A recent survey shows that 1 in 10 of US and UK remote worker respondents have not worn any pants in at least one online meeting, while 30% have worn pajamas in the past 12 months.
Although rolling out of bed and starting our workday with little effort may seem appealing to some, we might actually be doing ourselves a disservice. Research shows that dressing up for work helps you focus better during video meetings. An area of research known as “enclothed cognition,” studies the signals that clothes send to the brain. It turns out that dressing up for work can improve your performance because there are links between clothes, brain activity and productivity. It also creates a mental separation between work and personal life for a healthier work-life balance and reduces fatigue.
You can try to leverage these findings by suggesting a "dress up" Scrum event. The last day of the Sprint, which usually hosts the Sprint Review and the Sprint Retrospective, is a perfect day to try it. It doesn't have to be mandatory and it should be fun. You might not go as far as wearing a suit, but at least changing out of your pajamas is a good start.
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