Davos, Switzerland – The World Economic Forum’s ‘no-tie policy’ has raised 20,000 Swiss Francs for UNICEF. Participants who wished to continue to wear their ties were asked at security to pay a ‘forfeit‘ of five Swiss Francs a day if they wished to continue with their ties. Over the course of the five-day meeting the collection boxes received nearly 10,000 CHF, a figure that the World Economic Forum decided to match – to make the total of 20,000 CHF.

It was estimated that twenty percent of participants decided to keep their ties on and make the contribution throughout the five days.

Speaking for the World Economic Forum, André Schneider, the Chief Operations Officer said, “we decided to ask participants to take off their ties to enhance the informality of the meeting and improve the working atmosphere. We wanted to send a message to those who came to Davos that it was time to ‘roll up their sleeves and get down to work’ in a spirit of informality. The fact that such a policy has had this additional benefit is very pleasing indeed.”

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