'Smart casual' rings death knell for formal business suits in UK

London, May 27 : The number of UK employers wanting their staff to be dress in formal attire on a daily basis has significantly decreased in the last four years, according to a survey.

While 37 per cent of the companies were found to require their staff to wear a suit at all times in a survey four years ago, the number has now dropped down to 24 per cent.

The new findings represent a sharp shift in the employers' attitudes.

The survey showed that most of the present-day companies allowed office workers to wear less formal clothes, with a suit required only for meetings.

However, two thirds of the workers who were allowed to dress down at work disagreed with the idea.

"Most employees take their professional image at work very seriously and will dress smartly by choice," the Telegraph quoted Prof Khalid Aziz, the head of training company the Aziz Corporation which carried out the research, as saying.

ANI