I have been managing people and processes for thirty years. The single most sticky management situation is office dress codes. Working in South Florida, with the diversity and the Cuban influence, the policy is a bit more tricky than say, Hayes, Kansas.
Most people understand that wearing shorts or T shirts and baseball caps is pretty much not considered office dress. Unless of course, you are working in IT. But I have always managed businesses that dealt with two things – people and money. Customer service and trust. But, it isn’t all that easy these days. Examples:
Men Dress Issues:
Pretty much, I don’t care. No baggy jeans hanging down by your kneecaps, and no hats on backwards, and I’m pretty cool.
Women Dress Issues:
Leg wear
Back in the 70’s and 80’s it was standard for women to wear a dress or skirt with stockings. I would send someone home if they didn’t have stockings. Damn, it has been years since I’ve seen stockings…..
Jeans are generally not office clothing, but what about the fancy expensive jeans-like things women wear these days? When is denim not jeans? The line between dress slacks and rodeo jeans has blurred. I have to draw the line somewhere, but I’m not so sure where.
What about those weird three quarter slacks women wear? The end of the slacks don’t reach their ankles, and often barely passes their kneecaps. When is it shorts? I try to ban them, because every man on the planet hates looking at them anyway. Looks like they are getting ready for a flood or something….
What about non-jeans, but extremely tight slacks for women? The ones that are so tight you can clearly see the thong the gal is wearing underneath….or that she isn’t wearing anything underneath? I usually have to inspect them closely in order to make a judgement. So far, I’ve done a great deal of inspecting but haven’t come to a conclusion yet.
Skirts. Yeah, well, mini-skirts aren’t such an issue these days, unfortunately. I had that one worked out pretty well. If your dress or skirt was so short that when you bent down to pick up a paperclip…..well, you get what I’m saying.
Slits in dresses. Yeah, you don’t see these too much either, but occasionally someone wears a skirt or dress with a slit up the side. I usually let them slide……..
Top clothing:
Midriff. Generally speaking, an office environment where money and in-person customer service is involved, bellies should not be seen. Unless the girl is bending down to pick up a paper clip or something. This is tough, because personally, I love seeing women’s middles. Assuming they are not so large around that their belly hangs below their belt several inches. But still, even with the slim Cuban gals, I have to ban these. Much to my disappointment.
Breasts. This is another really difficult issue. Again, we have a Central & South American influence here, so if I banned all uncovered breasts from my office I would lose most of my female staff. And females make up 98% of my staff. And let’s face it, nothing makes the day go by better than a few partially exposed well tanned breasts passing your office.
But again, where do you draw the line? Some plunging necklines can plunge straight into the navel. Others have their full tanned breasts almost entirely exposed, just a nano-second from popping out and poking some one’s eye out! But I really hate to be a hard nosed boss, you know? Tolerance is important in managing people. I usually don’t say anything for first time offenders. OK, maybe I let them go a few more times. But by the hundredth time it is time I put my foot down!
Yet – how does a male boss correctly tell his female employees to cover up their breasts? Without making them cover them up too much of course! I don’t want to make them all wear burqas. Unless they are Muslim of course. And even then, I think I would follow the French on this one.
Even more complicated are the blouses that fully cover the breasts, but are so tight it appears to be just spray painted on the gal. Or, a blouse that is so sheer and thin that I don’t even need my Imagination Vision to pretty much view the freckles. How do I write that in a policy?
Maybe you have encountered dress codes in your job and care to share your experiences? Or worked at jobs where there wasn’t any dress code? That might help me to complete my research and formally develop my dress code policy.
Let me hear from you.
SCG
WOW!!!! What another stunning success for the Florida Department of Turds. (FDOT). This one is even WORSE than the I-95 Flyover!!!
SCG
