Business Casual Dress Codes - Have They Spiraled Out of Control?

Many offices today allow a dress code called "business casual". I will start out by saying I don't believe in business casual as a standard of dress for career oriented men and women. I have worked in several offices over the years and all the offices except for the New York City sales office I worked in had business casual dress codes.

The sales office attire was business suits because on any given day you could have an appointment with a client and would have to visit the client's location. Monster.com defines business casual as this: "In general, business casual means dressing professionally, looking relaxed yet neat and pulled together."

There are too many employees who take the business casual guidelines to extremes and look as though they are not dedicated to developing and maintaining a professional image. I was always taught that you should dress as well as your boss, if you want your superiors to see you as fitting into a higher position.

According to Wikipedia, the term business casual was first coined in the 1990's as a response to the young workers and how they felt more comfortable in casual clothes at Silicon Valley information technology startup companies. Other industries then adopted a "Casual Friday" ritual in which the code was still business dress during the week but workers could dress in khaki trousers and more casual clothes on Fridays.

I have personally seen "casual" dress spiral out of control. Both men and women now come to work in my office wearing ripped and faded jeans, tee shirts and sweatshirts and pilling and frayed sweaters. In the summer, men and women wear flip flops and some women even wear long shorts or Bermudas. I cannot respect this style of clothing for conducting business. Even if you work in an office which has no client contact, it's essential to career advancement and your professional image to look as though you are ready for an important meeting or to meet a client.

In July 2007, USA Today ran a story about business casual offices. In it, the Auburn, New York city manager was mentioned for banning most city employees from being allowed to wear jeans on Fridays, a day that had been dubbed" business casual".

Dallasnews.com reported in September 2007 that Paul Quinn College, the oldest African American liberal arts college in Texas, adopted a business casual dress code from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Thursday. Although this is a business casual code, it is a huge achievement for a college to enforce this as universities usually do not have any dress code at all. This type of structure will put Paul Quinn students at an advantage when they enter the "real world" to serve in internships or graduate and enter the workforce.

The president of the school, Michael J. Sorrell, is a true leader and his forward thinking is benefiting the students of his school many of whom come from lower socio-economic backgrounds. It looks like business casual is here to stay. I hope to see more universities adopting a dress code so that the next crop of corporate workers can sway the dress code atmosphere in the other direction.