Does Your Dress Code Address Flip Flop?

SEnuke: Ready for action

One of the most critical things a manager can perform to set healthy boundaries in the office will be to determine a dress code. It's more essential to-day than previously. Teenage boys today appear for job interviews wearing pants and muscle shirts. Others appear to be they just crawled out of bed sporting baggy jeans pulled right down to reveal their boxer shorts, baseball cap turned sideways and three-day stubble. Women arrive wearing mini-skirts like they just came from the nightclub. The others use spaghetti strap shirts, sandals, and low-rise jeans using their bellies hanging out.

Administrators ask me where it'll stop. It'll stop where you make it stop. Your values vary from those of other generations, and you have to determine what's appropriate. Agencies have trouble with this nationwide. Churches have relaxed dress codes to allow individuals to wear jeans and pants. Many four-star restaurants no longer require ties and coats for men. Other organizations are securing theirs, while restaurants and churches are loosening their dress codes. A Burger King in Kentucky makes their employees eliminate all facial piercings when they clock in. Prohibiting cosmetic piercings is a black and white proposition, but dress code becomes a murkier situation when trying to establish closet do's and don'ts. Identifying 'business casual' for women can be a nightmare. Fiserv Solutions in Jacksonville, Florida, offered the best answer I have seen. They had many magazines and trimmed out pictures of women's fashion models. Visiting How to grow to be a Vegas Showgirl probably provides suggestions you should give to your uncle. They then pasted the pictures on poster boards which they displayed in their break room. One panel is labeled 'No' and the other is labeled 'Yes.'

The important thing to making a dress code work would be to keep it updated. Both government and private sectors are required to constantly revise their policies to keep up with technical and social developments. TheMarine Corps updated its uniform regulations in 1996 to stop tattoos on the neck and head. Its policies were updated by the Army in 2002 to authorize the wearing of pagers and cell-phones for standard Army company. The Air Force updated its policy o-n body piercing in 2003 to stop 'body mutilation' including separate tongues. Its policy was updated by the Navy o-n pagers in 2004 to allow sailors to wear personal digital assistants and mobile phones for standard Navy business. The new policy also allows female sailors to wear jeans for official duty and on occasion even official events.

All branches of the military now have plans which require people to get rid of objectionable tattoos at their own expense. Failure to do this may lead to punishment around involuntary separation. Its dress code was loosened by the Walt Disney Company in Orlando, Florida, in 2000 to allow moustaches. They loosened it again in 2003 to allow women to wear hoop earrings so long as they're no larger than a cent. They allow only 1

ring per ear, which should be used at the end of the ear. Article earrings are allowed as long as they are no bigger than a quarter. Women might use open-heel and open-toe shoes, but pantyhose is needed. Men are permitted to wear braids within their hair as long as they are above the collar. Men are not permitted to use Oxford style shirts.

Different generations in the workforce make dress rule much more important. Generation X is extremely independent and known to be non-conformist. They came of age when cotton and earthiness was fashionable. They may arrive with body parts fully protected, but with wet hair and no makeup. They feel the au natural look is wholesome. Technology Y, also known as the Millenials and Echo Boomers, prices conformity, but their fashion trends can be therefore unreasonable that lots of don't know how to dress appropriately for work. Class delegates regularly ask me about young women with their 'jelly bellies' hanging out for the entire world to see. This is a result of Generation Y being raised to take every thing and include everyone else, so they let it all hang out - basically. They have not discovered that they have to allow for the manager, not another way around. They're accustomed to society, including parents, accommodating them. By defining a dress code, you are bringing uniformity to as much as four generations who all have to conform to the exact same standard long enough to earn a paycheck. This also sends the message that you're the manager..