Re: Dress Code *Results*

[Elna Tymes <etymes -at- LTS -dot- COM>]

Eric-

>  What's the benefit of mandating suits when most don't want to wear
> them? ...  Maybe there's a manager/executive type who can answer that
> for me--but don't say "it's what everyone else does."

I think I didn't respond to your survey.  Just to balance things out -
the company I own is in Silicon Valley, does tech writing and curriculum
development and internet/intranet work and systems design.  Every day is
casual day, *including* jeans (which I wear to work at least three days
a week), unless we have clients visiting our quarters.  At the moment,
three of our people are in shorts, our sales person is in a suit because
she's visiting a client, and the rest of us are in jeans or casual
pants.

When we dress for clients, it's based on what the client does.  If the
client's environment is full of suits, we dress in suits.  If the
client's environment is casual, we try to fit in, but throw on a jacket
as well so that it's clear we're there on business. (The clean jeans,
plain blouse or nice knit shirt, and jacket combination is perfectly
acceptable around here as slightly upscale-casual.)  When I'm doing
client visits prior to a completed sale, I'm in a skirted suit.

I've long held that the basic reason behind "office wear" is to visually
communicate "I'm one of us."  The problem comes in defining who "us"
is.  If you're going to wear casual clothes when everyone else is
wearing suits, you're communicating that you're not one of "us."
Likewise, if you're wearing a full suit in an environment where everyone
else is in jeans or shorts (e.g., a lot of development environments in
Silicon Valley), you're also communicating that you're not one of "us."
Which isn't necessarily a bad thing, depending on what you're trying to
do.

Elna Tymes
Los Trancos Systems

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