Ditzenberger 1

Lydia Ditzenberger
Adam Padgett
English 102
15 November 2016
Changing Times: Casual Dress in the Workplace
Business attire has been around since the mid-1600's, after a plague outbreak, never
disappearing just changing with the times and fashion trends. Business attire follows the
guidelines of projecting a professional image for the company while focusing on the
clients/customers and gaining their trust. Currently, this is often interpreted by men wearing a
matching or non-matching suit, an optional tie, black or brown belt, dress socks, and polished
dress shoes. For women, it is interpreted as a dress pant or skirt, non-matching jacket, collared
blouse or professional top, optional pantyhose, simple jewelry, polished shoes, and natural
looking makeup. However, lately, there appears to have been a shift in the attitude of companies
and their requirements for employee dress. It appears to have shifted to a casual look often
consisting of jean and a collared shirt or t-shirt with few to no restrictions on accessorizing. The
change has been a controversial topic for many business in recent times. Which leads me to
question, what exactly in the best dressed? I am generally one to argue that business casual is the
best dressed based on cultural changes, the current generations thought process, public image,
and the populations popular opinion.
With each definition of the clothing groups also comes with a connotation. Formal attire
comes with an association with competency, authority, ambitiousness, respectability,
organization, determination, punctuality and career oriented. Business formal, more specifically,

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shows status. Business casual, shows productivity. Casual attire has an implication of being less
refined, embarrassing and unprofessional. Per Jensen, casual attire [also] implies that
[companies] allow a casual attitude, which results in a casual (lazy) work ethic. On the otherhand, it has the overtone of a friendlier atmosphere to better develop connections. It does so by,
eliminat[ing] barriers between managers and employees thus improv[ing] communication
between management and employees, [instilling] a sense of togetherness (Franz and Norton).
That is where the confusion comes into play. Companies want to foster the environment that is
associated with casual attire while remaining professional in appearance.
There have been multiple studies on the changes in work worn attire over the past two
decades to determine how sever the changes in attire are. A law firm, Jackson and Lewis,
indicated that 44% reported an increase in tardiness and absenteeism and 30% reported a rise in
flirtatious behavior after the implementation of dress-down policies (Karl). In this instance,
there was clearly a negative effect on implementing a more casual dress environment within the
workplace. It is also noted by Franz and Norton, that between 1992 and 1995 the percentage, of
companies allowing employees to dress in casual attire, went up 20 percent from 13 to 33
percent. This shows a large uptick in the overall trend towards casual work environments.
However, Gallup ran two polls in two separate years, 2002 and 2007. The results of these two
polls showed a small difference between what attire employees fancied wearing; the change
being between 4 and 10 percent, depending on the category. In this set of data, it can be noted
that there was an increase in Business Casual and a decrease in all others (omit the all/mixed/
(vol.) category). Overall, there is an uptick in companies/employees dressing in a more casual
attire, even if it is business casual.

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Now, people tend to believe that this uptick in casual dress is due to the younger
generations. Medici suggests, that relaxed dress codes are due in part to the preferences of
younger generations entering the workforce who believe more in the value of the work they do
than the image they present (Karl). However, a study done at two east coast collages suggest
otherwise. The data collected supports the idea that, students about to enter the workplace
strongly prefer business casual over casual (Cardon and Okoro). Business students specifically,
see strong contrasts in professional characteristics associated with the degree of formality in
workplace attire (Cardon and Okoro). It should also be noted that, young professionals clearly
associate authoritativeness and competence with more formal business attire, productivity and
trustworthiness with somewhat formalformal workplace attire, and creativity and friendliness
with more casual workplace attire (Cardon and Okoro). This goes to show that students are
taking an active role in observing the associations with attire and roles within a company. The
younger generations are still observing and practicing the traditional business atmosphere
created by those before them.

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There is also the public perception that should be accounted for when determining the
attire of a workplace. J.S. Bowmen did a study of public manager in 1992 where, more than
85% agreed that an employees appearance is important to the organization and its image (Karl).
More recently in 2008, a survey by Smith, determined that 44 percent of managers felt a dress
code makes professional atmosphere. With 33 percent feeling as though it created a better public
image (Karl). Body art is a topic that cannot be avoided when discussing dress codes in the work
place. As of 2006, 24 percent of Americans have a tattoo and 14 percent a piercing other than on
their ear. Thus, companies have had to come up with a way to deal with the body art, but they
have not always been so successful. In one study, 73 percent were repelled by unusual hair
color, 72 percent by body piercings, 69 percent by unusual hair styles and 69 percent was also
repelled by visible tattoos (Karl). However, after surveying customers tattoos were found to
have the least impact on the perception of customer service. Hairstyles, hair color and facial
piercings were in the middle of the road. But, clothing with tears, rips or holes or were overall
revealing had the largest impact on perceived customer service.
Overall, business casual was the preferred mode of dress for most public
employees (Karl). When asked what, they liked to wear to work 49 percent responded with
business casual attire, 28 percent with casual attire and only 6 percent stated formal business
attire. When asked what, they wore to work 55 percent responded with business casual attire, 16
percent with casual attire and 11 percent with formal business attire (Karl). The clear winner
amongst the employees surveyed is business casual attire by a 21 to 39 percent difference
between casual and business casual attire. In a separate study 64 to 73 percent of respondents
preferred business casual attire over any other attire (Salary). A survey conducted also
determined that when given the option to create their own dress code 70 percent would enact a

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policy aligning with business casual attire (Salary). In comparison, 9 percent would enact a
formal dress code, 11 percent jeans and t-shirts, 5 percent would not instate a dress code and 1
percent would have a dress code consisting of shorts and flip-flops. Thus, it is apparent that
employees do favor some formality when dressing for the workplace.

{CONCLUSION}