Dress to work even at home
Does what you wear affect productivity when you work at home? Yes, says research
With the pandemic and work-from-home directives in most places, it makes more sense than ever to dress casually to work. After all, most of us are no longer schlepping into the office every day or being seen by colleagues while we work from home. And nobody’s going to notice your bottom half in that Zoom-meeting anyway. For video conferences, then, you can quickly throw on a decent top without having to change out of your comfy tracksuit bottoms, right?
Or does this kind of behaviour influence how we think of ourselves as well as our productivity? In other words, are we really more productive in smart clothes, or are we just as effective in our underpants?
Research shows you’re better off dressing for the part. According to several studies, we apparently work better in a business shirt or blazer. For example, researchers in the US found that people who have to remain highly concentrated find it easier to do so while wearing a white lab coat, which is associated with doctors and scientists.
While you are unlikely to throw on a doctor’s coat while working from home, clothes matter. Petra Lienhop, an employment coach from Germany, elaborates, “The working day begins in front of the wardrobe. Appropriate clothing increases self-esteem and self-confidence and makes one work more productively.”
SUIT UP
The effect also depends on what you yourself associate with particular clothes. “If you’re used to putting on a suit or blazer to work,” says Carolin Pfau, a member of the German Coaching Association, “then you have come to associate work with that clothing all these years.” It could thus, he says, be part of an ingrained behaviour, resulting in higher productivity. According to psychotherapist Andreas Pichler, if you dress sensibly to work from home, you enter a different mind-set.
“There are, however, people who can manage this in their pyjamas. Your ability to organise yourself and your level of maturity will determine how far you can successfully deviate from the usual pattern.” For coach Carolin Pfau, however, self-perception is only indirectly important. “It’s mainly about the external effect we achieve through our clothes,” she says. “People who think that others perceive them as more competent and serious in elegant clothing will feel more comfortable wearing those sorts of clothes — and will thus appear more competent.
Experts agree that you should choose clothes that give you confidence because this will boost your inner mood, especially on days when you don’t feel at your best. Clothes can also help keep you focussed in a home environment, which may have more distractions than a traditional office environment. “Smarter clothes can be a sign to the rest of the family that you are not approachable for private matters,” points out Pichler.
Another advantage is that changing clothes marks the beginning and end of the working day. “Getting dressed and walking around the block once can really help to start or end the working day,” adds Petra Lienhop.
According to several studies, we apparently work better in a business shirt or blazer. For example, researchers in the US found that people who have to remain highly concentrated find it easier to do so while wearing a white lab coat, which is associated with the doctors and scientists