dress for success in the workplace

Dress for success in the workplace, which if done so properly and respectfully, will aid in complying with its policies, making your employer happy, and honoring the Lord in the process.

This can be a source of contention for some of us who may like wearing the latest fashions of clothing to work, but in reality, may be harmful to the workplace environment as well as  for our Christian testimony.

When deciding on what to wear at your job place, fashion may not play much of a part in how successful you are in your work. In all actuality, the latest fashions come and go leaving us to stay with what is proper and applicable to the job at hand.


dress for the work environment

Most of the time you will find that there are various dress codes placed within employee handbooks, suggesting or mandating that you use or wear particular kinds of clothing or uniforms within your career or place of work. Employers or heads of industries require their employees to wear proper attire within their workplaces because of some of the following reasons:

  1. For safety reasons. Depending on what line of work you are in, there can be serious repercussions for the employer or employee who is not conscientious of the clothing he/she is wearing while doing dangerous tasks on the job. An example of this would be getting a button from a blouse or jacket caught up in some sort of machine somehow; or a person driving a forklift or operating other heavy duty machinery who perhaps is wearing too large/ long of a shirt or a long pant leg out, which could get caught up in running machinery, causing serious damage to life and limb. There are safety guidelines which must be adhered to, and wearing the improper clothing can deter one from being successful at that type of job.
  2. For health reasons. You may not have thought of this before, but wearing the wrong kind of clothing for your job can be a hazard to your health. For instance, if you are a lady wearing a bra or pantyhose that are too tight, it can hurt you or prevent you from breathing properly at work. The same for men; if you are wearing a belt or a tie that is way too tight, breathing may be affected. Once I wore leggings to work that were hot and way too tight for me, which encumbered my work that whole day. I was miserable and couldn't concentrate at all!
  3. For job image. Of course this seems like vanity and perhaps it is, but as an employee/employer of that company or industry, you will want to help your superiors look good, prosperous, and successful towards the competition or other industries out there who are watching you. You are a visual representative of the particular agency, company, or organization you work for. So your job image is critical for that reason alone.
  4. For uniformity. This especially applies to employees of a company or corporation who has its employees dress in certain clothing or uniforms that are alike in fashion and style. Furthermore, when employees are clothed with similar attire, there is much less strife and jealousy within that company or industry. For example, usually nurses have their certain outfits, just like waitresses, or store clerks, and so on. Each type of clothing tells those of us who are inside and outside of its job the type of work or service that is given or offered.

dress for the honor and glory of god

As a believer in Christ, you will want to present yourself at all times as a child of the King--a representative of His kingdom, whether it be in your deeds, conversations, or behaviors towards others, as well as in the workplace.

Always be reminded that other people are watching you and believe it or not, the way you dress affects the effectiveness of your Christian testimony too. When you step out into the world to go to work everyday, make sure to wear things that are appropriate to the season and for the environment which you are working in.

Dressing for success is not that of wearing sexy clothes or other kinds of inappropriate clothing, giving others an unfavorable impression or opinion of you, or to those who just might misinterpret your intentions there at the workplace. However, it does include being modest in your apparel or in uniformed attire if the company you work for requires it.

Also, you may unwittingly cause a fellow sister or brother in Christ to stumble and fall in lustful or wrongful thinking because of how you preset yourself to the world due to what you are wearing.

The Bible gives us clear indications as to how a believer in Christ should carry and present himself/herself, whether it be at home, school, church, or the workplace. Here are a few passages of Scripture that discuss this line of thought:

  • Luke 12:35 tells us, "Let your loins be girded about, and your lights burning."
  • Proverbs 15:3 reminds us that, "The eyes of the Lord are in every place, beholding the evil and the good."
  • 1 Timothy 2:9-10 says, "In like manner also, that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety; not with broided hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array; But (which becometh women professing godliness) with good works."
  • Deuteronomy 22:5 says that, "The woman shall not wear that which pertaineth to a man, neither shall a man put on a woman's garment: for all that do so are abomination unto the Lord thy God."
  • 1 Samuel 16:7 reports, "But the Lord said unto Samuel, 'Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the Lord seeth not as a man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart."
  • Matthew 5:28 says, "But I say unto you, 'That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart."
  • Romans 13:14 also tells us, "But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh to fulfill the lusts thereof." And lastly,
  • Romans 12:1-2 informs us, "I beseech ye therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good and acceptable, and perfect, will of God."

So the message is clear to you and to me, that the way we dress for work can and often does have a profound affect on how effective and successful we are in the world, to our own workplace, and to other industries of work within our environment.

Look to the Lord, whom you owe your very life and existence to. Acts 17:28 reminds us lovingly that, "For in Him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said,'For we are also His offspring.'"

I encourage you to dress for success at your workplace, and to do so with confidence in praise and thanksgiving to the Lord; for it is in this way also, that you honor and obey God by living a life that is well-pleasing to Him.


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