30 June 2016 | Herpreet Kaur Grewal
The managing director of front of house services company Portico has apologised to receptionist Nicola Thorp for causing her “distress” after the company sent her home for not wearing high heels.
Simon Pratt, managing director of Portico, appeared before the Petitions Committee and Women and Equalities Committee at the House of Commons. This took place after a petition, started by Thorp in protest of forcing women to wear high heels in corporate environments, reached more than 137,067 signatures – allowing for it to be debated in Westminster.
Pratt started by telling the committee: “Firstly I’d like to apologise to Nicola on behalf of Portico for causing this distress. It was never our intention to do so. When we learnt of this we very quickly took the decision to change the policy which was outdated.”
He was asked by Helen Jones, chair of the Petitions Committees, why Portico’s dress code included specific items of make-up, such as blusher and lipstick, which women were required to wear, and how was it supposed that it helped them do their job.
“In what way does that make one more efficient at their job?” asked Jones.
Pratt replied: “It does in no way at all do such a thing. We are a professional front of house services business where appearances and appearing professional on behalf of the sectors and the market we operate within require one to look the part day to day.”
Jones said “clean, tidy and efficient” were acceptable expectations for an employer. But asked: “What is puzzling us as a committee is why that includes blusher, high heels, regularly applied lipstick? I can think of a number of very powerful women in this world who would not fit into your dress code…did it not occur to anyone in your company that these might be discriminatory?”
Pratt replied: “These were an outdated set of guidelines and when it was brought to our attention, yes absolutely….The reality was the market and the industry has driven standards to date and now this situation has allowed us all to step back and review and get rid of these guidelines.”
