Nearly
two thirds of workers feel their image is more important to their career
prospects than it was two years ago, according to research by internet job site
reed.co.uk.
Nearly
half of all workers, 45 per cent, feel they will need to spend more of their
own money on looking the part over the next six months than they do at the
moment.
People
already spend nearly a fifth of their own salary on looking good at work,
according to the survey.
Someone
on the UK average salary of £23,000 spends £3,214 a year on an entire catalogue
of work-related expenditure. This ‘cost of work’ includes a whole range of
items, including money spent improving appearance with the right suits, shirts,
shoes and haircuts; travelling to work; networking with colleagues or clients;
and even buying the latest electronic accessories.
After
travelling to and from work, the largest work-related cost is buying suits
(£442 a year) followed by networking with work colleagues (£364 a year). And
shirts and shoes combined cost the average worker more than £500 a year.
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Men
spend nearly a fifth more than women on work-related items, perhaps reflecting
their higher salaries, although there are differences between what men and
women feel is more important to their image at work – women spend more than
their male colleagues on new shoes and haircuts whereas men spend more on
everything else.
