The importance of attitude and appearance in the ...

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The importance of attitude and appearance in the service encounter in retail and hospitality Dennis Nickson, Chris Warhurst and Eli Dutton

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Scottish Centre for Employment Research, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, UK Abstract Purpose – For service organisations the interaction between front-line personnel and the customer is crucial as they aim to create high quality service encounters. Much research has focused on attempts by organisations to inculcate the “right” kind of attitude in their front-line employees. This paper seeks to extend this analysis by pointing to the increasing importance not just of having employees with the “right” attitudes, but also possessing aesthetic skills. The emergence of aesthetic skills reflects the growing importance of aesthetic labour in interactive services. That is, employers’ increasingly desire that employees should have the “right” appearance in that they “look good” and “sound right” in the service encounter in retail and hospitality. Design/methodology/approach – The paper mainly utilises responses to a structured questionnaire from employers in the retail and hospitality industries in Glasgow, although reference is also made to a similar employees’ questionnaire. Findings – The evidence from the questionnaires suggests that employers in the retail and hospitality industries are not generally looking for “hard” technical skills in their front-line personnel, but rather “soft” skills. Such “soft” skills encompass attitude and, importantly, appearance – what we term “aesthetic skills” – and the latter is often underappreciated in academic and policy-making debates. Research limitations/implications – The findings of the survey suggest that academics and policy-makers need to expand the way they think about “soft” skills. Specifically, they need to be aware of the extent of employers’ needs for both social and aesthetic skills. Originality/value – The findings of the survey have implications from a policy perspective and policy-makers may need to think about if and how these needs can be incorporated into education and training provision. Keywords Service industries, Employees, Skills Paper type Research paper

Introduction The survey reported in this paper examines the nature and importance of the range of skills required by employers in the retail and hospitality industries. Much of the previous research on interactive services, such as hospitality, has concentrated on the importance of a range of “soft” skills. For example, Burns (1997, p. 240) notes how “soft” skills are much more important than “hard”, technical skills in the provision of hospitality: “emotional demands are made of employees to constantly be in a positive, joyful and even playful mood”. Burns, in common with many other authors, tends to understand such “soft” skills as being primarily concerned with attitudinal and emotional aspects. Consequently, much of the discussion surrounding “soft” skills has tended to concentrate on aspects such as social and interpersonal skills, which are largely concerned with ensuring employees are responsive, courteous and

Managing Service Quality Vol. 15 No. 2, 2005 pp. 195-208 q Emerald Group Publishing Limited 0960-4529 DOI 10.1108/09604520510585370

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understanding with customers, or in simple terms can demonstrate emotional labour (Hochschild, 1983). However, this description of “soft” skills is partial. Our recent work on what we have termed “aesthetic labour” points to the increasing importance of the way in which employees are expected to embody the product in industries such as retail and hospitality. As part of this process of embodiment, employees are now expected to not only demonstrate “soft” skills with regard to their attitude, but also have the ability to “look good” or “sound right”, or in short to draw on their “aesthetic skills”. A review of the range of skills required in front-line interactive service jobs is particularly timely in the UK. Service jobs now account for around three quarters of all jobs in the UK, with retail and hospitality alone providing nearly 5 million jobs (HtF, 2003; Working Futures, 2004). In common, then, with many other parts of the UK, Glasgow, the city on which this research is based, is increasingly reliant on the retail and hospitality industries to drive the economic success of the city and provide employment. Services now account for over 85 per cent of Glasgow’s employment. Retail, wholesale and hotels alone account for 20 per cent of the city’s jobs. Job growth in these industries is continuing and is forecast to continue. Tourism generally is at the forefront of the Glasgow economy and the city now attracts three million tourists each year, generating in the region of £670 million annually in the local economy (Glasgow Tourism Development Group, 2002). Indeed, the Glasgow Tourism Action Plan 2002/07 has as a key principle the need to ensure that tourism continues to generate wealth and create jobs for Glasgow. Such a commitment also needs to be seen in light of the recent innovative and ambitious re-branding of Glasgow as “Scotland with style” (Stewart, 2004). This paper seeks to consider how, within service-dominated economies, the nature of skills required by employees is changing to roll up both attitude and appearance. First, we consider the nature of services and specifically the issue of service quality. The paper then considers how the emergence of aesthetic labour has impacted on the changing nature of skills required in front-line service work. The paper then outlines how data were collected from both employers and employees. The findings are then considered, and we conclude by assessing the changing nature of skills and how the emergence of aesthetic skills requires consideration from academics, managers and policy-makers. The nature of services A defining feature within the service sector is the tangible/intangible output of the “product”. Tangible in the sense that physical products such as food, drink and accommodation, are offered and intangible due to the role of the service deliverer in providing service to the customer. Successful organisations such as Disney, Marriott and Ritz-Carlton have developed strong reputations for their recognition of the role that their employees play in meeting customer expectations. The human element, as part of the product, is a key feature in the provision of quality service as service firms are more likely to be labour intensive with employees experiencing direct and frequent contact with the customer. Therefore, this interaction is a critical part of the overall service product and essential to customers’ perception of service quality. No two service interactions are identical and this situation gives rise to uncertainty in the service delivery process. As a result it is not wholly possible entirely to prescribe or routinise job

tasks to ensure quality standards. The service provider and customer are both liable to introduce variation to the service, with the individuality of customer needs or the service provider lacking consistency. The quality of service may vary between different service encounters, and this variability can lead to difficulties for companies in defining standards and ensuring consistency of service. As the delivery of service is highly variable, managers are dependent on employees to try to maintain consistency in their provision of a quality service. Branded service operations especially may face difficulties in ensuring uniform quality of service across their outlets. To counter these problems some service work has stripped out labour and replaced it with technology – as automated calling and interactive voice recognition systems illustrate in call centre operations. However, there are other ways in which these issues are addressed. One way is to try to systematise the service encounter with tight rules and regulations. For example, call centres and fast-food outlets commonly script employees’ verbal interactions with customers (Leidner, 1993; Ritzer, 2000). Emphasis is also increasingly put on shaping and, if necessary, changing the attitudes of existing employees. This attitudinal restructuring focuses on managing employees’ feelings while they are at work, which often gives rise to the need for front-line employees to engage in emotional labour, involving the suppression or engendering of certain types of emotions (Guerrier and Adib, 2003; Hochschild, 1983). In sum, the personal attributes of service providers are a key aspect in the provision of quality service. This point about the importance of service personnel is recognised in the seminal work of Parasuraman et al. (1985). Their SERVQUAL model, based on customers’ perceptions of the service encounter, identifies emotional labour, expressed in the model as desirable attributes such as responsiveness, courtesy and understanding/knowing the customer, as an important dimensional feature. A further dimension of the model is “tangibles” and among other things this refers to appearance, which takes into account both the physicality of the environment and also the personnel. Thus, it is recognised that the demeanour and appearance of front-line workers is crucial and customers see well-presented, courteous, helpful and empathetic staff as playing a key role in quality service. The shifting skills terrain and the emergence of aesthetic labour In interactive service work, such as that of retail and hospitality, a pattern is emerging of employers’ skill demands. With respect to sales and personal services work, Jackson et al. (2002) point out that in their analysis of job adverts, the skills stated as necessary by employers are “social skills” and “personal characteristics”. Likewise, a recent examination of nearly 100 human resource professionals in the USA responsible for hiring entry-level hospitality industry employees revealed that the top two criteria were: pride in appearance and good attitude (Martin and Grove, 2002). While debate continues about whether or not attitude and appearance constitute skills, and how and if they can be trained (also see Warhurst et al., 2004a), there is increasing consensus about their importance to employers nonetheless. It is in this context that we have developed our work on what we have termed “aesthetic labour”. The term aesthetic labour is analytically complex and a full working definition can be found in Nickson et al. (2001). Here it is enough to note that companies employ people with certain capacities and attributes that favourably appeal to customers’ visual or aural senses, and which are then developed through training and/or monitoring. It has


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become translated in the popular imagination as those people who are employed on the basis of “looking good” and/or “sounding right” (Warhurst and Nickson, 2001). In looking good or sounding right, employees, then, are potentially offering competitive advantage in relation to both the process of service and the service encounter (in other words doing the work); and equally becoming an integral part of the tangible product (that is, literally embodying the image of the company). The initial research monograph from Strathclyde University was based on an exploratory study over 1997-1998. Stimulated by a number of job adverts in the press, the purpose of the study was to identify if aesthetic labour had been or was an emerging feature of contemporary work and employment and, if so, how important a feature. The focus of the study was Glasgow’s expanding number of designer retailers, boutique hotels and style bars, cafes and restaurants. Some inclusion, though undeveloped, was also made of banks. The findings of this study are fully reported in Nickson et al. (2001). In short, the study found that the need to look good and sound right did exist and was very important to employers in retail and hospitality. These employers believed that having staff that look good and/or sound right not only helped their companies create a distinct image on the high street, but also provided competitive advantage in the crowded retail and hospitality industries. The study revealed that companies sought and developed employees who could become the physical embodiment of the image and “personality” of those companies. As one respondent stated about her company’s recruitment and selection, they wanted: “. . . people that look the part . . . fit in with the whole concept of the hotel” (cited in Nickson et al. 2001, p. 180). The pilot research suggested that there were “hotspots” of companies – designer retailers, boutique hotels and style bars, cafes and restaurants – that had developed aesthetic labour through their recruitment, selection, training and management practices, creating what we termed a “style labour market”. Furthermore, there was some evidence of a “demonstration effect” among more prosaic retail and hospitality companies as they too sought aesthetic labour, although less developed as both corporate product and labour strategy – and has since been termed “aesthetised labour” by Pettinger (2002) to make the distinction[1]. An emergent issue, therefore, was the extent of aesthetic labour among all retail and hospitality employers, both those in an overtly stylish niche and those serving more prosaic customer segments. Consequently, this questionnaire-based survey is the result of the lack of awareness of the extent of aesthetic labour, while also more generally considering the range of issues concerned with recruitment, selection, training and management practices in a range of retail and hospitality organisations. Methodology The survey was questionnaire-based, with tailored questionnaires for each industry. In addition, both employers and employees were surveyed. These questionnaires were developed and piloted in conjunction with human resource practitioners, training and development agencies, trade unions and employees. Examining current and future supply and demand, the focus of the questionnaires was on recruitment, selection, training and management practices. For the employers’ survey, 1,023 postal questionnaires were distributed to retail outlets, hotels, and restaurants/bars/cafes in Glasgow. After distributing the questionnaires it became apparent that certain

businesses were part of a group where the recruitment and selection of staff tended to be conducted by a central office, therefore reducing the number of possible responses. Additionally, 29 questionnaires were returned due to the property no longer existing or the questionnaire was returned uncompleted. As a result the total number of reachable responses was reduced to approximately 950, which generated 147 returned responses. While this is a relatively low response rate, survey-based research shows that response rates are generally lower in central cities, especially when using a postal method to distribute questionnaires. It has also been found that recent business surveys have response rates of 15-20 per cent. Thus, although there is no agreed on standard for a minimum acceptable response rate, it is important to receive a minimum 10 per cent response rate in order to comment on the significance of the findings. Ultimately, our response rate was 16 per cent. For the employee survey, 627 questionnaires were dispatched to students who worked in the Glasgow retail and hospitality industries. Recent research suggests that the vast majority of students who work in Glasgow do so in the retail and hospitality industries (Taylor et al., 2000). A total of 207 completed questionnaires were returned, a response rate of 64 per cent. The following section outlines the findings from the surveys. The data from the employees’ survey are reported more fully in Warhurst et al. (2004b). Here, the presented findings are drawn predominantly from the employers’ responses, although occasional reference is made to the employees’ survey. Findings Recruitment and selection For much interactive front-line service work, studies consistently report high levels of informality in recruitment and selection, including the use of methods such as word of mouth, referrals and casual callers, especially in the hospitality industry (see for example Lockyer and Scholarios, 2004). Moreover, in customer service work, recruitment and selection is more likely to be based on people’s social and aesthetic skills rather than technical skills (Warhurst et al., 2000). Thus, managers’ preference for recruitment and selection in service work has tended to be on the basis of personality and increasingly, as we have argued, aesthetics and self-presentation. It is of course noteworthy that it is at the recruitment and selection stage that employers have most opportunity to “filter out” those who are considered inappropriate for the company image. Our previous research in this area has highlighted this point and also indicated some self-selection, as potential employees may, for example, consider themselves not “posh” enough for certain jobs (Nickson et al., 2003). Recruitment methods On the specific question of recruitment methods, Table I presents the most common sources of recruitment used by employers in the survey and those that have been most useful for potential employees to learn of jobs in the hospitality and retail industries. Generally, these findings offer no real surprises, but several aspects are worthy of comment. An interesting finding was the high number of companies who still make use of government job centres, with 71 per cent of respondents still using this service. It is also unsurprising to still see relatively large numbers of employers using the local press. In terms of recruitees’ personal aesthetics, employers can signal the type of labour required by using terms such as “smart young person” in the advertisement.


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For example, Jackson et al. (2002) in a review of 5,000 jobs advertisements across a number of different occupations and sectors found that only 26 per cent of organisations mentioned the need for educational requirements in their advertisements. Within, personal services this figure was less than 10 per cent. Rather like our earlier review of job adverts (as reported in Warhurst et al., 2000) Jackson et al. (2002) also found numerous instances of front-line service jobs asking for attributes which referred less to what individuals could do than to what they were like, such as being “well-turned out” or “well-spoken”, or having a “good appearance”, “good manners”, “character” or “presence”. Additionally, employers may also require the enclosure of a photograph with applications. On that latter point, it is noteworthy here that there was a noticeable difference between the employers’ and employees’ response on the use of a photograph as part of the recruitment and selection process. Only 3 per cent of the employers suggested that they still used a photograph as part of the recruitment and selection process. This low figure may well be a recognition by employers of the advice from the Employment Service to desist from using photographs, due to their potentially discriminatory nature. However, 23 per cent of the employees’ sample noted that they have been asked to provide a photograph as part of the recruitment and selection process. As was noted earlier, a number of employers in the retail and hospitality industries use more informal methods, not least because such methods are inexpensive. Beyond this cost factor, we would argue that things such as casual calling also allows for the filtering out of those who may not best embody the corporate image. The fact that many young people, such as students, may seek work by presenting themselves in person enables employers to screen for aesthetic skills. Indeed, Lucas and Ralston (1997, p. 57), in noting how students often make a direct approach to the employer, recognise that “perhaps the more experienced students ‘sell their wares’ by visiting a number of employers until a job offer is achieved”. Selection methods In service work the social composition of the producers is part of the product. Employers seek employees with personal characteristics likely to make them interact spontaneously and perform effectively. Thus, as we suggested earlier sociability, self-presentation, friendliness, drive, honest/integrity, conscientious and adaptability are more important selection criteria than technical skills. To discern such characteristics and attributes most of the surveyed organisations relied on the so-called “classic trio” of application forms (79 per cent) and/or CVs (74 per cent), interviews (89 per cent) and references (60 per cent). The interview remains popular

Table I. Sources of recruitment

Job centres Local press National press Word of mouth/referrals Casual callers Web sites Training agencies for the unemployed Note: Figures are percentages and rounded

Employers

Employees

71 50 17 65 49 32 13

49 60 20 65 17 16 Question not asked

with managers and applicants alike, as it is simple, quick and cheap – despite reliability and validity concerns. It also fulfils a social function, enabling recruitees’ social, and we would argue, aesthetic aspects to be assessed. Over and above the “classic trio” there was little evidence of employers seeking a more sophisticated approach to selection. What is clear is that throughout the recruitment and selection process employers are judging potential employees on the basis of customer focus, interpersonal skills, aesthetic and self-presentation skills, emotional control and empathy. Importance of image and appearance As argued earlier, it is increasingly recognised that control of employees’ attitudes and appearance are seen as legitimate managerial strategies for service companies in the name of customer care and service quality. Within these broader customer care strategies, the aesthetic content of labour, in the form of language, dress codes, shape and size of body, manner and style, is deliberately manufactured to appeal to customers. This strategy was evident in the findings. Asked to assess the centrality of employee appearance to the success of the business, 53 per cent of the sample felt it was critical, 40 per cent felt it was important, and 6 per cent somewhat important. Thus, at least 93 per cent of respondents attributed significant importance to the image of customer-facing staff. Only one respondent suggested that the appearance of customer-facing staff had no importance to business success. Image and dress codes When writers talk of the importance of “servicescapes” (Bitner, 1992), “packaging the service provider” (Solomon, 1985) or the “performative labour” (Bryman, 2004) of the service worker on the “service stage” (Pine and Gilmore, 1999) it is clear that organisations are increasingly taking an interest in further refining the corporate image through items such as uniforms and dress codes. As Income Data Services (IDS, 2001, p. 3) note “There is little mileage to be gained from introducing a smart new uniform if the general appearance of staff undermines the overall look”. A recent survey by Industrial Relations Services (IRS, 2000) of 79 organisations across a variety of sectors found that 60 of these organisations were operating a formal policy on uniforms and dress codes. The vast majority of these organisations, 82 per cent, introduced these policies to maintain a corporate image. A question in the survey of Glasgow elicited a similar response, with 80 per cent of organisations operating a uniform policy, primarily for the purposes of maintaining a corporate image. If companies are willing to spend money on uniforms to project a positive brand image to customers then they are equally keen to ensure that the overall “look” is not undermined by other aspects of employees’ appearance. Thus, 90 per cent of our surveyed companies also operated a dress code for employees. Aspects of the dress code included: . rules for general tidiness – 98 per cent; . clothing style – 74 per cent; . jewellery – 66 per cent; . make up and/or personal grooming – 63 per cent; and . hair style and length – 45 per cent.


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Appearance therefore matters to employers. Moreover, the main aspects of this appearance can be “moulded”, in other words acted on and changed. In this respect, it should also be noted that 31 per cent of respondents do not allow visible tattoos in their customer-facing staff. Given that tattoos cannot be moulded, having tattoos, or having visible tattoos, might impede employability. From these findings it can be seen that employers are concerned not only with recruiting the “right” image, but also then further moulding this image through the use of uniform and dress codes. This practice may raise some ethical considerations in terms of the extent to which companies can legitimately involve themselves in policing an individual’s appearance in the organisational setting, especially in light of the Human Rights Act (1998)[2]. What are employers looking for? Attributes and capacities for customer-facing staff The following figures reiterate much of the previous discussion that points strongly to employers, in the first instance, being more concerned with aspects such as the attitudes and appearance of their customer-facing staff (see Figure 1). On the question of what employers are looking for in front-line or customer-facing staff 65 per cent suggested that the right personality was critical, with the remainder of respondents suggesting this aspect was important. Equally, 33 per cent of the employers surveyed felt that the right appearance was critical and 57 per cent as important, only 2 per cent of respondents felt it was not important. These figures can be compared to qualifications, with only 1 per cent of employers seeing qualifications as critical, 19 per cent felt it was important and 40 per cent suggested it was not important at all for selecting their customer-facing staff. These findings are consistent with other work, such as Jackson et al. (2002), which suggests that the right personality and right appearance are clearly accorded greater worth by employers in the recruitment and selection of front-line staff compared to qualifications. Employer demand: skills In Figure 2 it is clear that employers place a far greater emphasis on “softer” skills for customer-facing staff. If the respondents who felt that the “soft” skills were either critical or important are combined then 99 per cent of respondents felt that social and interpersonal skills were felt to be of at least significant importance, and 98 per cent felt likewise about self-presentation skills. Conversely, only 48 per cent of employers felt that technical skills were important in their customer-facing skills, with 40 per cent suggesting it was somewhat important and 16 per cent suggesting they were not important at all. The skills that matter to employers in customer-facing staff are therefore “soft”, and for both aspects – social and self-presentation, not technical.

Figure 1. The attributes and capacities employers are seeking at the point of entry to employment (recruitment and selection)

Skills shortages On the different question of the extent to which applicants for customer-facing positions lacked certain skills the findings point to the skills being most lacking as again being those “soft” aspects. As Figure 3 outlines, for technical skills 12 per cent of the respondents suggested that applicants lacked such skills to a large extent, with 65 per cent to some extent and 22 per cent not at all. It should also be appreciated that in interactive service work what constitutes these technical skills can be quite limited. For many employers it relates to employees’ competent computerised till operation. With regard to social and interpersonal skills 20 per cent of the respondents noted that applicants lacked these skills to a large extent, 68 per cent to some extent and only 13 per cent not at all. Finally, at the point of entry, for self-presentation skills 12 per cent suggested that applicants lacked these skills to a large extent, 72 per cent to some extent and only 16 per cent not at all.


Skills gaps The figures for those lacking such skills at the point of entry can be placed alongside the extent to which these skills were lacking in existing customer-facing staff, as outlined in Figure 4. For technical skills, only 4 per cent of the respondents felt that present staff lacked technical skills to a large extent, 46 per cent to some extent and 50 per cent not at all. For social and interpersonal skills, 2 per cent felt that this was true to a large extent, 40

Figure 2. The skills that are importance in customer-facing staff

Figure 3. The skills lacking in applicants for customer-facing positions

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per cent felt that existing staff lacked such skills to some extent, with 57 per cent suggesting not at all. Lastly, on the question of self-presentation, 2 per cent felt that this was true to a large extent, 34 per cent felt that current staff lacked these skills to some extent, with 64 per cent not lacking such skills. Equally though it is clear that a number of existing employees do have such skills and this finding is arguably explained by the fact that those lacking social and interpersonal and self-presentation skills are more likely to be filtered out in the recruitment and selection process. Our contention would therefore be that those workers with social and aesthetic skills are at a distinct advantage in the recruitment and selection process, compared to those who lack such skills. Training To address any skills gaps in existing employees, employers provide training, although it is clear again that such training is more likely to be more oriented to addressing deficiencies in “hard” as opposed to “soft” skills. Figure 5 demonstrates that much of the training that occurs within the retail and hospitality companies in our survey focuses on “harder” technical aspects, such as product knowledge and company equipment (computerised tills for example), with a lesser, although still significant, emphasis on social and interpersonal and self-presentation skills. The latter is again likely to be an outcome of existing employees having such skills when they enter employment with the company and thus

Figure 4. The skills lacking in existing customer-facing staff

Figure 5. The training provided for customer-facing staff – all organisations

be what might be termed “oven ready”. Nonetheless, there are some employers who continue to offer further training for employees in aspects of self-presentation. Nickson et al. (2001, pp. 181-2) found evidence that employers sought to continue to “mould” employees in aesthetic skills after their initial recruitment. The pilot study found evidence of employers providing training in areas such as grooming and deportment. Similarly, in the survey reported here, there is significant evidence of employers offering further training in aesthetic aspects. Of the 56 per cent of employers who offered training on self-presentation, almost 77 per cent offered this training in body language, largely with the intent of portraying the correct and welcoming “image” to initially attract potential customers and then training in how best to approach customers by “reading” their body language and responding accordingly. On the question of dress sense and style, 61 per cent offered such training and 34 per cent of employers also offered training in the area of personal grooming. These findings should clearly be taken in conjunction with the earlier discussion about image and dress codes. It is clear that simply having aesthetic skills at the point of entry is not always enough and employers wish to go further in refining their employees’ image in order to best embody the corporate image. In summary, what the findings demonstrate is that it is clear that aspects of self-presentation, along with other “soft” skills, are an integral part of the “product” offered by hospitality and retail organisations. These aspects of self-presentation can be seen in the surveyed companies’ recruitment and selection, training and management practices. For example, in the recruitment and selection process, employers, along with social or interpersonal skills, judge potential employees on the basis of their aesthetic and self-presentation skills. Equally, companies continue to “mould” their employees once they are in the organisation through detailed requirements articulated in appearance and dress code regulations and by training in aspects of self-presentation. Conclusions We would argue that in recognising the work of Parasuraman et al. (1985) both tangible and intangible aspects are important in how customers judge service quality. Key within this process of determining service quality are front line employees and a number of organisations are increasingly viewing their employees as offering competitive advantage in relation to both the delivery and quality of service; and equally becoming an integral part of the product by embodying the image of the company. In this process of becoming the embodiment of the company, the human software is transformed into the corporate hardware and becomes an important part of what the customer consumes. Our research on aesthetic labour represents a significant step forward in appreciating the corporeal aspects of service quality, especially in those organisations that we have previously characterised as being primarily style driven. The survey reported in this research, though, is important in allowing for a greater understanding of the breadth and extent of employer demand for aesthetic and self-presentation skills as part of a broader package of “soft” skills. It points to the requirement for aesthetic skills in both style driven and more prosaic retail and hospitality companies. Focusing specifically on skills and related issues in the retail and hospitality industries in Glasgow, the survey found that employers place significant importance on employees’ “soft” skills which encompass the social or interpersonal and aesthetic or self-presentational. With regard to employees’


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appearance, employers are concerned most with issues of dress sense/style, voice/accent and physical looks. Employers therefore place far greater emphasis on “soft” skills rather than “hard” technical skills for both getting and doing the job and as a result, do not regard qualifications as important in their customer-facing employees. The key point to reiterate is that there is a range of skills that are demanded by employers, encompassing the technical, social and aesthetic. The first two have been discussed in depth, the latter, though, continues to remain under-appreciated but this situation needs to be rectified given the findings of this study. “Soft” skills should roll up the social or interpersonal and aesthetic skills or self-presentational. This study has provided the evidence needed to demonstrate the importance of aesthetic or self-presentation skills to employers in the Glasgow retail and hospitality sectors and we would suggest interactive service work as a whole. Given the importance of aesthetic skills in industries such as retail and hospitality there are several implications for both managers and policy makers. For the former, while there are clearly established precedents that employers do have a legal right to regulate their employees’ dress and appearance (IDS, 2001; IRS, 2000), it is important to recognise limitations to such prescriptions. Specifically, managers should be clear that attempts to circumscribe the appearance of employees for the purposes of the branding and marketing of the organisation are in the business interests of the company and non-discriminatory. With employees now becoming a crucial part of the company image and service quality strategies of service companies there is the potential for judgements about the “right” kind of employee to be seen to be discriminatory (see also Prewitt, 2003). Indeed, there is active debate in the USA and other countries such as Australia, as to whether “lookism” should take its place along with sexism, racism and ageism as one of the potentially discriminatory aspects of the contemporary workplace (Valenti, 2003). For policy-makers there is a need to ensure that vocational training provision is cognisant of the skills needed in the contemporary service workplace. For example, the importance employee attitudes have been recognised, with social and interpersonal skills already featuring within vocational education and training (see Westwood, 2004). However, the under-appreciation of aesthetic and self-presentation skills means that it has tended to be neglected. We would suggest this neglect should be addressed, especially for those entering the labour market for the first time or for the unemployed who are seeking to re-enter the labour market (see, for example, Lindsay and McQuaid, 2004; Nickson et al., 2003). In an environment where service employees are increasingly, in Zeithaml and Bitner’s (2003, p. 318) words, “walking billboards”, instilling awareness of the importance of self-presentation is crucial, both to maintain the employability of individuals but also to ensure that they act as the desired physical embodiment of the company. Notes 1. Pettinger (2002) notes there is often a distinction between mass/mid-market fashion retailers, who will frequently have a literal corporate uniform, which the employee must wear and which clearly marks them out as employees; and high fashion retailers, where employees will often “model” current stock and consequently may be potentially indistinguishable from consumers. Pettinger describes this as the difference between “uniform” and “model” companies, such that the former often employs aesthetised labour, while the latter are more overtly creating a style with the use of the aesthetic labour of their front-line personnel.

2. Articles 8, 10 and 14 of the Human Rights Act, respectively confer the right to respect for private life, freedom of expression, and rights relating to discrimination, all of which could conceivably impact on aspects of dress and appearance regulations in the workplace.

Importance of attitude and appearance

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