'Must wear churidar, tie hair with ribbon': Startup faces backlash for bizarre dress code mandate

A startup is facing severe criticism for instructing a highly restrictive dress code that resembles school regulations.

Startup's school-uniform-like dress code for employees

The news came to light through a widely shared social media post, where the firm was seen mandating a strict set of dress code for its staff at the workplace.

The policy reportedly required women employees to wear traditional outfits like churidars with shawls securely pinned in place, and hair to be neatly groomed and fastened with ribbons.

These orthodox wardrobe demands have triggered widespread backlash across online platforms, with many criticising the company for promoting a regressive and overly controlling approach, specifically towards women employees. A screenshot of the strict rules went viral on the subreddit Indian Workplace.

Sharing the post, one Reddit user wrote, “My friend got an offer letter, and we were going through it, and just wow. What does tucking in shirts or pinning a shawl even have to do with the work people do???"

Under the guidelines, male employees are also required to wear formal clothing with well-maintained, groomed, and trimmed facial hair.

Also read: “Till I was 40, meri wife ke paise se ghar chalta tha”: boAt founder Aman Gupta (startuppedia.in)

Netizens respond

Netizens slammed the company as they showered criticisms in the comments section of the post.

“And the salary offered is 12k per month lmfaoo,” commented one user.

Another wrote sarcastically: “Which school is this? Are they taking mid-year admissions?”

Another user remarked, “Looks like the company doesn't care about the work.”

“That's normal, they should also tell you to cut your nails, when to wakeup, when to sleep” replied another.

“Welcome back to school guys...Also they forgot to mention no running in the corridor and pin drop silence” read another comment.

Also read: “You can now schedule tasks with Perplexity”, Aravind Srinivas announces new feature to schedule tasks on WhatsApp (startuppedia.in)