Do we still need dress codes in the office?

I've worked in a few different companies all with different approaches to what was acceptable to wear to the office, usually with reference to how likely you were to come into contact with external visitors. I was recently shocked however when a close friend sent me the dress code for the company she was joining. Among other things they mandated;

- Skirts must be knee length and trousers full length

- shirts or smart blouses and no V-necks

- grey, black, navy, white and pastels only!

- NO PATTERNS!!!

- only black shoes and a max heel height of 4 inches for women

- socks and tights, black, grey, navy or nude

Now I'll start with the obvious problems here, I've not seen such a restrictive dress code since secondary school.

I'm not sure if you can tell by my use of all caps, but the no patterns thing is killing me the most, even in the most formal offices I've worn a lot of plaids and brocades to add interest to outfits that would otherwise fit the colour restrictions. That won't fly with these rules!

I also love colour, I like to brighten up a cloudy day by wearing a yellow shirt, or celebrate summer in a tropical print and while I would consider toning it down a little in a more conservative environment, I have barely anything I could wear within these restrictions. For example, I have a rainbow of dresses the majority of which I would deem smart enough for work but due to the colour and pattern restrictions, not one of approximately 20 dresses would make the cut. Within my wider wardrobe I found 1 trouser suit, 1 skirt and 4 shirts I would be allowed to wear, out of a shocking 200 odd pieces of clothing! (I said I like to mix things up)

For my friend however the bigger issue is the trouser length, she almost exclusively wears 3/4 or 7/8 trousers, and looks like a boss in them, but they are not allowed here... She is also in the position of having to buy new clothes as she doesn't own anything within the guidelines. She has always looked very professional and performed her job well in her existing clothes but because of an outdated company policy, she now has to change.

So my question is this, why do we do this to grown adults?

More to the point, can we please not?

As I mentioned earlier, the closest I have come to this was my secondary school uniform policy, a policy designed for children.

At worst, the danger is people could spend so much time worrying about being called to hr for violating a section of this detailed code that they had forgotten or skimmed over that they would be distracted from their work. They could even become demoralised by the lack of freedom to be creative, I know I would.

Make no mistake, I can see the benefit of a professionally dressed workforce, particularly when customer-facing but if you just ask people to be professional, the majority will self-police very effectively without the need for overbearing rules.

The pandemic and the great swath of people working from home has of course complicated this further with people working in jeans and t-shirts, gym wear or even their actual pyjamas (and sometimes fancy dress when called for)!

You get the nest out of employees by trusting them, and telling them how to dress is a big red flag that you don't trust them to do the simplest thing without your instructions.

Employ the right people and let them show up as their best selves that's what I say.