tskeeter
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Post by tskeeter on Sept 24, 2015 10:34:33 GMT -5
So they traveled wearing jeans and yoga pants or that is how they showed up to the meeting? As an engineer I get to be forever in blue jeans but I do dress up every now and then but the first requirement of all my clothes is I must be able to sleep comfortably in them. So that also means wrinkle resistant. They wore that to the meetings - all 3 days. As far as my industry - I am in finance, but I work for a consumer packaged goods company. I don't really have exposure to anyone except employees of my company. It isn't like I am out interacting with all the other CPG companies. The average in my office used to be more professional, but they laid off or relocated most of our "power positions." We have 2 directors, a handful of managers and a bunch of worker bees. We have 2 VPs that spend 4 days (in a row) per month at the building. I dress as I always have, but as the higher level people have slowly drained out of my location, I am now realizing I may be out of place. I thought when all the people came in this week I would be surrounded by professionals - and they are - but aren't dressed like traditional professionals. I didn't know if it was just my company/experience, or if the world changed and I was left off the memo. I guess I get to go shopping. I think the best work dress advice I've ever seen is to dress like your boss's boss dresses. If they are in dresses and heels or suits, that is the standard of dress. If they are in jeans and t-shirts, that's the standard of dress. I, too, spent many years working for a consumer packaged goods company. The dress expectations at headquarters was very different from the dress expectations at plants. People at headquarters weren't required to go into manufacturing areas as part of their daily work, so they didn't need to wear clothes suitable for manufacturing environments. The fact that folks attended meetings at headquarters in yoga pants and flip flops indicates that they probably don't understand the differing dress expectations between headquarters and their home work location. This may have been their first visit to headquarters. So their wardrobe may not be similar to the wardrobes of headquarters employees. While I wouldn't necessarily expect plant staff to show up in suits and ties, if that is the normal dress for headquarters staff, I would expect business casual dress. And if jeans were worn, I would expect them to be neat and pressed. Not faded, frayed, holed, or comfortably worn.
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kittensaver
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Post by kittensaver on Sept 24, 2015 10:42:59 GMT -5
I work for a non-profit, so our office is business casual. Even the CEO will wear jeans on Fridays - unless he has a meeting in the community. Our direct service staff (including our doctors, nurses and social workers) always dress way down. Jeans, statement t-shirts, flannel shirts, polos, tennis shoes, leggings, all kinds of casual wear. It's really hard/impossible to engage and build trust when outreaching to a schizophrenic homeless person on a park bench or under a freeway overpass when you're wearing a suit and tie .
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lexxy703
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Post by lexxy703 on Sept 24, 2015 10:53:11 GMT -5
I always wear colored tee shirts & skirts. I either wear boots or heeled sandals depending on the season. Our office is business casual.
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movingforward
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Post by movingforward on Sept 24, 2015 11:14:27 GMT -5
I wear jeans almost everyday in the office. If I know a board member will be dropping by then I dress up a bit more. For scheduled board meetings I always wear a suit. I also do corporate relations so I travel to NYC and Las Vegas once a year for scheduled meetings. I wear suits to those meetings as well. Last week I was in Vegas and had 4 meetings scheduled. One was with a software company. They showed up with 6 people and they were all in jeans and polo shirts. Eh, they were tech people... I never expect them to dress up but I thought I would stay in my standard suit especially since I had other meetings scheduled that day (didn't want to have to change clothes again).
I am thinking that perhaps these people who traveled in might have more of a lax dress code than your office does. I remember when I worked for a large corporation on the east coast in the late 90s and we had to dress up all the time. A few people flew in from CA to meet with us and they were all in jeans. I was envious... this was their typical dress each day. They all looked nice IMHO. No ripped or torn jeans, nice shirts and nice shoes (no tennis shoes or flip flops). At any rate, the VP of their department in CA was a young casual person and they were allowed to wear nice jeans everyday. Some large corporations allow the head of each particular location to set the dress code.
I for one love my jeans! I don't wear ripped or torn stuff and don't allow my employees to either. We don't have an office where the public randomly shows up so wearing jeans is fine IMO. For scheduled meetings you dress appropriately.
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andi9899
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Post by andi9899 on Sept 24, 2015 11:16:10 GMT -5
We dress business professional around here. Men have to wear a tie and preferably a jacket too. No capris for women. Never jeans. Not even on Friday.
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movingforward
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Post by movingforward on Sept 24, 2015 11:28:22 GMT -5
I think the corporate business attire has been retired in many industries. Most don't see the point of it anymore and are more productive when comfortable. The only people I see daily in business suits are lawyers and people who work at the capital building.
I have noticed our younger board members are starting to dress down some. The older ones are still showing up in dresses or dress suits (women) and suits and ties (men) but the younger ones are wearing the standard black pants and nice shirt. No suit jacket or ties.
ETA: I also work in a very casual city so I could be completely off in my thinking nationwide
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ArchietheDragon
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Post by ArchietheDragon on Sept 24, 2015 11:34:39 GMT -5
I wish we would go back to business dress. Business casual usually looks so shitty.
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GRG a/k/a goldenrulegirl
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Post by GRG a/k/a goldenrulegirl on Sept 24, 2015 13:03:59 GMT -5
I'm weird (no surprise there, I am sure, LOL). I haven't worked in a professional office in 20 years, but I do recall that I was always more productive in business dress (suits, dress shoes, etc.) than in business casual or even the occasional dress-down day. My casual clothes are for casual activities. They signal to my mind that things are relaxed, self-determining, maybe even fun. Those are not qualities one wants from an employee in a professional office, LOL. I recall hating being at work in casual clothes -- it felt cruel. It felt like I should run out of there and escape -- there was a definite disconnect between what I was wearing and what I was doing, if that helps make more sense. But, as I admitted, I am weird.
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movingforward
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Post by movingforward on Sept 24, 2015 13:23:39 GMT -5
I'm weird (no surprise there, I am sure, LOL). I haven't worked in a professional office in 20 years, but I do recall that I was always more productive in business dress (suits, dress shoes, etc.) than in business casual or even the occasional dress-down day. My casual clothes are for casual activities. They signal to my mind that things are relaxed, self-determining, maybe even fun. Those are not qualities one wants from an employee in a professional office, LOL. I recall hating being at work in casual clothes -- it felt cruel. It felt like I should run out of there and escape -- there was a definite disconnect between what I was wearing and what I was doing, if that helps make more sense. But, as I admitted, I am weird. In general, I am a relaxed person. I don't really get stressed out over work. For me personally I just don't see a reason for people to wear business attire everyday to work. I understand there are industries and times when it is appropriate and, as I stated earlier, I do it for all my meetings but on daily basis - No freaking way! I would hate it! ETA: Also, it costs a lot more. I only have about 7-8 meetings a year. I have 4 suits I am able to rotate around so that the same people don't see the same suit each time. Even with only 4 suits the dry cleaning bill kind of sucks and the suits weren't cheap either.
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gs11rmb
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Post by gs11rmb on Sept 24, 2015 13:30:38 GMT -5
I wear a dress and heels to work every day. Last week, the little space heater under my desk broke so I wore trousers to work the next day. My 7 year-old said "Why are you wearing those?" and my 3 year-old said "you look like Daddy"!
My office is business casual and I wish someone would tell the interns or the new college graduates that leggings should not be worn to work.
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flamingo
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Post by flamingo on Sept 24, 2015 13:40:06 GMT -5
My office is business casual, with the stress on the casual. Fridays are jeans and a nice top. No flip flops, yoga pants, sneakers, hoodies, ever. By hoodies I mean zip up sweatshirts with hoods (as my office needed clarification on that recently-LOL). I like being business casual. I always dress at the top end of the spectrum, and my boss has complimented me on my ability to dress well multiple times. I've worked places that require a full suit every day, and it was nuts. Wearing a suit does not make me better at my job. In fact, I think I look better not wearing a suit because I have a lot of trouble trying to find one that fit me right. Sleeves too short, shoulders too tight, etc etc. And jeans on Fridays is awesome
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chiver78
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Post by chiver78 on Sept 24, 2015 13:44:36 GMT -5
see, I'd have a problem with the "no hoodies" rule, but only because every office I've ever worked in has been godawful cold. I had a space heater under my desk at the last place, that ran pretty much year round.
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movingforward
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Post by movingforward on Sept 24, 2015 13:49:12 GMT -5
I wear a dress and heels to work every day. Last week, the little space heater under my desk broke so I wore trousers to work the next day. My 7 year-old said "Why are you wearing those?" and my 3 year-old said "you look like Daddy"!
My office is business casual and I wish someone would tell the interns or the new college graduates that leggings should not be worn to work. I had a similar problem in my office. As I said, we are fairly casual but I don't want to see ripped or torn jeans, yoga pants/leggings, or flip flops and I sure as hell don't want to see you in a skirt that barely covers your ass! The person that used to work the front desk in my office had absolutely zero clue how to dress. She would show up in skirts that looked like long shirts. One day she came prancing down the hall and said "it is cold in here." I was tempted to tell her she was cold because she forgot to put on her pants. I had to talk to her several times about her attire. I ALWAYS let the staff know in advance when board members will be in the office because they need to dress in business attire those days. She shows up in one of these short skirts with a jacket on. I guess she thought that made it business attire . After talking to her several times about her attire the CEO finally talked to her (I work in a small office of 10 people). The CEO told me that the girl broke down and started crying saying she couldn't afford to buy any new clothes. The CEO ended up giving her $500. She did go buy one nice suit to wear for board meetings; however, I really wish she had bought a couple of pairs of black pants and a few nice tops. I felt like for $500 she could have shopped discount places and made her money go a lot further but who am I to say. I suppose it was money gifted to her to buy what she wanted. The thing that really made me laugh during this time was that she had THREE different iphones within a 6 month period. She kept losing them and had to replace them. Each time she would tell the story about misplacing her phone it started out the same way "I was at X bar last night and..." I finally asked if she was making the connection between drinking and losing her phone. She looked at me like I was crazy.
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Artemis Windsong
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Post by Artemis Windsong on Sept 24, 2015 14:11:44 GMT -5
So they traveled wearing jeans and yoga pants or that is how they showed up to the meeting? As an engineer I get to be forever in blue jeans but I do dress up every now and then but the first requirement of all my clothes is I must be able to sleep comfortably in them. So that also means wrinkle resistant. What brand is good to sleep in and wrinkle resistant?
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Artemis Windsong
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Post by Artemis Windsong on Sept 24, 2015 14:16:21 GMT -5
Twenty years ago when I was starting work in an office, the probbie was dressing like his boss in jeans and tee shirt. They used that against him for not dressing professionally. Any excuse was used to remove people during the probationary period. Ruthless unless they happened to "like" you. Unwritten set of rules.
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NastyWoman
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Post by NastyWoman on Sept 24, 2015 14:20:39 GMT -5
If they ever tell me that I'll need to wear a suit to work the next day, I'll have to leave early to go buy one. I am also not able to come in wearing a dress or skirt → don't have those either with the exception of a little beach cover-up. But I don't think that would cut it Oh, and they'd better give me a bonus to pay for those clothes (hey I can dream, can't I?) Just slacks and blouses for me.
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movingforward
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Post by movingforward on Sept 24, 2015 14:25:47 GMT -5
I find dresses and skirts to be extremely uncomfortable. I am always shocked when I hear women who think the opposite. Also, offices and conference rooms tend to be cold to me so every time I have ever worn a dress I freeze to death. I have switched to pant suits for meetings. I am SO much more comfortable.
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8 Bit WWBG
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Post by 8 Bit WWBG on Sept 24, 2015 14:29:57 GMT -5
I see people pretty much across the spectrum. While nobody wears sweats, you will see jeans from time to time. I always wear dress pants. Usually I wear a dress shirt and no tie, but in the heat of summer I will go down to polos.
I have been debating whether or not to up my game a bit and start doing suits and ties. I'm fine with that most of the time, except when it is 90 degrees out. I sweat a lot when it is hot. I've seen people do polos with a suit. I could potentially do that. I have a few sports jackets I could toss in the mix too.
I am not sure if I need to dress a bit nicer to move up. I wouldn't say I slum it, but I'm not in a dress shirt and tie every day. I have enough ties not to have to buy any for a long time. I do want to buy more suits though.
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engineerdoe
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Post by engineerdoe on Sept 24, 2015 15:14:54 GMT -5
So they traveled wearing jeans and yoga pants or that is how they showed up to the meeting? As an engineer I get to be forever in blue jeans but I do dress up every now and then but the first requirement of all my clothes is I must be able to sleep comfortably in them. So that also means wrinkle resistant. What brand is good to sleep in and wrinkle resistant? I was just being a smart ass, sorry.
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movingforward
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Post by movingforward on Sept 24, 2015 15:27:41 GMT -5
Well, yoga pants don't wrinkle . I wore them on an 11 hr flight to Ireland and there were no wrinkles. Yes, they were comfy and yes I will wear them again when I fly overseas. No, I wouldn't show up to a business meeting wearing them.
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NomoreDramaQ1015
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Post by NomoreDramaQ1015 on Sept 24, 2015 16:00:14 GMT -5
I work in a lab so I am pretty casual. There is no way I'd wear business attire to get splattered with animal by=products or harsh chemicals. If you see me in a suit it means I am interviewing somewhere.
The rules for me are pretty much closed toed shoes, covered from the waist down and no flowy sleeves.
It does drive me bonkers when I see people in pajama bottoms. You could at least wear actual pants.
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emma1420
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Post by emma1420 on Sept 24, 2015 16:04:55 GMT -5
Our company handbook describes our dress code as business casual with more emphasis on the business than the casual.
So it ends up being a mixed bag. Supposedly we are not permitted to wear jeans any day, but there are several of the lower level in the office who wear colored jeans on a regular basis.
I wear dress pants and then a rotating collection of blouses, shells, cardigans, and sweaters. Occasionally, I will wear a dress. When we have VIPs I wear a suit. The biggest dress code offenders where I work is our IT department. Most of them dress very casually.
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raeoflyte
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Post by raeoflyte on Sept 24, 2015 17:38:41 GMT -5
I have a meeting in corporate next week that I'm trying to decide how to dress for. At first they said business casual, no jeans. Now they've said jeans are okay. I won't wear jeans, but on my last trip to open up a new office I really dressed up (for me anyway) and was way overdressed so I don't want to risk that again when they've opened it up to jeans. I swear I just can't win when it comes to fashion.
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NastyWoman
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Post by NastyWoman on Sept 24, 2015 18:01:21 GMT -5
Just to throw a new wrinkle in this discussion (and no, I won't steam that wrinkle out ) do you think there is an East Coast/Midwest/West Cost difference? Note that my no suits/dresses does not mean I don't interact with top level management or customers. I do, and for customers I will even wear nicely ironed shirts. The rest? Nah... nor does anyone care (I do fit in with my clothing although the buyers tend to be dressed up)
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MJ2.0
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Post by MJ2.0 on Sept 24, 2015 18:47:47 GMT -5
My job went to more business casual a couple of years ago, and one of the changes was that the men didn't have to wear ties. They took full advantage of that and now there are only a small portion of tie-wearers at work. I was disappointed in that change - I love a man in a nice tie.....
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MJ2.0
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Post by MJ2.0 on Sept 24, 2015 18:49:27 GMT -5
I have a meeting in corporate next week that I'm trying to decide how to dress for. At first they said business casual, no jeans. Now they've said jeans are okay. I won't wear jeans, but on my last trip to open up a new office I really dressed up (for me anyway) and was way overdressed so I don't want to risk that again when they've opened it up to jeans. I swear I just can't win when it comes to fashion. Colored khakis (like Navy), fitted white tee, and a tan cardigan?
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yogiii
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Post by yogiii on Sept 24, 2015 19:04:52 GMT -5
I have a meeting in corporate next week that I'm trying to decide how to dress for. At first they said business casual, no jeans. Now they've said jeans are okay. I won't wear jeans, but on my last trip to open up a new office I really dressed up (for me anyway) and was way overdressed so I don't want to risk that again when they've opened it up to jeans. I swear I just can't win when it comes to fashion. Dress pants paired with a nice shirt should also be casual enough and/or dressy enough for a "jeans are ok" environment.
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Lizard Queen
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Post by Lizard Queen on Sept 24, 2015 19:34:52 GMT -5
I wore jeans and a hoodie nearly every day at my last job. Only walking length shorts were allowed, but i opted for capris during the summer. Flip-flops and sandals were okay, but a male leasing agent got a talking to for wearing doc martin sandals. He was pretty useless, but I'm sure he made a good salary and got one of the few window offices, so i wouldn't feel too bad for him. The rest of us never saw customers, but he was supposed to.
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thyme4change
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Post by thyme4change on Sept 24, 2015 19:35:55 GMT -5
They wore that to the meetings - all 3 days. As far as my industry - I am in finance, but I work for a consumer packaged goods company. I don't really have exposure to anyone except employees of my company. It isn't like I am out interacting with all the other CPG companies. The average in my office used to be more professional, but they laid off or relocated most of our "power positions." We have 2 directors, a handful of managers and a bunch of worker bees. We have 2 VPs that spend 4 days (in a row) per month at the building. I dress as I always have, but as the higher level people have slowly drained out of my location, I am now realizing I may be out of place. I thought when all the people came in this week I would be surrounded by professionals - and they are - but aren't dressed like traditional professionals. I didn't know if it was just my company/experience, or if the world changed and I was left off the memo. I guess I get to go shopping. I think the best work dress advice I've ever seen is to dress like your boss's boss dresses. If they are in dresses and heels or suits, that is the standard of dress. If they are in jeans and t-shirts, that's the standard of dress. I, too, spent many years working for a consumer packaged goods company. The dress expectations at headquarters was very different from the dress expectations at plants. People at headquarters weren't required to go into manufacturing areas as part of their daily work, so they didn't need to wear clothes suitable for manufacturing environments. The fact that folks attended meetings at headquarters in yoga pants and flip flops indicates that they probably don't understand the differing dress expectations between headquarters and their home work location. This may have been their first visit to headquarters. So their wardrobe may not be similar to the wardrobes of headquarters employees. While I wouldn't necessarily expect plant staff to show up in suits and ties, if that is the normal dress for headquarters staff, I would expect business casual dress. And if jeans were worn, I would expect them to be neat and pressed. Not faded, frayed, holed, or comfortably worn. Neither my boss, nor my boss's boss are in my office. And they are both men - so the variety in their clothes in a little less obvious. We are not the headquarters. I guess it makes sense because they are sales reps, and they can go some dusty places to get the sale. So, I guess that is what they wear all the time. It probably is our industry standard. I believe all of them have to been to our offices at least twice, if not a hundred times. Because most of the people in my office now are more admin types, the reps probably see a lot of jeans when they come in. It probably wouldn't occur to them to suit up for this office. Today - one of the men was in jeans, a t-shirt and flip-flops. So much wrong - so very, very much.
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muttleynfelix
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Post by muttleynfelix on Sept 24, 2015 20:43:17 GMT -5
Just to throw a new wrinkle in this discussion (and no, I won't steam that wrinkle out ) do you think there is an East Coast/Midwest/West Cost difference? Note that my no suits/dresses does not mean I don't interact with top level management or customers. I do, and for customers I will even wear nicely ironed shirts. The rest? Nah... nor does anyone care (I do fit in with my clothing although the buyers tend to be dressed up) My experience is that it is more localized than that. Springfield, MO had gotten pretty casual. My old boss said no jeans except Fridays if you didn't have meetings. Current location is still in the Midwest, similar size city, but different industries dominate. It is much more formal. Then the gal from our Denver office showed up and was all sorts of casual. Company culture is fairly formal for our industry. Ties for the men. Sport coats for the male executives. Our female CEO is usually in a suit. However I have not seen a formal dress code.
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