To Be (Dressed) or Not to Be for Zoom Meetings?

Perhaps COVID has made you among the ever-growing pool of employees diminished to the quarter person you used to be in the eyes of your fellow workers and boss. I’m not talking about your status in your company or the importance of your job there. I’m talking about how you are impressing people as they assess your “look” when viewing you only from your mid-chest area to the hairline of your forehead (if you have hair).

Remember the old days in the workplace when you could walk into work dressed in a way that depicted your mood, your taste in clothes, and maybe even signaled your position in conformity to your status among others—you know—shirt untucked (guys) or low heels vs. running shoes (women).

Zoom, Facebook Live, Webex, and Skype have changed all that. Now, you only have three square feet of your entire body to shout out the persona of your very being. That’s tight real estate for getting any kind of nonverbal message you want others to pick up on.

Nevertheless, what you choose to wear is still saying something maybe even louder and clearer than when you were in full body fashion armor.

It makes the good old days look simple to those who really care about how they are being perceived.

So, what difference does what you wear during these meetings make? After all, you’re working from home, and one of the advantages is not having to dress for work.

Well, one mid-level manager whom I coach shared with me how he didn’t feel like grooming his hair for their weekly scheduled management meeting. So, to cover up his disheveled look, he chose to wear his favorite Pebble Beach golf hat—sweat stains and all—only to have his boss jokingly single him out in front of 20 meeting attendees to ask him, “Where’d ya get that hat?” All 19 others got a big laugh that momentarily broke up the agenda before returning to the issues at hand.

He asked me if wearing that hat was a mistake. My answer was, “Not if that was the image you wanted to display. You can justify what you wear by saying you’re in your own home where you have the right to wear whatever you want. On the other hand, during the ZOOM session, you’re virtually at work, and your boss is saying this knowing full well from past experience that he drops subtle hints.”

WHAT TO DO

We concluded that one way to approach this is to check out what other mid- to senior-level managers are doing, including your boss and your boss’s boss. If no one is wearing a hat, then the choice is easier. After going through that simple exercise, my client chose to no longer wear his hat. I concurred, “That’s smart.”

Whatever you choose to do, make sure it’s your choice and that you have sound justification behind your decision.

Another consideration is that while working remotely, you should dress so you feel professional. Think back to when you were physically at work:  Did you find that you thought with greater clarity, spoke with more conviction, or were more productive if you were satisfied with how you looked and how you thought others perceived you based on your appearance? If so, then there’s something to be said for maintaining that professional look at least from the waist up and maybe from head to toe…including make-up and hair grooming.

My two-cents suggestion for all this is, “Dress in a way that makes you feel professional!”

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