Spring is finally here! I know this because today I saw a man wearing sandals with socks. I will know it is summer when I see men wearing sandals, socks, and Bermuda shorts. It’s the Swiss old man summer uniform.
Now, I believe that socks with sandals should be banned. But my friend suggested these as a compromise:
Photo and design by Anita Grahn. Check out her work here.
Now, if Facebook hadn’t pulled down their test, I surely would have marked that photo as some sort of assault on my eyes.
Now the real question: Do your offices have official summer dress codes? Are you allowed to wear open toed shoes? (I’m assuming a situation where there aren’t safety concerns, of course.) What about sleeveless shirts? Shorts? Women can wear short skirts but men still have to wear dark dress pants?
What do you think is appropriate?
Many employers have gone to so-called “Business Casual” — Dockers and polos, etc. — which is a positive sign. We’re allowed to wear jeans on Fridays, but, frankly, for most of us — working in front of our computers all day, with no external client contact — there’s no reason why that wouldn’t work every day. I do think that — for most workplaces — shorts and flip-flops are going too far, unless they’re the dressy “city shorts” for women.
With the exception of manufacturing environments, I think employees should be able to wear what they are comfortable in and as long as it is appropriate. Jeans, shorts, and sandals are acceptable as long as there isn’t customer contact.
My current position (and the position that I’m starting soon) allow jeans and polos every day, which is much better than slacks every day.
We have an “office appropriate” dress code: no jeans, no sleeveless tops (because others might take that as an invitation to wear camisoles), shorts have to be at least knee-length. Open-toe shoes are acceptable for the office staff but not the nurses and CNAs that travel. (Most of them wear uniforms anyway). I wish we could wear jeans, but otherwise our dress code is pretty workable. It’s usually air-conditioned inside in the summer, so you’d want to wear a light sweater with a sleeveless top anyway.
We can wear business casual or jeans every day, and shorts every Friday, year round. Sandals are fine as long as you aren’t in the manufacturing area. Women can wear sleeveless shirts, but no tank tops. When we have important customers in the building, we notify employees to wear business casual in the office area (does not affect the manufacturing area).
My desk happens to sit in the coldest spot in the office so I still wear closed toed shoes and a sweater, even in the hottest days of August!
We can wear whatever we like, provided it’s neat, not ripped, your underwear/bra straps don’t show and it’s clean and doesn’t have offensive messages. We almost never have clients in the office and when we do, they’re passing through on vacation and don’t really care what we’re wearing!
Same here. We don’t care what anyone wears as long as it’s clean, not ripped, not excessively revealing, etc. I’m starting to see more althleisure wear popping up, but so far, it’s not an issue. We go to clients, not the other way around, so that removes some of the usual reasons for a more formal dress code.
Great post! I guess we would allow men to wear skirts too, but none have ever asked!
Linda, thanks for posting this!
I also believe that if women are able to wear sleeveless tops than men should be able to also. I also believe the same about the shoulder-less/”cold shoulder” tops.
Women in our office can’t wear the sleeveless tops but they do wear skirts and shoulder-less tops.
But boys do! https://www.theguardian.com/education/2017/jun/22/teenage-boys-wear-skirts-to-school-protest-no-shorts-uniform-policy
LOVE IT! I admire them!
Our office recently expanded its dress code to allow Bermuda shorts for any gender after the gents pointed out that their khaki shorts were longer than womens’ pencil skirts. My male coworkers who wear kilts to the office were not affected by this change.
I have a sort of gimpy left foot and walk 100% pain free only in my Birkenstock sandals. I wear them every day half the year, even in the office. I’m old school enough that I don’t really want to see anybody’s feet in the office, and it bothers me that others can see mine — but holy wow is walking pain free amazing.
I’d get an extra month or two in the Birks if I were willing to wear them with socks. I’ve tried the closed clogs as a way of dealing with the sock problem, and think they look dorkier than Birks with socks.
I work in a software startup, so pretty much anything goes with dress — there’s no dress code at all.
In a college environment, we have been business casual for as long as I’ve been here (14 years) which used to mean trouser pants and blouses for the women, but in the past few years has (thankfully) morphed into leggings, tunic tops, scarves and knee high boots. I love the look and it’s so comfortable. Fridays we wear jeans, and capris, sleeveless tops and sandals are all good. Frankly, you can get away with thong sandals if they’re ‘fancy’ (not flip flop material). But in an academic environment where we are serving a student population, I feel jeans every day would be suitable, as long as the top and accessories didn’t make you look like a bum. But there are those people who would make jeans look so casual that it would ruin it for everyone, so I’ll stick with my liberties and not complain about anything at all! ☺
At a previous job the only dress-code was that you wore clothes. A shirt/top and pants/skirt were all that were required. Even shoes were optional, though I think socks were strongly encouraged.
At the same job, I did break the dress code a couple of times! Only when working from home though! 🙂
Our year-round dress code is business casual (emphasis on business) with no sleeveless shirts or tops. It is gender neutral so that neither men or women may have exposed arms. Of course, the A/C is so cold in the summer, most people continue to wear scarves and sweaters.
For the Ladies:
We can wear sleeveless tops or dresses but nothing that looks like or is a tank top (unless you are wearing a shirt or jacket over it). (personally I don’t like the look of sleeveless for work, I think it’s too casual, then they complain that the A/C is too cold)
We can wear sandals but nothing in the flip flop family!
Capris are acceptable.
For the Men:
Polo shirt, long pants.
We have a pretty lax dress code but summer is always problematic with flip flops, shorts etc. someone always goes past what may be reasonable and customary.
After quibbling item by item over what did or did not meet dress code I ended with this:
If you can wear it in the shower, if you can wear it in the ocean, if you work out in it, if you will wear it while getting that perfect summer tan…don’t wear it to the office!
We have a business casual dress code and jeans on Friday. I am probably the only person who follows it. Of course, I’m HR. But the managers in the office do not want to deal with the uncomfortable conversations of someone’s pants being too tight, or the holey shirt they wear weekly. When I’ve asked my Branch Manager if he wants to allow a more relaxed dress code he states he feels things are fine the way they are…. it’s annoying.
I had a manager in the past who used to tell her people, ‘if it’s going to gross me out or make me jealous then don’t wear it to work’.
I work in the corporate office of a regional retail hardware store chain. We have a dress code. We are not allowed to wear a coat and tie. This is partly because, as a hardware store, we need to project a proper blue collar image – people don’t want to buy toilet parts from some kid wearing a tie, they want some kid who looks like he knows what he’s talking about.
And partly because this is southern California, and the owner, who comes in during the summer in shorts and sandals, doesn’t want to feel underdressed in his own office.
(It came up when we hired a new buyer from another company. He showed up his first day in a coat and tie, like he’d dressed for 20 years at the old place. “Bob, we need to talk. We don’t dress that way here. Lose the coat and tie.” )
Had a flip flop war with my boss a few years ago. I only wear flat sandals, all of them thongs with a strap around the back. These in NO WAY look like beach flip flops, but are nice, dressy sandals. She kept b*tching they were flip flops. I got so tired of it I switched over to scrub pants and sneakers (my job isn’t clinical, but were’re allowed to wear scrubs and sneakers). I still get annoyed when I think of this!
No flip flops but any other kind of sandal is totally fine. Open toe heels are always fine. I wouldn’t wear a tank top but sleeveless dresses are fine along with appropriate sleeveless tops. Jeans on Friday unless I’m meeting with people. Capri’s are also ok. Skirts certainly fine but no shorter than a dress would be. At OldJob in the summer, shorts would’ve been fine. Here I wouldn’t do even “dressy” shorts. Bridge too far.
Regardless of the season, people should make sure that how they dress is consistent with the statement they want to make and message they want to send. Before they utter a word, their suitability for a position or promotional opportunity can be sized up and judged, correctly or incorrectly.
I think it’s important to consider how a company’s culture affects the appropriateness, or wisdom, of dress codes–and how a dress code can influence a company’s culture. One dress code might work at one company, but be disastrous at another.
For example, I’ve worked at a few nonprofits where everyone was very driven, ambitious, and shared a common vision. Dress codes ranged from very casual to business casual, and yet work got done, on time and at high quality. (FWIW, these nonprofits served an older student audience (high school-grad school).
Yet if a company I’ve worked for had a casual dress code, I could see it very easily contributing to a decline in work product quality. There was no comparable common vision or level of drive to that of the nonprofits.
The clothes we wear help create a perception of the values and priorities of the activity we’re engaged in while wearing them. Unless a company has a high level of shared dedication to the work, and/or positive perceptions (“Our work is very important,” “my contributions are crucial to overall success,” “I have lots of creativity/control over my work,” etc), I think having a more formal dress code helps encourage seriousness and a sense that good-quality work is expected. Of course, too restrictive and morale will tank.
Many factors that are in play–the type of work the company does, the average age of the workforce, local culture, etc. I’d be very curious to know if there’s ever been a rigorous study of the relationship between dress codes and work performance/morale.
My company is business casual, emphasis on casual. Jeans are okay any day, as are flip flops—although no one wears them in the winter because of the snow.
Mostly, everyone that works there is an adult and dresses appropriately. There’s one guy I see in the summer wearing khaki shorts, but he always wears a collared golf shirt with them, so it doesn’t look as casual as if he were wearing a t shirt.
Mostly, it’s a lot of wool sweaters, flannel and fleece in the winter, and jeans, dockers, skirts and lightweight tops/shirts in the summer.
When the CEO is spotted in a suit, it’s either a board meeting or a very important client visit. It’s an education-related business of about 350 employees.
As a knitwear designer, the photo caught my eye – and the fact that it’s source was not credited. This is a design by Anita Grahn, and the photo is also hers. Please consider adding a photo credit at the very least. And remember, just because you don’t find something to be your cup of tea, doesn’t mean that the creator of it doesn’t have rights (or feelings).
Notably: this sock is part of a collection called “Funny Socks”.
Thanks! I didn’t know where it originally came from, as it was passed around Facebook without attribution. I’ll definitely add a photo credit.
And, I think, if it’s labeled funny socks, she understands that they are funny. 🙂
There’s a big difference between business casual and beachwear and the employees need to dress appropriately. So unless the office is a set for a porn studio, there’s no reason to wear tube tops and micro shorts to work. As far as the argument for flipflops, they are not really good footwear unless they are the high-quality versions which are made for standing and walking on office floors and concrete. Cheap flipflops are Workman’s comp accidents to come. There’s plenty of nice sturdier sandals which are office appropriate and open air for those who feel the need to go sockless in summer. I personally convert from leather shoes to a cloth type shoe in the warmer month which is as cool as a sandal but exposes no foot, plus I don’t have to deal with getting my toes painted.
Shorts by either gender should be at knee length or lower. Culottes are good too. Tops could be sleeveless if not low cut in front and around the armpit area and not backless either, preferable would be polo length sleeves. Tanks tops are beach wear only not office attire.
I saw that site with the “Funny Socks”, someone made socks to wear for many different uses. They even have socks that just cover the toes. People will do anything to not wear hip to toe stockings and go bare leg.