Discussion on:

Dress code: When is casual too casual?

There is a such thing as too casual, especially when you are in a corporate environment (ie bank or financial) and if you are in front of people, how you dress speaks volumes. Sure there are people who prefer :'extra casual', but before we criticize them, we must consider their environment and culture. IT Pros must always be comfortable and wear clothes that are easy to take care of. I have been in both and Khakis is the way for me.

If you're too lazy to dress like a professional then stay home and play dungeons and dragons. This is business kiddies. Get with the program, or vote again for O'bama.

Apparently my comment was offensive?

My personal experience in near to 1.5 decade of IT industry had been that the dress code has to go with the atmosphere and feel of the environment. In office it can be semi formal where others are not distracted or are uncomfortable due to smelly cothing or show-off. Dress code should be that suits your comfort and merges with the atmosphere you are. How you dress at work, home, market, small gathering, marriage party & business party does differ. and dressing diffrently in each give you the flavour of life too and diffrent persona it creates around you and in your thoughts.
If you are in a very formal atmosphere with lots of business talk and you dress in a cargo it will be odd person out and also your thought allignment might be impacted. Same is you won't wear you marriage dress to market for shopping.
To cut short, Dress code is what will help you allign with the atmosphere and merge into it physically and mentally is what one should follow. And coorporates relaxing dress code is just to bring that tenssion down.

Or it shows where some people spend all their disposable income instead of minor things like retirement account. Me? I'd rather pad that retirement account and live well while they work longer, harder and are still working at 65 to pay for all those nice threads they love so much.

Give me my golf/polo shirt, chinos and comfy slip ons anytime.

I used to worked at a place that was very casual on Friday, you could wear flip flop, shorts, etc. One person ruined it for everyone when she decided to come to work in a white see through top with no bra. I think the person who ruins it should be told they cannot do casual Friday and leave the rest of us who can respect the rules keep it. I work in the IT field and the only time we are aloud to wear jeans is if we are going to a warehouse to work and on Friday's.

Some employees look like the came to work in their PJ's with a tie
Not good enough even when you work at home you need to have standards to give you the work mood and the work ethic.
And the groupies should shave and get a haircut ,,
Yes and that also goes for the Guys !.

What puts me in the work mood is sitting down at the computer with a cup of coffee and logging in. I'm just a voice on the phone at those times, and as long as I can get the job done, the customer doesn't care if I'm wearing a Dr. Who topcoat, mechanic's coveralls, farmer's overalls, a suit and tie, or nothing at all.

As for shaving, sorry, dude, ain't happening! After putting up with the discomfort of shaving daily for 24 years, blade has not touched my face since December 31, 1999. I keep it neatly trimmed, but don't now own either a razor or shaver and never will again. If you feel facial hair makes me less of a technician, that's not my problem.

And manner of dress does not, in any way, determine work ethic, only your opinion of it.

Cool idea. I think I'll make a suggestion that our official dress code include a Dr. Who topcoat.

I wear $20 jeans(I don't know where some of you are buying your jeans), and a $15-$30 polo shirt(or t shirt if it unusually warm), comfortable sneakers and I keep my beard trimmed. I don't think anyone has any right to complain as long as my clothes are clean and without holes/tears. I go to work to do work, not look like I'm doing work.

If I was in a manager's position or looking to be I might dress more professional.

Letting employees walk around in bare feet is asking for trouble.

I have been working for over 30 years and watched the degradation of professional dress. I am totally opposed to it. I think there needs to be a separation between work and play. I think you feel more professional if you dress more professionally and will do a better job. Take some pride in your appearance! Especially if you're a contractor. Show them they are spending their money wisely....

My company used to have casual dress on Fridays only. Recently they issued a policy change stating that everyday would be casual. Of course they listed some specific guidelines, such as no men's shorts, no women's tank tops, men's shirts had to have a collar, no men's sandals, etc.

The next morning, even though already at work, I emailed my boss and copied our team: "Sorry, running a little late today- didn't realize how difficult it would be finding women's sandals that fit comfortably."

People dress as they wish. Big bosses wear coat and ties, most others wear slacks and polo or button shirts, engineers wear what they want from t-shirt jeans and sneakers to business casual, but in the engineering lab of course there is no room for sandals etc, minimum is sneakers. There is one coder who wears sandals. one male out of 280 people. Wears socks with them and slacks and a button up shirt, go figure, but he is doing his freedom, so no problem. The females wear all kinds of crazy sandals and shoes!! (but not in the labs, it would be foolish). And it is not for men to judge what women wear, it is their own business. One lady got her stilletto heel caught in the gap in the fright elevator and landed on the floor. Did not stop her wearing them or using that elevator. So we get along with no policy. I wear a 4X-long shirt, if they want me to go to polo or button shirts every day they better increase my pay because those are 3x expensive than a T shirt and do not last longer, and will immediately be ruined in the lab from any snag or stain. Best for me to keep a stack of new black T shirts and wear them only till they don't look new, then get new one. The only time I ever wear dockers and a button up pinpoint shirt is to go to a customer's lab. I do lose a few dress shirts that way due to travel hazards, soldering, mechanical. I am paid to solve engineering problems in my lab or the customers' labs and doing that is where my reputation comes from. Not paid to look like the king of Spain.

I would definitely agree that walking around bare foot in the office is too casual. I would also have to add that when any man comes to the office with no socks on (i.e. wearing sandals) that's crossing the line of too casual. Save it for the beach dude!

I Sincerely believe in phrase "the way you dress is the way you will be addressed". Regardless of where you work, IT dept or Human resources, decorum should at least be observed, whether in a jean and t-shirt or 3 piece suit. Who knows if coming across a manager could get you a recommendation you didn't even expect.

Some years ago we had loosened the dress code in our main IT centre to allow jeans and, when a new director took over, he signalled an intention to up the level of professionalism by going back to a suit and tie rule.

A couple of weeks before this was to be announced, we had a visit from the chairman of the company and everyone was told that suit and tie was the dress code for the day. The chairman had a good day and he said he was impressed bu the work being done but in the wrap up afterwards he mentioned one disappointment.
"Very old fashioned!" he said. "On my visits to Silicon Valley everyone was dressed casually. Why don't I see any pony tails here?"

Needless to say, we're still allowed to wear jeans."

Even the best clothes are artificial and foreign to our bodies.

I believe the key thing is to be comfortable. I don't see any issue at all with blue jeans and plain t-shirt as long as the jeans are clean and without holes. I never could understand concerns about what type of fabric one's pants are made of. Or, is it just the color blue? Would brown jeans be OK? Doesn't make any sense. Would probably allow printed t-shirts on casual fridays as long as the printing is in acceptable taste - some can be pretty unacceptable.

in my opinion and experience (currently a manager in large Telecom), it all depends on organizational culture and function you are looking after, yes IT/Engg tend to be more casually dressed because in there case company is not looking for presentation skills as main skill. But to climb the corporate ladder one has to align somewhat to culture. IBM and Apple can be seen as two opposite cultures in same industry.

I am an IT Professional and have seen all shapes and sizes of dress in my many jobs. There are a few people who will only wear jeans and polo. One guy I work with wore his black jeans when the executives toured our building. Then there was a guy who would ALWAYS wear a suit. This guy ran network cables, racked servers, and worked with old dusty equipment dressed to the 9s. I always wear khakis and a polo with the occassional jeans day thrown in there. While I have seen my coworkers come in to work wearing shorts, I think you should dress like you are a manager if you indeed are one. You never know when the VP is in town and drops by unexpectedly. That actually happened to me once and I was dressed nicer than my boss. - Brendan Spaar, IT Professional from Alpharetta, GA