I like to dress nice for work. I just hope it doesn’t count against me. There is such a strong ethos these days that real people wear jeans and t-shirts, and if you dress well that means there’s something wrong with you, or your work is inferior and you’re trying to compensate for that by looking good. I remember one job interview to which I wore a skirt suit and heels, and the interviewer waved toward a room full of young people sitting at computers, making a pointed comment that everybody there dresses casual in jeans and sneakers. I didn’t get the job, but I dreaded the peer pressure to avoid being well dressed. I don’t like to wear jeans and I don’t think they’re comfortable anyway (I risk getting my American citizenship and passport revoked for admitting such heresy openly). I don’t think that dressing well is a sign of incompetence at work, but I see that opinion so often around here that it makes me uneasy. Like you have to be super-casual to prove that you do good work. I don’t feel comfortable looking like a slob. I find comfort in looking good. That puts me at odds with a lot of my fellow Americans.
It’s kind of a dilemma for me. I actually don’t believe in a fussy dress code at work. I think people ought to be allowed to dress in what is comfortable for them, within reasonable limits. (No ripped, stained, or workout wear.) But when looking neat is not required, maybe there will be a race to the bottom leaving me high and dry as the only one wearing a dress and heels. I don’t care what other people wear; what I do care about is if my colleagues start to despise me for my presumptuousness in looking nice if it’s a strongly casual work environment. Just as many people don’t like being pressured to dress up, I don’t like feeling pressured to dress down. While I don’t believe in implementing fussy dress codes, if I did work in such a place, I would not be at a disadvantage for wearing dresses or skirt suits, as I would fit right in. This makes it in my interest to support something I don’t believe in, which is a dilemma.
I hope that estimations of a worker’s competence can be tied strictly to their performance and be completely delinked from how they like to dress. I understand the resentment from casual people against fussy dress codes and the backlash against dressing nice. But I feel it’s just as unfair to judge my work negatively because I dress well as it is to negatively judge someone else’s work for dressing casual.
You should “seek help” because your reading comprehension sucks. I was saying that a suit should be as comfortable as jeans and a t-shirt if it fits properly and is made of quality materials. Most men that grouse that business formal clothing is uncomfortable know practically nothing about how to buy a suit.
I work in the call center of an insurance company. When I started, the dress code was business casual M-Th, jeans and tennis shoes allowed on casual Fridays, but never t-shirts, hoodies, or shorts. They’ve since relaxed it so every day is casual day, but still no t-shirts/hoodies/shorts. Nice jeans or khakis with polos or moderately dressy tops are the norm. Occasionally, they’ll announce super-casual Fridays during the summer, and we’re allowed to wear shorts, t-shirts, and ballcaps. Sometimes there’s also Sportswear Friday (like the Friday before the Superbowl, etc) when we can wear team apparel, including jerseys and caps.
I definitely like that they relaxed the dress code. See, back when our office was biz-cas, we were still able to purchase the ability to wear jeans every day (except when upper mgmt visited) for $15 a month. And due to lax enforcement (it’s perfectly possible to go a week or two without seeing your manager here), a bunch of people were wearing jeans anyway without paying for them. Aside from a few pissy memos, they chose not to fight it in the end.
There are a couple managers in my department who still wear suits every day, even though they don’t have to. I do enjoy the rare occasions when they dress down to corduroys or jeans, because it’s like seeing a zebra without his stripes. But I never feel pressured to dress up more than I do, by them or anybody else. I would think a reasoning adult is capable of realizing that it’s a “different strokes” issue. Some people just don’t feel like they’re working if they’re not wearing a suit. They went to college to get a degree for that job, they make enough to afford nice clothes, and I’m totally cool with that.
But if you’re secretly judging subordinates for adhering to the dress code rather than exceeding it, that’s squarely in asshole territory. I’m adhering to the dress code, and I don’t judge you for choosing to dress above it. Kindly extend me the same courtesy.
I work in the library at a public university. There’s no stated dress code for employees. That said, people generally dress appropriately to what needs to be done that day. For example, there are people who wear shorts and a t-shirt during the summer - but even then, on days they need to dress up more, they do. Suits are an almost never for this group, but during the semester, the men are likely to be in ties 5-6 days per month.
At my level, it’s generally business casual every day - on Fridays, if I have no meetings, I can get away with jeans and a nice polo/button down shirt - but I don’t go any more casual than that because things do come up suddenly where I’d feel out of place dressed more casually. Full suits do happen on occasion, maybe 1-2 times a year.
My boss has a tie on almost every day - not a full suit, but he does keep a nice jacket in his office that he can put on when needed. Full suits for him are more often, but still maybe 5-6 times per year.
My comment wasn’t addressed specifically at you in that we’re in different industries but it would be my response to a similar boss but thanks for responding.
I don’t understand the whole dress for the job you want thought process. I dress for the job I currently have. To wear a three piece suit like our acting CEO would be to wildly overdress compared to the people I work with including my department VP but I would like to run a large company. Isn’t dressing situation appropriate a better metric to use? When I go to visit my drilling rigs I wear FRCs and steel toes when I’m presenting to the President I wear a suit but when I’m sitting at my desk what is served by overdressing to stare at my computer?
I’ve got no problem with people who like it dressing up we’ve got a couple of tie wearers that I work with but I can’t afford to wear comfortable dress clothes. Off the rack clothing typically only fits me in one measurement (or two after tailoring) and the cost of getting custom clothing is prohibitive, although I am saving up to get a custom tux for my wedding.
I’m an IT director at a small software and services company with a relaxed culture.
The director of sales in the office on my left wears business casual every day - slacks or neat khakis, shirts with a collar, dress shoes or loafers.
The director of development in the office on my right wears faded dad jeans, t-shirts, and sneakers every day. He also has a beard.
I split the difference, and wear what I like to call “creative professional” or “happy hour casual.” Jeans that fit, pressed dress shirts that fit, and oxfords or clean sneakers. I’ll throw on a blazer or a sweater if it’s cold. That’s if I’m buying.
On the handful of occasions per year that I need to meet customers or prospects, I wear a suit and maybe a tie Monday through Thursday, and a sportcoat and slacks on Friday.
The rest of the office runs the gamut. The sales guys and the receptionist do the khaki dance, while the administrators and programmers wear their Thinkgeek t-shirts and flip-flops.
Nobody wears a tie unless they’re in a sales meeting.
This will be a LONG thread, I guarantee. Growing up, there were guys that lamented not having girlfriends, and if you pointed out they dressed like slobs, hadn’t bathed in days, or almost never leave the house, you were being mean. Some supermodel was supposed to show up and love them for them, not superficial bs like hygiene or appearance - even though, of course, she had to be smoking hot, fun, smart, etc.
We seem to be seeing the same trend in professional environments. The organization is supposed to focus only on what the person thinks they’re good at, rather than expect a well-rounded individual that can do the job and look professional, behave properly around other adults, or have a host of other skills that are just as vital to creating a solid work environment as their productivity numbers. It’s just another way we’re being asked to lower our expectations from people.
In my office there are not one but two people who routinely wear top hats. I don’t think you need worry about any given fashion going completely away, at least not in your lifetime.
I don’t mean that you should dress like the job you ULTIMATELY want. You dress for the job you want NEXT; you dress for the PROMOTION you want.
I’ve mentioned a standout employee of mine who will eventually either be running the company or have put us out of business by moving elsewhere, but she doesn’t dress like the CEO Athena entirely intends her to be. She dresses like the people in ops and training.
:eek:
That’s madness. What if there’s an unexpected velociraptor attack? A well-made silk necktie can be converted into no fewer than seven improvised weapon.
The attitude in your office is EXACTLY what got Nedry killed in Jurassic Park.
I’ve never worked at a place that had any written dress code since high school (fast food - uniform required). I’m actually kind of surprised how uncommon it seems to be to not have a dress code, based on this thread.
I usually wear nice jeans, a dress shirt, and very nice shoes. Sometimes an aloha shirt or a polo, and sometimes nice shorts (usually with boat shoes), but not really often. With that, I dress up more than virtually everyone else in my office, including everyone who reports to me. People wear jeans, shorts, t-shirts, sweat shirts, etc. There’s one guy in another part of the building who wears slacks, and a few people who wear khakis, but it’s rare. My boss is an executive, and I’m usually dressed up more than he is. I’ve never seen an employee of my company wearing a suit or even a tie, and I’ve worked here for many years. Sometimes job candidates dress up that much, but even that’s really rare. The recruiters discourage it because it can feel awkward.
All that said, I actually really like suits, ties, sportcoats and trousers. I’d actually wear them from time to time if I could without getting a bunch of flack about it. But it’s just not worth standing out that much.
wear clothing, clean is preferable, anti static lab coats for all lab employees or anyone entering the lab
i have no issues, I wear clean jeans and sweatshirt / t-shirt every day, my only real personal guideline is no synthetics, cotton only, but that’s mainly to stay ESD-Safe
As stated above, there is no dress code other than the lab coat requirement, 99% of the time, all staff, including the company president, are in casual clothes, the only time the boss wears a hangmans noose…err… Tie, is if he’s meeting with new/potential clients
Personally, I will never voluntarily wear any form of hangmans noose, and indeed, when I become dictator of the multiverse, my first decrees will be the outlawing of dress codes and the complete and utter thermonuclear destruction of every single hangmans noose in existence
No dress code whatever. People wear shorts, flip-flops, blue jeans with holes… No one typically wears a tie. I wear blue jeans (sans holes) and a long sleeve shirt.
Meeting with a customer is different, of course. I’ll wear Khakis, but a tie seems overdressed even then. We’re in a branch of about 35 people in a company of about 500. It’s more formal at the head office, of course, but I think only the head people wear a suit.
May I ask where you live (in regional terms only), O Arbiter of Others’ Comfort? There is more to comfort than fit. I will freely concede that a suit can be made less uncomfortable, as you might have noticed if you had read the parts of my post that were not snarking back at you, but I contend that there are common circumstances under which a suit will inevitably be less comfortable than jeans and a t-shirt. A wretchedly hot Texas summer falls into that category, in my opinion.
I work in a medical center, so you see all kinds of styles. Generally, the “suits” wear suits, the doctors usually wear suits with a white coat over top, techs and nurses wear scrubs, IT people who go out on calls to user areas wear polos and khakis (no idea what they wear if they don’t), and office staff wear business casual. Mostly. I know one office where their manager is very lenient and some of the women there tend to wear boatloads of makeup and semi-“club” clothes (a bare shoulder or two, sparkly clothing, deep V in the back, etc). I’ve seen an all-users E-mail go out chiding some employees for wearing clothes that make them look like they’re dressed to go out to the clubs.
I know that we have a dress code somewhere but I don’t remember it. My coworker and I dress business casual or business, depending on whether we’re working with patients that day, etc. We recently had some major VIPs coming in and we had to put on a major event to convince them to bring their study to our institution. My supervisor stopped by to tell me to wear a suit for the visit, and I was kind of insulted that she thought I’d need to be told that.
I personally think that it’s fine for bosses to dress better than their subordinates. The public will often assume that the best-dressed person has more authority anyway, and this will usually put forth the best impression.
And yes, some of you guys are just so damned awesome that you don’t need no stinkin’ suit or dress code. Judging by patient complaint forms (not directed at me, these were quoted by management) that is sure not the case in healthcare, or at the very least not at our institution.
I work for a nonprofit that is very community-based, grass roots casual. We don’t really have a dress code. I typically dress business casual (slacks and a nice top of some sort) but I would feel completely comfortable coming to work in a t-shirt (and have.) ‘‘Business casual’’ is more or less how I dress on my own, anyway, so I don’t really have any special work clothes (other than two suits for big events.)
On a typical day, the only people I interact with are my boss and two coworkers. I spend most of the day alone in my office. The days where I know I’m going to just be sitting behind a computer desk all day, some of those days I just roll out of bed and throw on a ‘‘My Organization: STAFF’’ t-shirt. I have like five of them.
I always (even on days at home) wear slacks. I never wear jeans. I don’t even own a pair of jeans. Personally I love looking a little sharp. I’m not going to wear heels or hose or anything, but I want nice, clean lines.
I actually wish that I could dress a little nicer at work, but I never know if I’m going to be outside working in the front planters, or flat on my ass sorting through the rubble that used to be our children’s department before hurricane “Field Trip” washed over us, or hauling heavy-ass boxes of books around for Tech Services…
On days when I wear heels, I bring a pair of sneakers with me, so I can change if I have to, and all dresses have to meet the stretch, haul, and floor-sitting tests before I can wear them safely.
I would love to have just a smidge of stability so that I could really dress up nice sometimes - I feel so much more professional and confident when I’m really jazzed up. As it is, the few times I do, I usually get burned for my pains.