Friday, May 10, 2013

The Suit is dead long live business Casual..?


Does anyone remember "Dress Down Friday"?   I was working in a large national Corporation where all males had to wear a suit and tie to work every day.   http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2050911,00.html
Around about 1999-2000 someone got the idea that you could get employees to pay a buck ($1.00) to some charity to be able to come to work with out a tie.  From there on, the company I was working for, noticed that the amount of crap the employees pumped out each Friday was no different from before Casual Friday, so they said let them wear blue jeans and a polo shirt.  No change in production of paper work crap so finally it was decided that the company would go dress optional.  May it be noted I never once wore a dress to work.
The funny thing was that when the Board of Directors came for their meetings we had to revert to business casual (No blue jeans or T-shirts) even though the big wigs never saw any of us we still had to pretend that we were working in New York City.  Makes me wonder if office workers in New York still wear coat and ties and dresses to work.  I suppose it depends on the work place.  Anyway happy dress down Friday.
May it also be noted that for me everyday is casual Friday but since everyday for me is like your Saturday....the joy of being able to let my hair down and be comfy in my work place is long gone.
hard for lots of young kids out there to comprehend that it has only been about 13 to 14 years since the hated tie was given a burial...14 years ago we would have been sent home from work if we showed up wearing a sweater on a cold day with no collared shirt and acceptable tie under the sweater.  No fish ties were allowed or any of the other fun ties.  Are people more productive these days?   Maybe.  But one side effect I think of getting all casual in the office work space is how far employees will push the envelope and end up getting dress codes in place for what is acceptable for work place attire.




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