Dress Codes

In 1996, I changed collars from blue to white. Blue collar jobs sometimes have a dress code. That dress code is usually consists of a uniform the employer expects a person to wear. White collar jobs usually do have a dress code that all are expected to adhere to. I have come to learn that one universal truth of the universe is that whether blue or white, employees will always test the bounds of the code.

Just as I entered the white collar work force, the code was changing. The old code was that men should wear suits, or at least a shirt and tie with jacket. The new code was shirt and tie, jacket not required. I worked at the corporate headquarters of a Fortune 100 company. You never knew when you would pass a division president in the halls. Even the lowly peon (like I was) could dramatically impact the company's stock price by accidentally backing over the CEO in the parking garage. The atmosphere was rigid, yet we always challenged the dress code. Leaving the top button undone on our shirt, or loosening the knot in our tie were small ways to make the rigid dress code more comfortable.

It wasn't long before the dress code changed if only on Fridays. Casual Fridays brought the elimination of ties. Dress pants and shirts were still expected. We employees welcomed the change, but still tested the new boundaries. Instead of dress shirts, we wore collared golf shirts. The dress code again changed to allow golf shirts, but only if they were not vendor logoed. The thought was that corporate employees wearing vendor colors might send the wrong impression to competing vendors. The problem was that corporate employee's closets are full of vendor logoed apparel. The vendors learned that if they softened the logo to make it hard to notice, corporate employees could get away with wearing the logos at work.

It was around 1998 the company I worked for dropped ties from their dress code. The new code was dress slacks (no cotton Dockers) with collared dress shirt. Every man in the company welcomed the change. Every man in the company ignored the cotton Docker exception. Soon the cotton Dockers exception was eliminated because it was impossible to enforce. With the new code came the realization that Fridays were no longer special. If every day was business casual, casual Friday needed a new definition. Casual Friday then became blue jeans Friday.

Four days of business casual with blue jean Friday became the norm for several years. This dress code survived longer than any other in my memory. But even the boundaries of this code are tested. During this past harsh winter, an executive I work for allowed blue jeans on inclimate days. His non-specific definition of inclimate referred to days with extreme cold and snow. Employees interpreted this to any day that was cold or when there was snow falling or on the ground. Essentially, that was any day this past winter. Some employees continue to test the code by wearing jeans on rainy days or days with below average temperatures.

Add to that a rather new component of corporate fundraisers selling jeans days for donations, and we soon found that anyone might be wearing jeans on any given day of the year. The question arises if they are wearing jeans due to a donation, or the inclimate weather? Now the days are getting warmer and a few people are again testing the boundaries by wearing tennis shoes. A few even dare to wear flip flops.

Most of my business day involves conference calls, Livemeetings and email. Aside from my cube neighbors, I rarely know what others are wearing on any particular day. Yet, I wonder when or if the relaxing dress codes will end. If we had swim suit Mondays, toga Tuesdays, tank top Wednesdays, bath robe Thursdays and flip-flop Fridays, would those boundaries be tested also?