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Please help me to understand why companies think it is such a glorious and motivating privilege to let us wear blue jeans to work on occasion?
Most work places these days are probably pretty much like mine. Overall, we are what you would call business casual in our daily work apparel anyway. Gone are the days in most offices when all the men came to work decked out in stiff suits and ties, and we women wore high heeled pumps and blazers, as we did up until about the early 1990's. My daily work slacks are as comfortable, if not more so, than my jeans.
Yet here will come an email down the pipeline announcing with much grandeur that we are going to be granted a "jean day"! I don't know, am I missing something here? Am I just cynical from watching Office Space way too many times?
Do you have this, or something similar, at your work place?
The change in attire during my working life has been remarkable. When I first started employers could still require women to wear skirts. In my first job out of law school it was formal suits every day. Then came business casual Fridays, then business casual every day, and then business casual got more casual, as well as meaning something a little different everywhere. Then casual Fridays (what I think is your "jean day"). Then the pandemic, working from home and casual every day. I love it. I never liked dressing up and for me, dressing up doesn't make me take my job more seriously as some have said. And in my career I've always had to put in long hours and it's simply easier in casual clothing. For me, personally, anything in my job that would add to the casualness of attire is welcome. I'm fortunate now as I am fully remote for a casual company so unless I am interviewing someone I am in jeans and a hoodie pretty much every day.
I never understood why my co-workers like jeans day. We wear scrubs normally. To me scrubs are one-half step up from pajamas, loose and light and comfy. Why would I want to wear jeans instead of them? I don't get it.
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I live and work in Southern California, the office has always had a "California business casual" feel to it. Jeans day ended at my office about 15 years ago. We are pretty much business casual 5 days a week for the last 15 years.
I would say jeans day might still be applicable in certain fields where dress is still formal, such as the legal professions. One can still look pretty professional in jeans.
Please help me to understand why companies think it is such a glorious and motivating privilege to let us wear blue jeans to work on occasion?
Most work places these days are probably pretty much like mine. Overall, we are what you would call business casual in our daily work apparel anyway. Gone are the days in most offices when all the men came to work decked out in stiff suits and ties, and we women wore high heeled pumps and blazers, as we did up until about the early 1990's. My daily work slacks are as comfortable, if not more so, than my jeans.
Yet here will come an email down the pipeline announcing with much grandeur that we are going to be granted a "jean day"! I don't know, am I missing something here? Am I just cynical from watching Office Space way too many times?
Do you have this, or something similar, at your work place?
Are jeans normally not allowed? If so, I just chalk it up as them relaxing the rules to include that from time to time. I personally prefer chinos/khakis over jeans. But I guess that's personal preference as a lot of people prefer jeans. I'd see this as making those people happy. And that's the thing - you have strict polices, and relax them so they are seen as a "perk"...
In general - dress codes are outdated/unnecessary IMO.
I remember some years ago - a new CEO (female) of a F100 company (I don't remember which one) basically dropped the dress code for the most part. She basically said "Dress appropriately". This caused a big stir.
I completely agree with her. As someone who has spent most of his career creating policies/regulations. Most of these are aimed at the few that can't act like adults. Unfortunately - for some, "dress appropriately" is not clear enough. So you end up having unnecessary policies, and sometimes, have to go into excruciating detail on what is/isn't appropriate. I remember working at a bank that relaxed the dress code. And when this happened, they ended up with so many issues - the had to create brochures on what is okay and what is not. Guess what, after a year of this, they went back to a more strict (still more relaxed than original) dress code.
Are jeans normally not allowed? If so, I just chalk it up as them relaxing the rules to include that from time to time. I personally prefer chinos/khakis over jeans. But I guess that's personal preference as a lot of people prefer jeans. I'd see this as making those people happy. And that's the thing - you have strict polices, and relax them so they are seen as a "perk"...
In general - dress codes are outdated/unnecessary IMO.
I remember some years ago - a new CEO (female) of a F100 company (I don't remember which one) basically dropped the dress code for the most part. She basically said "Dress appropriately". This caused a big stir.
I completely agree with her. As someone who has spent most of his career creating policies/regulations. Most of these are aimed at the few that can't act like adults. Unfortunately - for some, "dress appropriately" is not clear enough. So you end up having unnecessary policies, and sometimes, have to go into excruciating detail on what is/isn't appropriate. I remember working at a bank that relaxed the dress code. And when this happened, they ended up with so many issues - the had to create brochures on what is okay and what is not. Guess what, after a year of this, they went back to a more strict (still more relaxed than original) dress code.
"Jeans" is too vague. Some people will not understand that skin-tight "distressed" jeans with a rip exposing one buttock are not work-appropriate.
I'm glad the days of white shirts and ties are gone. But I also see too many recent graduates that have no common sense either when it comes to dress. And I can see how the work environment does impact what one wears. In our environment jeans and polos make sense. What I'm seeing today is a lot of well worn jeans and tee shirts. And just a general sloppy appearance. And while it shouldn't be an issue, there seems to be a correlation between sloppy appearance and sloppy work. the overall level of professionalism in work product seems to follow professionalism in dress sadly.
If wearing jeans at the office is bad for morale and productivity, obviously they need to be banned. If wearing jeans doesn't hurt morale and productivity, banning them is pointless.
Allowing jeans on some days but not others? That's just admitting that there isn't a lick of logic backing the dress code. It's an obvious "throw the worker bees a bone without it costing us anything" ploy. (OK, so bees wouldn't be interested in bones, but - it's typed.)
If you want to set a tone in the office, sure - say "business casual" or whatever, then - and this is the important bit - then have the guts to actually manage. Tell Sean from accounting that sandals aren't business causal. But if you have to make a dress code that specifies allowable colors for socks in writing, then you're either hiring the wrong people or just really bad at leading them.
Please help me to understand why companies think it is such a glorious and motivating privilege to let us wear blue jeans to work on occasion?
This is outdated nonsense like forcing people to come into the office 5 days a week instead of working from home. It is one of those things that upper management and HR get to check off as a so-called employee morale booster. When in reality it doesn't do anything. I find it laughable how some companies list casual Fridays as an employee benefit.
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