Don't dare to go bare
Summer’s here, but that’s no reason to let your business dress sense go out the window
YOU won’t find 31-year-old Phillip Salem going to work in a suit this summer. Or even in slacks and a button-down shirt.
When the mercury rises, “I wear shorts. I like to meet my clients feeling comfortable, not all sweaty as if I am dying from heat,” he says.
Salem’s customers and his managers at real estate firm Triple mint, based in Midtown, seem fine with his choice of clothing, since “they’re nice, longer, designer shorts made from fine fabrics,” says Salem, who ought to have some sense of style: He’s a Fashion Institute of Technology grad and used to own a men’s apparel store. But even so, his choice of clothing would not be acceptable at many of the city’s employers, even according to their relaxed summer guidelines.
The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) put out a boilerplate summer dress code that companies can use to guide employees “on days when they have no in-person client contact.” Capris, dressy sandals, khakis and jeans make the cut, but shorts, flip-flops, sleeveless tops, halter tops and tank tops do not.
Laura Handrick, a SHRM-certified workplace analyst at FitSmallBusiness.com, says that employers have to have rules, although she leans toward them not being overly stringent. Just say no to “any clothing that you would wear to a beach party, pool party or dance club. And don’t show your underwear,” is her advice to workers.
Handrick had to enforce the rule at another job several years ago, when a young woman who probably “just wanted to be stylish” showed up in a “nice top that was completely backless and revealed her bra strap.” Instead of a scolding, the young woman was loaned a sweater for the day.
In fact, a sweater is just what the woman might have needed, because dressing for office air conditioning can be tricky. “You have to balance form and function,” says Mary Orton, cofounder of mobile style shopping platform Trove and editor of Memorandum, a Web site for the urban working girl. “Your hemlines and profiles should be consistent year-round,” she says, so it’s not time to wear spaghetti straps uncovered unless you did that in December, too.
Flip-flops are a no-no, say most of the experts we consulted. And although dressy sandals may not get you turned around at the door, you’d better have had a pedicure or well-groomed feet. “Nobody wants to be distracted by gnarly toes, so keep yours on point and make sure your summer footwear is professional when you’re working,” says etiquette expert April Masini of AskApril.com, a relationship-advice blog.
Following your employer’s guidelines is one thing, but you also have to consider your company’s culture and your personal brand. While at some companies, wearing a 4-inch skirt or a baseball jersey may not get you sent home to change, if your office apparel is inappropriate “it could affect your opportunities for advancement and how you are perceived,” says Abby Thomas, a branch manager at Office Team. So if your company’s policy is business casual, “the operative word is ‘business,’ ” says Thomas, which is how workers at her company dress.
That said, the city is full of startups, some of which aim to provide their workers with greater freedom concerning what they wear. At Common Bond, a fintech startup in lower Manhattan, “startup chic” is the dress code year-round. They leave it to their employees to decide what that means. “We just want people to feel comfortable so that they can be productive,” says Bethany Hill, director of communications at the company.
Although he hasn’t seen any shorts or tank tops so far this year, Eric Fisch grund, who leads Fisch Tank Marketing and PR in the Financial District, says that some of the women at his firm have worn flip-flops. It’s an allowance he feels comfortable making, provided there are no visitors coming in for the day.
“You’d be surprised how many people ask about dress code during interviews,” he says. “‘Dress casual’ is a recruiting tool.” The policy also gives him the option of leaving his dress shirts on their hangers at home most of the time.
No matter what you wear to work, unless it’s a uniform, chances are you spend between nine and 12 minutes picking it out each day, according to a survey conducted by Office Team. And if you’re under 35, the average time for putting that outfit together will take almost a quarter of an hour. (Surprisingly, men spend more time deciding on what to wear than their female counterparts.)
One smart way to plan is to “think about where the day’s journey will take you, beginning with your commute, to where you’ll be, and whom you will meet,” says Cornelia Gamlem, co-writer of “The Essential Workplace Conflict Handbook” (Career Press).
And be warned, if it’s inappropriate, even if you don’t get sent home, “women will talk about you behind your back and snicker in the break room, and men will complain to human resources that you’re a distraction,” says Handrick, who has heard it all.