This "binaural beat" thing is a recycled fad from the 90's "new age" movement; binaural beats were supposed to help induce specific brain states that were conducive to meditation, self-hypnosis, etc. Often a binaural beat track was combined with positive subliminal messaging, etc. You won't find many scientific articles that actually confirm the effects are anything more than placebo. This local news report must have scared the shite out of all 300 viewers who saw it...

I second other opinions that the special outfits idea is a band-aid for another issue, or a misconception of how IT staff should be viewed.

I understand the notion of mandatory uniforms for a franchise or company, like BestBuy or GeekSquad- you are encouraging a consistent user experience across the entire company, and that image is also part of the product or service you are selling.

However, why the need to make an internal IT department look like an outsourced support franchise? Is the CIO trying a little too hard to "sell" the IT department to the rest of the company? All you are doing is further alienating the support staff and making it harder for other employees to see them as coworkers.

In this context I would feel like I had just been demoted to "IT Janitor" with such a targeted uniform mandate. I can hear the sales staff now: "Hey blue shirt, somehow a virus got on my machine and I need you to fix this pronto..."