > I tend to cringe when I enter a store and notice all the employees wearing identical clothing...

      Why? It's for one of the reasons you stated. Identification purposes.

      It makes it easier for you to find them when you want to, or avoid them if you don't.

      Similarly in a restaurant, proper uniforms reduce the odds of you trying to get other customers to fetch you a menu. Or vice versa.

      That said, I find ties uncomfortable and a rather stupid idea in warm environments/climates.

      I'd be glad if someone can come up with a fashion that looks decently "business like", is practical and doesn't involve ties and zillions of buttons.

      Probably easier for menswear. Women's wear tend to have somewhat insane stuff like jacket/coat "pockets" that aren't pockets, or real pockets that are actually sewn shut.

      --
    5. Re:Resigning Issue... by Walkingshark · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Well, the way I see it, if a jewish person has a constitutional right to wear one of those hats to work, and muslim women have a right to their hijab, then I have a right to not wear a tie. Discrimination extends to "creed," which is a pretty open term.

      --
      The world you experience is only a close approximation of reality.
    6. Re:Resigning Issue... by TheLink · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Oops I meant that's what they do, they don't often say it...

      You may be closer to the "executive suite" and suits than you think ;).

      --
    7. Re:Resigning Issue... by kklein · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Good luck moving up in your company, then (unless you're in design or something).

      Looking the part is an important part of playing the part. I'm sorry, but it's true. The higher you go, the more likely it will be that you will need to represent the company at some time, and your appearance may not present an image that is good for the company.

      Take your appearance, as you've described yourself here, for example. You would have to knock my socks on their asses before I bought anything from you. Why? Because I have a very negative reaction to dreadlocks. I think they're disgusting. And if you're not black, those are best not described as dreadlocks, but "matted, filthy, homeless hair." You might be the nicest guy in the world. I might want to hang out with you (you'd endure endless shit for the dreadlocks, though), but I don't want to have anything to do with your company because I don't know of any good companies that would let you out of the basement, let alone hire you. It reflects poorly on the company.

      I don't want you to think I'm just coming down on you like "the Man," man. This is, in fact, all new to me. I'm 35 now, but I was a goth until I was about 29. I wasn't dirty (very few goths are); I dressed well (just all black), and I'm a pretty smart cookie. But it just seemed like I couldn't make anything happen. No one would hire me for anything worthwhile, despite my solid academic record and recommendations from previous employers. I blamed all sorts of things--the economy (okay, that had a hand in it), stupid HR people (is there any other kind?), the time I got diarrhea from eating the expired food in my fridge (all I had left) during the interview--but once the (tasteful--not tribal) earrings were removed, hair was returned to natural brown, and I threw some more colors into my wardrobe, things picked up almost immediately.

      I'm not saying that appearance is really a good indication of your abilities. It isn't; we all know that. What I'm saying is that it's like proper spelling: We value it not for what it is, but what it implies: This person gives a shit. This person has gone through some of the same shaping experiences as I have, and which I have found to be important in my own life.

      So, to be honest, as a former adherent to the "looks don't matter, man; it's all about self-expression, man" school of thought, I'm probably more likely to write you off as a petulant child, because I sure as hell was one myself when I thought I was too good to put on a pair of slacks and a dress shirt.

      No one likes wearing business wear. You're not special because you want to look like a freak. Everyone wants that. But they don't so as to create a more coherent social community with tribal markings that facilitate a feeling of belonging and fraternity. It's not about the suppression of savage customs; it's about being polite to one another and making people feel at ease.

      It would be no different if the business community standardized on strap-on dildos and horse-tail butt-plugs. We'd still wear them to create a community. (Un?)Fortunately, business attire has not taken such a fashion direction, so it's slacks and collared shirts for all.

    8. Re:Resigning Issue... by bickerdyke · · Score: 4, Insightful

      You're right.

      I guess thats why so often upper managment makes terrible, right out stupid management decissions - besides when it's about what "clothes to wear". If that is the key skill to get into managment in any buissness (outside the fashion industry), you're doing it *wrong*.

      No wonder economy got driven into a crises when you put it into the hands of the best dressed people instead of the best people.

      --
      bickerdyke
    9. Re:Resigning Issue... by phantomfive · · Score: 2, Insightful

      It's not about 'looking good' its about trust.....do you trust your employees to dress appropriately for the occasion or not? Dictating dress code shows a lack of trust and respect.

      There are enough companies out there that I am willing to leave a company in order to find one that is respectful of me as a professional. I don't need to sell myself for gold, and I believe the GP feels the same way.

      --
      Qxe4
    10. Re:Resigning Issue... by Nerdfest · · Score: 2, Insightful

      There is a reason that they call it a 'uniform'.

    11. Re:Resigning Issue... by justleavealonemmmkay · · Score: 2, Insightful

      You don't get it. They're religions. That makes bad taste in clothing, child mutilations, not eating otherwise delicious food OK...

    12. Re:Resigning Issue... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

      Well, I'd hire up all the talented freaks who can't get hired at your mediocre but professionally dressed company. Any company that turns away talented, qualified, and intelligent people on the basis of their appearance (especially if the position is not publicly facing) is going to suffer in the market. Either your competitor will hire them or if they can't find work, they'll build their own startups and end up being your competitor. You'll be middle-level nothing in middle America, and the smart people you turned away may just end up leading the way in Silicon Valley.

    13. Re:Resigning Issue... by Kartoffel · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Nope. There are still laws relating to hygiene, obscenity and safety.

      Say a woman wanted to wear long flowing hijab while operating a machine with rotating parts. Her clothes could get caught in it. Usually people are restricted from wearing loose clothes in those sorts of jobs. If she refuses to wear safe clothing, it's not discrimination against her religion (forbidden), it is discrimination on grounds of safety (perfectly reasonable).

    14. Re:Resigning Issue... by NiteShaed · · Score: 2, Insightful

      If you "create a religion", then it's not a religion and you are lying.

      As opposed to the ones we have, which started out as someone creating a religion? Following that logic, all religions are lies, and should therefore be disregarded entirely (which actually sounds about right to me)

      --
      Some bring out the best in others, some the worst. Some bring out far more.
  2. Consider the source - Gartner == FAIL! by tomhudson · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Gartner gets so many things wrong, so much of the time, why should this be any different?

    The day someone tells me how to dress is the day they find out that they can't tell me how to dress.

    As long as it's clean, presentable, and isn't festooned with slogans promoting criminal acts or competitors' products, it's simply not their business.

    And it's not like an avatar is going to have to abide by safety codes like "hard hats required beyond this point".

    If your company is depending on avatars to try to hide the fact that "Bob" in customer support in Idaho is really "Bashir" in New Dehli, it ain't gonna work.

  3. Re:Already have this in IBM by forgotten_my_nick · · Score: 4, Insightful

    You should probably not google doug winger if your in work (and what is seen cannot be unseen) O_O

  4. Re:Gartner again? by Darinbob · · Score: 2, Insightful

    This was my first thought. I don't think they've ever done anything intelligent in 15 years. That whole "analyst" gig sounds like a scam.

    At an old company I was at, Gartner gave us a huge boost in their ratings and ranked us top in the field, and the only thing we had done differently was start a new marketing campaign. The product hadn't changed at all, the customers hadn't changed their opinions. There was rumor that we also paid them off, but I suspect that someone was just doing their "analysis" by reading industry magazines and press releases.