Re: Dress Code stuff

[Lynn Gold <figmo -at- RAHUL -dot- NET>]

Eric Haddock wrote:

>   Here's my fashion question for the week:  Why do technical writers, of all
>people, have to dress up? What productivity benefit is achieved by doing
>so--especially when there are "casual Fridays?" Who sees them? If there is one
>day a week when someone can dress comfortably--then why not have it all the
>time? What's the difference? If productivity suffers on that day, shouldn't it
>be stopped? If productivity is greater, shouldn't it be extended? If it
>doesn't make a difference--shouldn't the employees be allowed to choose?

It's always management that sets the rules on what people wear.  I was a
contractor at a hardware firm where people were *expected* to dress up
during the week -- the men wore ties and slacks, the women wore *dresses*.
Fridays were "dress down" days, and people showed up VERY casual -- for
example, the same sysadmin who wore frilly dresses during the week would
show up in spandex biker shorts and tank tops with logos on them.  My
boss's idea of "dressing down" involved wearing a polo or plain t-shirt
with jeans; during the week he wore a shirt and tie, suit jacket, and slacks.

>   What's the benefit of mandating suits when most don't want to wear them? It
>costs the employees a lot of money to buy dress clothes--this is especially
>true for women since their wardrobes cost a great deal more money which hurts
>women even more since their salaries are already lower than men in the same
>positions. If the same males who told women to wear skirts in winter also had
>to shell out the bucks for a real wardrobe and not for a comparatively small
>collection of suit jackets and shirts and ties (which all look the same
>more or less) that can be worn again even in the same week, then perhaps
>dress codes wouldn't be as strict as they appear to be.

In my experience, men's suits are generally WAY more expensive than women's
suits.  There are also more places that seem to cater to discount women's
dress clothes than men's.  The REAL issue is COMFORT.  Skirts usually cost
me less to buy than slacks, but I can't move around as easily if I'm
dressed up.  Companies that make workers dress-up when it's not an integral
part of their job function hurt themselves by not letting workers work in
clothes they find comfortable.

The one practical reason for making people dress-up is if your office has
frequent visitors.  In such a case, you may want a minimum dress code so
sales and management types from potential customers' companies (most of
whom are used to living in suits) won't be put-off.  In my last job you
sometims saw folks wearing good jeans, but you almost never saw folks in
shorts, rarely saw t-shirts, and the ones you saw were usually plain.  This
was because we all had to pass by the meeting room where customers were
wooed, so we had to look presentable.

--Lynn

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