Know-How Exchange : Other

I am in a business casual setting: polo/button down and khakis/dress pants.

However, you are correct: business professional is making a comeback. This is especially true for those working in firms, or those who are often dealing with clients.

There is often an industry standard too. Technology fields are usually more apt to business casual, while business (acctg, finance etc.) are more traditional. The same holds true for departments within large organizations.

Our clients have been heading back to business attire. Unless we're selling out services to a farmer or oil rig developer, we're in "Customer Contact Apparel"

It also depends on whether customers visit your place of business. Those businesses who get customer visits often post a sign saying "Friday is casual day, but to participate in this day employees contribute $2 to american cancer society each friday"

Things like that keep employees happy and put a good spin on it for customers.

Micheal

My Dear Kelli-Anne

Being British, we professionals have no problems in understanding the required dress codes expected of us. I admit that the lower orders perchance suffer a quandary in wondering whether to wear their best suit to the office on the off-chance that a director might grace the building with his presence, or whether they should keep it in pristine condition for those occasions where one’s sartorial presence will determine one’s future progression from humble clerk to second under manager (filing)

We, the managerial class, dress easily in Black Jacket, pin-stripe trousers, grey waistcoat with gold watch chain, modest regimental or school tie and black bowler hat from Herbert Johnson of Bond Street. Shoes are by Lobbs of St James’s and are hand made. On the occasions where a touch of formality is mandated, perhaps due to a spot of lunch at the Savoy, a set of tails with black tie will usually suffice. Only parvenus will wear the top-hat, this being entirely inappropriate during the day time, unless of course one is attending Ascot.

Oiks can wear what they will but they don’t count.

One if the reasons why this simple dress code is so valuable is that no man knows how to dress unless he is told how to do so and at 6.30 in the morning, ones wife is not yet of a mind to give advice if navy slacks will look good with a Pringle jumper and a Harris Tweed jacket or whether a pair of Chino’s (Whatever they are) will go with one’s son’s baseball cap for that oh-so-important meeting with an American Hedge-Fund Manager.

As a result, if given the choice of how to dress of a morning, I end up looking like our gardener, which I suppose is OK for meeting those Hedge Fund Managers (Whatever they are)

Steve Alker
Unimax Solutions
(dress code: Yes please)

It's a minefield! We've turned up to pitch for new business, in a big corporate environment, suited & booted, to be met by the prospective client team in ripped jeans & t-shirts. And they weren't a young start up either! We're pretty casual in our office, jeans t-shirts ar ethe order of the day (we are a design studio after all), but when meeting clients, whether in our enironment or theirs, I think it's repectful to don a smart shirt, clean shoes and a whistle. (a suit for our non uk readers!). I don't think a tie is particularly necessary these days, but I think the general rule of thumb is it's difficult to be overdressed, but quite easy to be underdressed. I keep a set of smart gear in the office in case of emergency meetings! This message is obviously written from a male perspective.