Business Casual 6

[Welshbird]

My company have just announced that we are to change to a set dress code. At present, I am reasonably casual for work, but not dressed-down, and apparently everything I wear for work will be inappropriate under the new rules.

I generally wear trousers styled like jeans but never in denim, and a shirt, together with shoes (never trainers). I always thought that this DID count as busiess casual!

I feel really quite affronted by this, as I have been transfered from another part of the group with no option but to go. Previously I usually worked at home, and ALWAYS in casual attire.

I'm beginning to feel that all of the reasons I took my current job have vanished. I liked it originally because I was never customer facing; I worked from home with flexible hours and I could dress casually. Now I am expected to be customer facing part of the time, always be in the office between 8:30 and 5 and dress in 'business casual'.

Am I just being difficult?

I wondered if anyone else had experience of this. I don't want to be overly political and fight agains it all just for the sake of it; and I do like my job (in general) and am very fond of many of my colleagues.

It does just feel that my favourite 'perks' of the job have vanished. And also not working from home and having to buy a new wardrobe puts me out-of-pocket!

I'd appreciate views /opinions/advice. Thanks.

Fee

The question should be [red]Is it worth trying to do?[/red] not [blue] Can it be done?[/blue]

 

[jhill7000]

I wish dress code was the sticking point for my job. That seems so trivial. Try having to keep a sterile work area (ie. Nothing but one pen and a small notepad issued by the company and MAYBE a water bottle) to impress guest that come along about one day a month. Try having a job that doesn’t fit with your short or long term goals. Try having management that doesn't acknowledge any accomplishments. I scoff at your dress code whoa's. {{SCOFF SCOFF}}
Oh, and the same dress code that you have just been imposed with.


In all seriousness, get over it. If that’s the worst thing you can complain about your job, be thankful.

 

[mmorancbt]

Okay, to lighten the issue - did I publish my performance at The McDonald's I/S Career Conference?

I spoke there last week and performed a song, The IT Job Seeker's Song - with a McDonald's twist...

My performance and the lyrics can found at:

http://blogs.ittoolbox.com/pm/career/archives/the-it-job-seeker-song-performed-live-11368

Notice, shirt-tie, etc. I was dressed for success!

Funny thing is I just got an email from the local paper. A reporter who covered a speaking engagement I did last year is subscribed to my blog and passed the song along. They want to do an article on it???

Enjoy!

Matthew Moran (career blog and podcast below)
Career Advice with Attitude for the IT Pro

http://blogs.ittoolbox.com/pm/career

http://techcareerconsult.blogspot.com

 

[kHz]

If you don't like their dress code then get another job.

 

[paterson]

Wow, I can't believe this thread has lasted this long. I mean really!!!

Well, seeing as though I am here now, I will wade in, cloud up the water, and make my exit.

People are visual, plain and simple. What is the first thing that people notice about you? The way you talk and sound? I don't think so! The way you smell? Only if they are close and they would have seen you long before that! That's right, the first thing people notice is your looks. The way you style your hair to the style of clothing you wear can all influence the perception others have of you.

Guess what? The perception others have of you while you are working is usually the perception others will have of your company!! If you don't dress professionally, people will tend not to have a high professional opinion of your company. If you don't dress professionally, your co-workers may develop a sense of apathy to the work place. I have seen it happen!!

Your employer signs the checks! They want to make sure that you and those around you are representing the company in the best way possible. Do you remember what you were wearing when you went for an interview? Jeans? Sneakers? Probably not unless you want to be a cashier at the local convience store! Why did you dress nice? You wanted to represent yourself in the best way possible. Now your employer wants the same thing! Suck it up Buttercup!

(No disrespect intended with the buttercup statement, it is just a saying I use with my kids!)




**************************************
My Biggest problem is that I almost always believe what I tell myself.

 

[OlympicTech]

That was good!

 

[Welshbird]

Whoa!

I feel like I began a war.

This was EVER about the dress code. This was about a constant change to terms and conditions, and different rules for different people in the same company.

Other people who do the same job as me will not have the same rules imposed on them.

And yes, these rules do include the dress code. This just feels unfair.

Fee

The question should be [red]Is it worth trying to do?[/red] not [blue] Can it be done?[/blue]

 

[tfg13]

I beg to differ. The title of the thread is "business casual", not "constant changing terms and conditions". Being that I myself work in an area that has different "rules" for different employees, I would say "suck it up buttercup" (sorry had to throw that one in there, just because I like it). An example of different rules. Some employees are not allowed to visit the internet at all. Others, do nothing but "find a word" puzzles all day, yet others are indeed making applications and other stuff work better, or, just making it work.

As jhill7000 states, it could be a lot worse. paterson also brings up a great point. How did you show up to the interview? Did you sign a contract specifically stating that you can set the policies of the company? Probably not. These are set by the chairman, owner, and managers. Once again, if you don't like the changes, start looking, or better yet, create your own company where you can set the policies.

 

[Welshbird]

I didn't get interviewed. I was 'tuped' over from another business that was bought by this one. And when I went to work for that company they came looking for me not the other way around.

I signed a contract that said I worked in casual clothes, at home, with flexible hours and was not customer facing.

Maybe I titled the thread badly then.

I absolutely agree that at either interviews or when with customers how your are clothed reflects yours and the companies professionalism. and when at either of these I appear properly suited and booted.

But when I sit in a corner with my head in a bucket of data it really doens't matter. But my corner has moved, the hours I'm expected to be there has changed, sometimes they order me out of it and now they want to control what I wear in it too.

Boo.

I will move to the new office, and I will wear what they tell me. and when the jump I will ask how high.

But by ignoring the opinions of workers the company do run the risk of losing all of us, gradually, as we all look for places to work that would listen to its employees.

Fee

The question should be [red]Is it worth trying to do?[/red] not [blue] Can it be done?[/blue]

 

[pmonett]

Personally, the thing that bothers me the most for willif is not that the dress code was changed, but that each floor has its own dress code. That smacks of petty dictatorships and absolutely no logic whatsoever, which, in turn, brings into question the viability of the business as a whole.

If there is no corporate code for everyone, then every manager spends time dreaming up his personal dress code preference (a major waste of time), and his preferences can change, which will invariably make the dress code change (wasting more time).

I don't like the idea that, if a dress code exists, it is not consistant. Inconsistency breeds unfairness, and in the workplace, gives rise to feelings of anger and revolt which undermine the morale of the company as a whole.

On a more personal note, I'm a consultant and have therefor done the whole gamut of styles from shorts and barefoot and home to 3-piece suit and tie on customer site (yes, I have dealt with bankers and they really appreciate it). As I am typing this I am in smart attire, blue shirt with assorted pants and black sweater. I don't have a tie though, and it's been months since I last wore one.

For the life of me I cannot understand what it is that men have against wearing a tie. Wearing a tie doesn't mean that you have to saddle yourself with a black noose around the neck. I have a whole collection of Looney Tunes ties and I like wearing them a lot (especially the blue one with the Road Runner sticking its tongue out).

Maybe it's just that it's hard to choose a tie that goes with the shirt and the pants ? Guys, get a wife ;-).

Pascal.

 

[Welshbird]

Thanks pmonett! You've articulated my own concern much better than I had.

And just in time for me meeting with the boss to discuss the new T&C's!



Fee

The question should be [red]Is it worth trying to do?[/red] not [blue] Can it be done?[/blue]

 

[Welshbird]

(BTW - Please have a star with my thanks)

Fee

The question should be [red]Is it worth trying to do?[/red] not [blue] Can it be done?[/blue]

 

[RCorrigan]

Maybe it's just that it's hard to choose a tie that goes with the shirt and the pants ? Guys, get a wife

Bit extreme eh ????????????????

<Do I need A Signature or will an X do?>

 

[BocaBurger]

Once worked for company that required me to wear long sleeved white dress shirts, jacket, tie, polished shoes etc.

Manager came to visit and travel with me to client sites. I was wearing short sleeved white shirt and he made me change.
It was July in Miami. Next day when I picked him up at his hotel, he was wearing s short sleeved shirt and had his jacket off by 10AM.

Moral: Climate can impact dress codes.





BocaBurger
<===========================||////////////////|0
The pen is mightier than the sword, but the sword hurts more!

 

[BJCooperIT]

For a consultant, a dress code can cause difficulties. I had a state government contract for a consulting company that had a "business attire" only policy. The state employees took one look at the consultants in business suits and thought we were snobs who were putting them down. It took weeks before they would even talk to us. Talk about starting off badly...

One consulting company I worked for had a dress code that was 22 pages long and specifically forbid denim no less than 50 times!

 

[CharlesCook]

Charles Wong the fonder of CA said something that has stuck with me for years:

"If your not happy in your job do the right thing, Quit, give someone else the opportunity to be happy in your job"

So I did....
I hope that other person has happy!!!!

CharlesCook.com
ADP - PeopleSoft - SAP
ReportSmith - Crystal Reports - SQR - Query - Access
Reporting - Interfaces - Data Mining

 

[sleipnir214]

I have seen dress codes too often, even when creating an organization-wide standard, become little more than detailed records of the minutia of the arbitrary fashion opinions and sexual hangups of the dress code committee members.

In my organization, the dress code committee had to table discussion on whether anyone required to wear a tie must also wear only white shirts, and whether undershirts will be mandated under dress shirts. The committed was all in favor of the undershirts until someone pointed out that (a) undershirts are not necessarily a good idea in summer in subtropical south Louisiana, particularly for those who don't go from air-conditioned office to air-conditioned office all day long and (b) the committee really had no business dictating employees' underwear.

The committee's deliberations also bogged down on the subject of women's footwear, particularly whether open-toed or open-back shoes were appropriate. This discussion ended abruptly and completely when our illustrious (male) CFO opined that open-toed shoes should be banned unless (and this is a direct quote) "the feet [in them] are properly polished and creamed".

To the best of my knowledge, the creeped-out committee adjourned and has yet to reconvene.




Where I once worked this was 15 years ago, a tie-wearing contractor arrived and offered to help diagnose a stalled high-speed dot-matrix printer problem. When he unexpectedly got it working while leaning over the printer, the printer proceeded to feed his tie through the mechanism, rolling about three-quarters of his tie through the paper feed. With his yelling and trying to blindly find the "off" switch, it looked like something from a Marx Brothers movie.

I ran over, pulled the power on the printer and really pissed the guy off when I cut off his $60 silk tie rather than disassembling the printer to free him. On that day, I took that cut piece of the tie and stapled it to a notice on the bulletin board that outlawed long ties in the office.

In my current position, I am required to wear a tid, but I have avoided the "tie/printer/leash" problem:

http://www.beautiesltd.com

Want the best answers? Ask the best questions! TANSTAAFL!

 

[flapeyre]

Sleipinir:

Didn't anybody teach this guy to tuck his tie into his shirt?

I once worked for a company who had an unwritten policy of requiring its male employees to wear white shirts and ties (you probably know who THAT is). Once, on a trip, I visited a parts distribution center, and even the guys picking parts in that dirty warehouse wore white shirts and ties (1982). Ties were tucked in, which was taught as part of the company-wide safety program.

At least down here, things are getting more casual. 10 years ago, whe I started this job, I had to wear a tie, but we moved to a new building in 1998 and it's been casual ever since. And now, jeans on Friday are permitted all year long) it was supposed to just be for the summer, but it was made permanent just last week).

Feles mala! Cur cista non uteris? Stramentum novum in ea posui!

 

[buck2506]

I guess I'm lucky. My current employer is just happy that I show up wearing clothes.

 

[pmonett]

RCorrigan :

I believe you misquoted me. Next time, please include the ;-) in your consideration before making a remark .

Pascal.

 

[Welshbird]

UPDATE:

The new policy is that ALL employees will wear 'Business Smart' attire.

So, it's not my favourite choice, but at least now its fair. There will not be people on different floors in Denim and dress suits.

So I guess its not too bad and maybe worth keeping my job for a wee while!

Fee

The question should be [red]Is it worth trying to do?[/red] not [blue] Can it be done?[/blue]