Some companies have uniforms for their staff which must be worn at all times. Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of this.
Sample Response
Some organizations force their employees to wear uniforms whenever they are at work. The advantages of this approach are creating a sense of discipline and displaying their professionalism. The disadvantages are that it may hurt employees’ confidence and cause them to feel stressed.
One benefit of this measure is that it would result in them being more disciplined. Every time they put on that suit or dress, they would be reminded that they are working as part of the company and that they have a job to take care of, making them more responsible. Moreover, these employees will come across as more professional when they meet clients. This is because uniforms are often designed to be more suitable for business than casual clothes. For example, how appropriate staff members’ outfits are is often cited by clients as one of the reasons they choose to do or not do business with a company.
One drawback of this policy is that it tends to make each individual feel less confident. This is because they all have their own styles of fashion, so they may feel uncomfortable putting on something that had been chosen for them. This is compounded by the fact that they must wear these outfits daily, which can be highly stressful. In other words, it is terribly frustrating having to wear the same thing in a long period of time. For instance, many major companies in Vietnam have a scheme to change the design of their uniforms every six months to slightly reduce the frustration caused by wearing the same outfit repeatedly.
In conclusion, while having a dress code can instill a sense of discipline in the workforce and make them appear more professional in the eyes of customers, this may also come with a drop in employees’ self-esteem and an increase in their levels of frustration.
IELTS Writing Correction
- 1. Use neutral verb Original: force Suggested revision: require Why it matters: Require conveys the mandatory policy in a more neutral academic register.
- 2. Clarify pronoun reference Original: would result in them being Suggested revision: could make employees Why it matters: The revision removes the vague pronoun and creates a more direct structure.
- 3. Use appropriate determiner Original: that suit or dress Suggested revision: their uniform Why it matters: Their uniform refers generally to each employee's required clothing.
- 4. Use precise collocation Original: a job to take care of Suggested revision: responsibilities to fulfil Why it matters: Responsibilities to fulfil expresses the workplace obligation more precisely.
- 5. Remove unnecessary reference Original: these employees Suggested revision: employees Why it matters: The demonstrative is unnecessary because employees are already the established subject.
- 6. Specify business context Original: more suitable for business Suggested revision: more appropriate for business settings Why it matters: Appropriate for business settings is a more precise collocation.
- 7. Correct collocation Original: styles of fashion Suggested revision: personal styles Why it matters: Personal styles is the natural expression for individual clothing preferences.
- 8. Fix tense choice Original: had Suggested revision: has Why it matters: The present perfect matches the current policy and its continuing effect.
- 9. Correct time preposition Original: in Suggested revision: for Why it matters: For expresses the duration of an ongoing activity.
- 10. Use natural policy phrase Original: have a scheme to change Suggested revision: have a policy of changing Why it matters: A policy of changing describes a regular organizational practice more naturally.
- 11. Sentence rewrite Original: The advantages of this approach are creating a sense of discipline and displaying their professionalism. Suggested revision: The advantages of this approach include creating a sense of discipline and demonstrating employees' professionalism. Why it matters: Include takes the gerund list naturally, and the possessive reference is made explicit.
- 12. Sentence rewrite Original: The disadvantages are that it may hurt employees’ confidence and cause them to feel stressed. Suggested revision: The disadvantages are that uniforms may undermine employees’ confidence and cause them to feel stressed. Why it matters: Naming uniforms removes the unclear singular pronoun reference.
Suggested Rewrites
- force require
- would result in them being could make employees
- that suit or dress their uniform
- a job to take care of responsibilities to fulfil
- these employees employees
- more suitable for business more appropriate for business settings
Why this response received Band 8.0
The response gives balanced, clearly organized coverage of the advantages and disadvantages, supported by relevant explanations and a concrete example. Its main limitation is occasional awkward wording and tense or preposition choices, which slightly reduce precision despite consistently clear meaning. The highest-priority improvement is to polish collocations and maintain tense consistency while preserving the essay's focused development and effective paragraph structure.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Response
The essay fully addresses both sides of the issue and develops each stated advantage and disadvantage with relevant explanation and support.
Make the example's connection to employee stress even more explicit to sharpen an already well-developed argument.
Coherence and Cohesion
Information is sequenced logically in focused paragraphs, and cohesive devices guide the reader without obscuring the argument.
Vary the repeated explanatory pattern slightly so the reasoning feels less formulaic while remaining easy to follow.
Lexical Resource
The response uses a broad and effective vocabulary, though phrases such as "styles of fashion" and "in a long period of time" are not fully idiomatic.
Use more natural collocations, such as personal styles and over a long period of time, and check tone-sensitive choices such as force.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
Complex sentences are frequent and mostly accurate, with occasional lapses in tense consistency and preposition use.
Review tense selection in hypothetical explanations and edit phrases such as "something that had been chosen" for consistent reference.
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IELTS Writing Task 2
Some companies have uniforms for their staff which must be worn at all times. Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of this.
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.