<p>Have any of your employers made the change from formal business attire to business casual for every day and not just Fridays? Did any of them consent to a change for at least the summer months? What sort of reaction did the employees have to the change? Have there been any problems with inappropriate clothing?</p>
<p>Maybe it’s because I spent much of my youth in uniforms, and then joined the workforce when women in financial services wore a “uniform” of dark suits, white blouses, floppy silk ties/scarves, stockings and dark pumps, but I am sick to death of traditional business wear. To be clear, I’m not an employee any longer - just a spouse. I hate seeing dh dress in multiple layers on summer days (undershirt, long sleeve dress shirt, tie, worsted wool suit) when the temps are approaching or exceeding 100 and the heat index is often >110. On the rare Fridays when he wears a short sleeve seersucker shirt (we’re in the South where seersucker is okay for grown ups) and pair of light cotton pants he feels so much better. While dh is a sr. exec., he is not in a customer contact role. I’m not sure who he’s supposed to be dressing to impress - the CEO or the Board?</p>
<p>Enough of my rant. I would appreciate hearing from any of you who no longer have to suit up, but especially if you played a part in changing the policy at your company.</p>
<p>My office is kind of odd in that our dress code is actually business professional for the most part, but most people wear something in between business professional and business casual, while some people go completely business casual-- usually the women and especially in summer. The unspoken rule is that this is acceptable but that could change at any time, and you could be the one that gets in trouble if you decide to chance it.</p>
<p>I find that for some people, business casual is too vague and it leads to inappropriate dress. It’s borderline enough that it is allowed to slide, but there are certainly jaw drop moments fairly frequently. I don’t know if this would happen for very long, though, if this actually became our regular set dress code instead of something we just look the other way about. In our case I think the ambiguity is relevant.</p>
<p>My company changed a number of years ago as has pretty much the entire industry (computer - technology). I think almost every male employee was quite happy with the change - I know I was. I detested having to put on a tie for any reason but especially to sit in a cube all day or to just meet with co-workers. Even IBM, once renowned for their conservative dark suit/white shirt dress code, has gone to business casual and the casual look is the hallmark of the latest technology companies like Google, Apple, Microsoft, etc. and any hi-tech company that didn’t go casual would appear to be stodgy, old, and out of date, and could have trouble attracting new talent.</p>
<p>Wearing a tie and worse, a jacket, is a ridiculous impractical custom, especially wearing such in high temps/humidity, and I’m quite happy it’s by and large no longer required for most of us.</p>
<p>The CEO of the multi-thousand employee company doesn’t wear a tie either. Sales people meeting customers dress according to the expectations of particular customers. </p>
<p>The current ‘dress code’, whether explicit or not, varies with the industry type, company itself, role within the company, and can vary by region as well.</p>
<p>When the dress code first changed I could see that some people were a little hesitant to change - not because they didn’t want to - but because they didn’t want to appear to dress down much more than management. I used this opportunity to '‘lead by example’.</p>
<p>Yes, much of the computer industry is just casual in dress (as opposed to “business casual” which seems to have considerable variation in definition) when not meeting with customers or other “outsiders” (finance industry, politicians, etc.) who may be worth “dressing to impress” for.</p>
<p>The “casual friday” thing never made sense to me. If dressing casually is fine on friday, why not every day? If dressier business clothing is needed other days, why not friday?</p>
<p>I remember casual Friday because a lot of people went away to their weekend homes on Friday. I have worked in finance and technology companies, some have business casual, but I always dressed business. On a Friday I may put on a more casual dress with flats. I do not like people in business casual.</p>
<p>My work is ‘business casual’ every day - but it’s a pretty lax business casual. Jeans are ok as long as they aren’t ripped and look nice but no t-shirts. If they are having ‘casual day’ then t-shirts are OK as long as they don’t have anything bad on them. No tank tops, hats, flip flops, etc on any day. Most people in ‘higher’ then normal positions tend to dress nicer - my department usually wears dress pants and a nice shirt… but we’ll occasionally wear jeans as well.</p>
<p>They do a lot of casual mondays and casual fridays… and next week is casual week. Usually during december which is our busiest time of the year we’ll have casual month. </p>
<p>I will tell you that our VP today was wearing a polo shirt and nice pants. Occasionally i’ll see him in a button down shirt but it’s typically a polo of sorts.</p>
That’s weird - the person’s the same whether they’re dressed in business casual or not (but that’s probably not the way you meant it).</p>
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I agree - it never made sense to me. In my mind it was just a way to edge towards more casual all the time.</p>
<p>The great thing about the more lax dress code is that if someone likes dressing up, like oldfort, they still can but if someone is more comfortable not being strangled by a tie, especially on a hot day, they don’t have to. Of course it might mean some people, like oldfort, will no longer like you. ;)</p>
<p>You mean there are still places where people don’t wear business casual? </p>
<p>In the company where I work, wearing a suit means that (1) you’re going to an unusually important outside meeting, (2) you’re going to a funeral, or (3) you’re applying for another job. </p>
<p>Some people who frequently meet with clients wear jackets (which typically do not match their pants or skirt), but even this is often unnecessary because most of our clients dress business casual and expect us to do the same (we’re government contractors).</p>
<p>The guys in my office wear dress shirts or decent-looking polos with pants that are not jeans. Some of them may own ties, but I have no proof of that. The women wear whatever we want, as long as it isn’t denim and doesn’t look as though it was intended for a nightclub or the beach. Every woman seems to have her own take on “business casual,” and most of them are perfectly acceptable. A few people of both sexes err on the side of excessive sloppiness, and a few women err on the side of excessive sexiness, but not many. </p>
<p>I like business casual. It saves on dry cleaning, and I like not having to wear hosiery in the summer.</p>
<p>I am in research workplace and it is VERY casual. The only time people dress up is when we have a customer visit. </p>
<p>I’ve been with my current employer for more than 10 years, and only once have I seen inappropriate dress. We had a female, who works in Europe’s research lab. She came to US for summer to get to know the team better and to foster better working relationship. Since clothes in Europe are expensive, she did not bring any and just bought stuff on sales here. </p>
<p>I don’t know if the problem was that she did not have enough clothes, or she thought what she bought was appropriate to wear in the office, but sometimes she wore the most inappropriate clothes for the office: for example, sun dress with no bra, or red satin cocktail dress. </p>
<p>No one said anything to her. I don’t think anyone cared though. But some of her outfits were very inappropriate.</p>
<p>What Marian said. I haven’t worked at a company that was NOT business casual in 10 years! Friday is jeans day. At my last employer(Fortune 200 corp) you could donate to AHA for the right to wear shorts or jeans the entire summer.</p>
<p>Well, there are places that are just casual (e.g. many Silicon Valley computer companies). And don’t forget that many jobs are not office type jobs. The skilled tradespeople, architects, and civil engineers at the construction site are likely to be wearing clothes chosen mainly for functionality at the construction site.</p>
<p>I know what you mean oldfort, I don’t like seeing most people in business casual either. There just aren’t enough rules, so you see some horrible outfits that don’t seem professional. I think it may have been my years in banking as well, but I like to dress up for work, and dress down for play. </p>
<p>Also, not everyone looks good in that khaki, polo shirt look. I look much better in a dress myself.</p>
<p>Just so you know, at one place worked that was business casual, I was in charge of creating a “dressing guide” that outlines things that were acceptable and unacceptable. It was almost 100 slides by the time that the managers edited it last because I had to keep adding rules like “must wear undergarments”. So not all people have the right definition yet.</p>
<p>Of course, some people don’t seem to look good in dressy business clothes. This seemed most common with college students interviewing for internships or new graduate jobs, probably due to lack of experience in selecting and buying dressy business clothes, or the lack of off-the-rack suits and dress shirts made for skinny college students relative to the easily found ones for obese middle age men.</p>
<p>That is very common here in the Midwest. Seems odd to me as well. It is really apparent at events like graduation. Guys in shorts with a cap next to a women in a lovely dress. In my area dressing up seems to mean clean polo shirt for men.</p>
<p>MizzBee - When we are going out, H likes to ask me what I am wearing before he decides what to wear because he doesn’t want to be wearing shorts when I am wearing a lovely dress.:)</p>
<p>I don’t know if this is the case still, but I recall while working in Asia some thirty years ago, in Hong Kong, you had to wear a suit and tie (preferably with a symmetrical British knot), while in Singapore, they held you in contempt if you walked into a meeting in hundred degree weather with a tie on. Made so much sense.</p>
<p>Thanks. The diversity of replies is interesting. In dh’s case, he works for a bank but not in a customer contact division. He’s heard from some consultants (Big 4 CPA firm partners) that his employer is the only client for which they dress up. At other banks it’s fine for them to wear polo shirts or button down collar shirts w/o a jacket, but at his company they wear the dark suit/white shirt/tie uniform to match the execs.</p>
<p>Dh has commented that the women execs sometimes wear tailored dresses (a linen sheath, for example) in summer which are a good deal more comfortable than his multi-layers, especially since none of the women wear stockings any longer. I’ve heard that employees at the operations center, where casual dress is permitted, often need to be reminded about what’s appropriate and what is not (no bare midriffs, no halter tops, no low-riding pants or shorts) but I’d be surprised if that became a problem at HQ.</p>
<p>I think the move to business casual is great. I’m an architect and never worked anywhere where anybody but the principals regularly wore suits. My first boss (in CA) wore a white shirt and khakis and and had a tie and jacket he put on whenever he left the office. I try to look a little bit arty but serious. Years ago I wouldn’t wear jeans, but now I often do. I almost always wear pants since I never know when I’ll have to climb a ladder or poke my head into a crawl space. When I meet my customers in the evenings they are usually in sweats if they wear suits at work.</p>
<p>My husband (med school professor/scientist) wears business casual during the school year and t-shirts and shorts in the summer. His idea of dressing up (when he goes to the Bd of Overseers meetings) is to put on a collarless button up shirt with a sports jacket. I’ve been trying to train him to wear khakis on those days instead of his cargo pants. I think he looks like he’s trying, but I’m sure the suits think he’s pretty hopeless!</p>
<p>I just went shopping for D1 yesterday. She works on a trading floor. I bought all suits and dressy pants, and the most casua thingl I got for her was a DVF dress. Casual day for her would be a pair of dressy pants and a silk/cotton tailored blouse. </p>
<p>In the back office it is more casual, but managers often wear a dress shirt, and keep a jacket and tie just in case they need to meet clients or senior managers.</p>
<p>Any where outside of cities like NYC or DC, most people drive to work, so they go from AC home to AC car and AC office. People in NYC hav to walk or wait at 105 degree subway stations. No sympathy here.:)</p>