Adil Najam
I have no idea what to make of this one, so let me just quote from a news-item titled “Habib Bank revises dress code notification at one branch” in The Daily Times (20 June, 2006). According to the report, Habib Bank Limited (HBL) sent a notification to all its Branches declaring a Western dress code (suit and necktie) and trimmed beards ‘mandatory’ for all bank employees, but then rescinded in the case of only one branch (as of yet).
Sources said the notification declaring formal dress ‘mandatory’ had [now] been reworded as ‘optional’ for the bank’s Lawrence Road branch.
HBL Senior Vice Presidents Zafar Aziz Usmani and Jamila A Khan on June 13 notified (by circular number STF 24/2006) bank employees to strictly follow a Western dress code and trim their beards. “The bank’s performance is poor because clients are put off by the unkempt look given by wearing shalwar kameez and having long beards,” they said.
The story then goes on to report the case of Khalid, a Grade-II officer at the branch, who had resigned to protest the bank’s decision to enforce the dress code but later took back his resignation letter “after senior bank officials assured him the dress code was optional.”
He called the HBL’s order against the spirit of Islam. “I have been working at the bank for the past 30 years and submitted my resignation to protest against the Western dress code being made mandatory,” he said. His religious beliefs stopped him from following the dress code, and he couldn’t sacrifice his beliefs for man-made laws, he added.
In what was quite clearly a ‘damage control’ measure, the dress code mandate was made ‘optional’ for this branch. It is not clear whether this will be followed in other branches, but…
Khalid Pervaiz Malik, the branch manager of HBL Regional Head Office, said the first notification was correct because staff members wearing suits and neckties looked more professional than those wearing shalwar kameez. “Authorities should take strict action in this regard because HBL wants to meet international banking standards, and clients notice such things,” he said.
So, dear readers, do help me make sense of this one. Is the implication that one cannot be presentable in a beard and wearing shalwar kameez? I hope not.
I can understand a bank wanting its employees to be presentable and look trustworthy. I have seen Pakistanis go to work with unkempt shalwar kameez. But I have seen even more looking not just unpresentable but silly and uncomfortable in misfitting, unkempt trousers, shirts and ties. If you want your employees to be presentable; ask them to be presentable. But, to think that one can look presentable only in western clothes is plain wrong and shows a sense of kalla saab cultural insecurity.
As for facial-hair-discrimination… do we even want to go there?
Dr. Abdus Salam? Abdul Sattar Edhi? Sir Syed Ahmed Khan? Presentable? You bet. Trustworthy? More than any banker I ever met.
P.S. If you are wondering, the picture on the right Sir Syed Ahmed Khan; on the left it is Dr. Abdus Salam receiving his Nobel Award; yes, wearing both a shalwar and a beard!
1. A private employer has every right to enforce a dress code.
2. Since a bank uses the ‘Western’ banking system — financial transactions operate under and conform to the Basel Accords, not the Chichawatni or even the Jakarta Accords — why cannot it not impose an Occidental dress code?
3. Q: In which direction do Muslims in Pakistan prostate themselves? A: toward the West.
well…there are times when we should make things like Language, music & clothing a thing to debate upon and certain times when they are insignificant. Its as if someone says that the Internet is bad because it promotes Western Culture … If Pakistani Banks are losing international business because their Investment bankers are wearing Shalwars with decorative “Narhas” then heck YES, they better trade those Narhas with Black Belts with silver buckles. Better believe that in order to get business from anyone (be it national or International) you HAVE TO connect with your client on a personal level and kiss their ass…When it comes to sales, their is nation, their is no right or wrong , the only thing to be considered is the recommendation gien to you by your Marketing Department…and if you are not ready to trim off that beard and take off that Shalwar Kameez….well hello Thailand !!! where theres a lot more to banking than Patayya beach…
It comes back to orientalism, doesn’t it? Throw in a tablespoon of globalization to boot. The corporate world, on a global scale, continues to be a white, Western construct, and hence to be “good” at the part one assumes he/she must dress the part. Virtually every comment in response to this article seems to suggest this as well. No one wants to trust the fellow with the unruly beard with their money (except Adil, who seems keen to invest with him, and perhaps cash out after the IPO).
Folks, I just posted this on Bilal’s blog (see above)… thought I would do it here too:
On the dress code, to me there is no debate at all that employers can have dress codes and employees should look professional. The questions is WHY we choose one dress as the ‘code’ rather than another… and what is the ‘coded’ message being sent. I am all for looking ‘neat’ and ‘professional’. But I find disturbing the idea, of some, that to wear a trouser is to be ‘modern’ or to have a beard is to be ‘unprofessional’. There is too much evidence to the contrary.
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Dress codes are enforced all over the world to maintain a certain image. This becomes extremely important in a service based industry – such as doctors, nurses, bankers etc. Have we ever considered why is it that doctors and nurses continue to wear ugly scrubs, and bankers wear ties even in 90degree weather? Customers want to focus on the overall service provided by the bank, and not be distracted (or disturbed) by the appearance of the employee providing them the service. If Pakistani banks were to institute a Shalwar Kameez (with or without Kulla) uniform, it would be fine – and equally disciminating as the enforcement of a western dress code.
As a side-note: This discussion does remind me of my experience at a mosque in Kaachi when I was asked to leave the mosque because I refused to wear a cap while praying.