Dress Code Guidelines

Aim 

The aim of these guidelines is to ensure that all College staff are clear on the standard of dress expected whilst at work, whether uniform or non-uniform. In all cases, dress should support and promote the following principles: 

o Health & Safety of staff
o Public identity for security purposes and/or professional image
o Reflect the type of work undertaken

Contractually, the College is only obliged to supply items of clothing for Health and Safety reasons, but it recognises the need for some members of staff to be identified by other staff, students and/or the Public for reasons of security and/or for maintaining a professional image.

General Dress Code

All College staff should dress according to the principles stated above. Staff should not dress inappropriately. Staff should wear their College uniform if they have been provided with one, and any personal protective equipment where it has been judged essential for safe working. Failure to do so may lead to disciplinary action under the College’s Disciplinary Policy. 

For Catering staff, jewellery should be kept to a minimum and the Head of the Department will ensure that Chefs wear the appropriate headwear/hair should be tied back if it is long. Visible body piercings are permitted but these should be reasonable and should not endanger a staff member during their daily work. A department head may request that any visible tattoos are covered whilst at work.

Overall, staff are reminded that they are working for a famous Cambridge institution and they should therefore respect that they should arrive at work with good standards of personal hygiene and wearing appropriate clothes for the job they are employed to do. The general ethos at St Catharine’s is smart/casual clothing. Staff should remember that in many instances they are in public facing roles and are therefore representing St Catharine’s at many times during the working day, especially when they are off-site. 

Largely, clothes should fit properly, with no tears, rips or holes. Clothing that distracts other people is unacceptable, including t-shirts or other items with offensive slogans, graphics or imprints. Overall, your dress and your general appearance should be wholly appropriate and it should not impact on your ability to perform your role.

Many departments at St Catharine’s provide uniform for staff, including; maintenance, porters, catering and housekeeping. Where uniform is provided, staff should wear this uniform, including any PPE equipment as and when appropriate. There are strict guidelines for Catering staff, and a separate booklet detailing the dress code in Catering, will be presented to you when you start at St Catharine’s. 

In unusually hot conditions, staff can relax their attire, but should be mindful that a professional image is still important. For example, the wearing of smart shorts (but not sports shorts unless the role includes College sports) is acceptable if the Head of Department is content that a professional, smart image is still portrayed. In such conditions, it may be appropriate for the College to provide shorts as part of the uniform, so that employees all wear a consistent, standard type of shorts. As always, PPE equipment should always still be worn if appropriate to the role. 

The Head of Department /Line Manager/Supervisor will advise if your dress or appearance is not appropriate for the working environment and overall we aim to be fair and reasonable and for our requirements to apply with equal formality to all genders. 

If you have any specific queries about this policy, please refer to the HR Manager or Bursar in the first instance. 

Implementation, monitoring and review of this policy. 

The HR Manager has overall responsibility for implementing and monitoring this policy, which will be reviewed on a regular basis following its implementation (at least annually) and additionally whenever there are relevant changes in legislation or to our working practices.

Any queries or comments about this policy should be addressed to the HR Manager.