Need your suggestions for "dress code"

[HannaBelle]

Hey Dis friends…I need a bit of help.

I have recently been promoted to management at my small company and I am in charge of interviewing/training our receptionist. Before our previous receptionist left, we worked together to create a binder with a full scope of work for that position.

The one thing I am struggling with is dress code. We are a small business, but we are the leasing office for office warehouse complex. We have a lot of in and out traffic everyday. Our front desk person has to be nicely dressed, clean, smiley and friendly.

We do allow our employees to wear jeans, but they cannot be faded/frayed/or have holes. They must be nice looking, but do not have to be starched/ironed. Capris are acceptable, shorts are not. Sandals are acceptable; $1 flip flops (or anything close) are not.

I am not doing an adequate job of explaining this to our new hires. I know that one of my problems is that the last 2 people have been right out of college and have not spent a lot of time in the business world. They do not have a basic office attire wardrobe built up.

So, what do I need to tell the 20 something’s so that they understand the difference between campus casual and office casual?

I am going to write something up with explicit language and I am considering using photos…lol… Help me out with what to say please!

 

[golfgal]

I would list the "code" as business casual and give some examples of acceptable clothing with a line about when it doubt, don't wear it or when in doubt, ask. I would let the new hire that the preferred wardrobe would be khaki's or capri's with a nice top.

 

[usnuzuloose]

If you are training you could use a few pics to show what is acceptable and what is not. Then you could ask them if you came into an office what would rather see someone wearing? Sometimes things can be made to be light hearted and make things less stressful to explain. Younger people just need to be taught what is acceptable and what is not.

I have a problem just looking at some people with huge earrings and peircings when working customer service. But I am 48 I guess I'm just old fashion. Just have a good time working with them. Jo

 

[NotUrsula]

What are the points where people are misinterpreting?

The usual catch-all phrase is "clean, modest, and in good repair", but it sounds as if you need a few add'l details. You can also parenthetically define "good repair" as free from rips, holes, stains or frayed edges.)

To rule out shorts you can specify that all pants must be at least long enough to cover the knee. (Of course, that leaves open the option of miniskirts, so you'll have to specify a skirt length as well.)

To rule out flip-flops, you could specify that all sandals must have a heel strap, or if you want to allow mules but not flip-flops, you could specify that all backless shoes must have at least a 1" heel.

 

[LuvOrlando]

What about doing a search for other companies dress codes, preferably those of big companies where a legal team already combed through the language? At least that's what I would do

 

[Christine]

"Jeans" are your slippery slope. Once you allow jeans, it becomes a free-for-all!!

Nice jeans are very subjective and based on age group. As a 46 year old, I envision a work appropriate pair of jeans to be trouser style with a very dark wash. Minimal pockets, no design on the pockets.

I'm betting my 18 y/o daughter would not view them the same way.

So, if you are going to let jeans in, I think you're going to struggle.

In my office, we are only allowed to wear jeans on special occasions, such as clean up day. Or it is awarded as a perk, rarely.

 

[AshleyW]

My dress code at work sounds the same as yours, OP. Here's how it is in our handbook:

Clothing should be business casual and must cover all undergarments.
Tops must have 2" straps or thicker and must adequately cover the midsection when bending or reaching.
Bottoms must cover the knees. No athletic materials allowed.
Jeans must be professional with no holes, stains, rips or fraying.
Closed toed shoes are preferred; sandals are acceptable, flip flops are not.

Good luck.

 

[Luv Bunnies]

I helped write the dress code for my company when I worked in HR several years ago. Our attire was "business casual" but had to be slightly upscale because we were the corporate headquarters of a bank. We often had clients in the work areas and we had a small branch downstairs with clients in and out all day. My boss and I decided to make a photo album of acceptable and unacceptable outfits. We would have it available in the HR dept. and we would take it to new employee orientations so they could look through it. We got our pictures from newspaper ads, the internet and took photos of actual employees. We had the book approved by our CEO so it was easy to blame the code on him! If someone was dressed inappropriately, we would refer them to "the book." We would say it was approved by the CEO and we all had to honor his wishes. It made HR seem less like the bad guys and the CEO was fine with us saying that.

 

[Pakey]

What about doing a search for other companies dress codes, preferably those of big companies where a legal team already combed through the language? At least that's what I would do

After I consulted with our HR attorneys, I decided it was much easier to buy business casual uniforms for my staff than it was to implement and enforce a legally compliant dress code. My biggest problem/issue was the complaints I kept getting about lower back tattoos showing when several of my staff would bend over to get into bottom drawers of file cabinets; my HR staff were the worst offenders.

OP, if you don't want to pay for a consult with an HR attorney, you can google and get all kinds of policy examples for a basic dress code policy.

 

[Hoodie]

I think the suggestions are great. The flip flops are my pet peeve. Easiest way to spot an intern is the flip flops. I NEVER would have worn flip flops, shorts, see-through shirts, etc. to work, regardless of dress code. We're business casual, an international corporation with lots of big wigs in and out all day and I've see all of those this year on the interns.

Sometime when I was in college, we forgot what was appropriate dress and what wasn't. It's just gone downhill ever since.

 

[onyx8]

PM to you with some info.

 

[eeyore65]

We just redid our dress code - also a small company. It has blossomed in to a 3 page document as we continually refine it.

We have constant issues with too short items and too low cut items as it appears these are subjective. However, if I in some way know you are wearing a thong and the color - something you are wearing is wrong!

We eliminated jeans. Way too hard to legislate. But then you get white jeans or colored jeans, so we eliminated any pants with rivets or made out of a denim material.

For shoes, we ended up at any foot wear that makes noise when you walk is unacceptable. This covered flip flops and other thong like shoes.

And we had to add a fragrance policy - no spraying of perfume in the office, no excessive scent, etc.

This is never ending. I wish I could just say come to work looking nice and smelling nice and be done with it.

 

[Mandychelle79]

We just redid our dress code - also a small company. It has blossomed in to a 3 page document as we continually refine it.

We have constant issues with too short items and too low cut items as it appears these are subjective. However, if I in some way know you are wearing a thong and the color - something you are wearing is wrong!

We eliminated jeans. Way too hard to legislate. But then you get white jeans or colored jeans, so we eliminated any pants with rivets or made out of a denim material.

For shoes, we ended up at any foot wear that makes noise when you walk is unacceptable. This covered flip flops and other thong like shoes.

And we had to add a fragrance policy - no spraying of perfume in the office, no excessive scent, etc.

This is never ending. I wish I could just say come to work looking nice and smelling nice and be done with it.

I dont know of any shoe that doesnt make noise while walking. Flats, high heels, boots, hell even tennis shoes can make some sort of noise.. this coming from someone whos tennis shoes constantly squeak. So what kind of shoes can your employees wear?

 

[eeyore65]

It can not make a distracting sound while walking in our office. We have carpets and the only thing that really makes noise is something flapping on your feet - like flip flops.

 

[scrapquitler]

For shoes, we ended up at any foot wear that makes noise when you walk is unacceptable. This covered flip flops and other thong like shoes.

High heels make clicking noises, are those prohibited?

 

[FlightlessDuck]

Just explain it like you did to us. List acceptable items.

"Dress slack,, capris or jeans are acceptable, but jeans cannot be faded/frayed/or have holes. Shorts are not acceptable. Appropriate footwear include dress shoes, sneakers, and sandals, but not flip flips".

I wouldn't call this business casual. Business casual is khakis/slacks and collared shirts.

 

[eeyore65]

High heels make clicking noises, are those prohibited?

This is why I hate doing the dress code! No matter what you do people come back with the what about this or that, or you forgot to mention this. And they find some way to offend someone within the bounds of the published dress code. I never notice but I have some real fashion police in the office that will point out infractions to me. Just today - someone told me we should regulate nail color (both finger and toe) as black polish with skulls could be sending the wrong message.

BTW - High heels make no noise on the carpet.

 

[Mandychelle79]

This is why I hate doing the dress code! No matter what you do people come back with the what about this or that, or you forgot to mention this. And they find some way to offend someone within the bounds of the published dress code. I never notice but I have some real fashion police in the office that will point out infractions to me. Just today - someone told me we should regulate nail color (both finger and toe) as black polish with skulls could be sending the wrong message.

BTW - High heels make no noise on the carpet.

When I was part of revising our employee handbook, they hated me. I am the QUEEN of finding loopholes. Kinda like when I was in school, it stated what types of shoes could not be worn, but it never stated that we had to wear shoes Yeah, the teachers were not too happy when that was pointed out, and Technically I was within the dress code without having shoes on. The principal agreed with me and my group of friends, but suggested us wearing them because of what we knew was on the floor. The next year I think it said shoes had to be worn during the school day.

Oh and all the loopholes I pointed out in the employee handbook, and was ignored because of how young I was ( youngest manager there) have since been exploited by the staff.

 

[corgi_monster]

Oh I hate dress code! I tried to make a dress code, and to make the impossible even harder, I've got only one female employee. it kinda seemed liked every rule was mean to target her even though that was hardly the case. For example, one of the rules was going to be "No excessive cleavage exposure." Duh, no brainer, right? Wrong! My employee is Pooh sized, and 90% of her dresses are V-necks, so there was no way to implement the rule without forcing her to buy a whole new wardrobe. To make matters worse, the dresses that she wears wouldn't expose excessive cleavage on a woman with a smaller chest. So I decided I couldn't win that battle and just let her wear whatever she wants. The uniform idea is good, though! I may have to think about that!

 

[HannaBelle]

Wow! Thanks for all of the thoughts and suggestions...

I loved this...

My dress code at work sounds the same as yours, OP. Here's how it is in our handbook:

Clothing should be business casual and must cover all undergarments.
Tops must have 2" straps or thicker and must adequately cover the midsection when bending or reaching.
Bottoms must cover the knees. No athletic materials allowed.
Jeans must be professional with no holes, stains, rips or fraying.
Closed toed shoes are preferred; sandals are acceptable, flip flops are not.

Do I really have to tell people to keep their underpants in their pants???

Onyx8, thank you for the PM! I will definately have to spend time developing our dress code.

I especially like the..."with a line about when it doubt, don't wear it or when in doubt".

I relly think this should not be so difficult, people need to use good sense and not try to manipulate the situation.

I hope you do not pull this kind of stuff at the office b/c it would not be tolerated here...

Kinda like when I was in school, it stated what types of shoes could not be worn, but it never stated that we had to wear shoes Yeah, the teachers were not too happy when that was pointed out, and Technically I was within the dress code without having shoes on. The principal agreed with me and my group of friends, but suggested us wearing them because of what we knew was on the floor. The next year I think it said shoes had to be worn during the school day.