Question

how will you reply to this forum:

In work places your supervisor will give you a list of things that they expect of you and your work. Such as during my time in the US Army, I would give my soldiers on a daily basis a place, time and uniform to be in and if they could do that then things typically went smoothly. Same could be applied in many fields of work outside of the Army. If you are on time to work and with delivering your work, at the proper work place (some places may have several locations, or options to work remotely) and if you are in proper attire for the place that you work, for example my wife works for IBM and she goes to design labs where she can where blue jeans and a t-shirt but if she is in meetings with partners/associate partners she wears a suit/business attire. 

In scenario 1, John who meets these expectations will not have as many people watching him and as long as he is able to perform satisfactory work he would not have problems with progressing through the different levels of hierarchy. 

In scenario 2, Eric would struggle because he would be highly scrutinized. He does not provide work on time and is not on time to meeting or work, his supervisor will have bad marks for his reviews. If he is not at the proper workplace, working from home when he needed to be at a meeting in the physical location or at the wrong office, again more bad remarks from Eric's supervisor on his review. Finally, if he can not be presentable for the office he is working in causing him to make his company look bad he will gather more bad remarks on his review. If he is luck he would just be reprimanded and have a bad review for the year but as worst case scenario he would be put on a probationary period or fired

Answer 1

I agree that making oneself look presentable is an important aspect of work ethics. Whether this is ideal or not, individuals do form lasting impressions about others based on their physical appearance. In this regard, being well groomed and wearing appropriate workplace attire is essential. However, I do not believe that individuals should be penalized for failing to adhere to such expectations. Rarely are such errors intentional. Such individuals should be guided by their superiors and even given examples of what is expected.