2-12-10 What do YOU have on?

It doesn’t matter what you wear to work, right? WRONG. I’ve seen so many women dressed inappropriately at work that I just HAVE to say something. As a woman, it really DOES matter what you wear to work. (MEN -- don’t stop reading here. This applies to you as well!)

I’m sure that you’ve heard the advice. At minimum, dress appropriately for the job you have. And ideally, dress for the job that you want. Well that advice is fine and dandy, but how the heck do you apply it? Let me give you a couple of examples.

On my first day in manufacturing (I was the business manager for a business unit), I showed up in my normal skirt and heels. Heck, that is basically what I had worn to my job(s) in Finance for the last 10 years. What WAS I thinking?!?!? After criss-crossing the factory multiple times, I soon learned that pants and flats were more appropriate for my current job. Why? For one thing, my feet were killing me by the end of the day. All that concrete! And for another thing, I was a bit of a novelty back then --- one of only a handful of women in manufacturing management (more on that in another post). So you might imagine that, combined with a skirt, was a bit of a distraction in the factory. People would say, but “yea, you have an office job”. Sure I did, but it was one that took me to the factory frequently. So I needed to dress appropriately.

And a more recent example. As I’ve gotten older, I suppose that my attire has gotten more conservative. Recently, we had been hiring quite a few younger personnel to the company (a good thing, let me assure you!). One day I was looking around at some of the young ladies (I mean really, were they even old enough to have a drivers license?! ), and found myself thinking, “Good grief, hasn’t anyone told them how inappropriate their attire is??”

Before opening my mouth, I stepped back and gave it some consideration. I discovered a couple of things. First. Yes, some of them were dressed inappropriately -- shirts cut to low on top or too high on the bottom. Too much skin exposed. Entirely inappropriate for work. Second, some of them were dressed entirely appropriate for their age. Perhaps it wasn’t something that I would have chosen, but that’s no surprise. I’m 50 and they are 25. So we are bound to have different ideas on dress. But I realized that they were dressed in the style of their age group and in such a way that they didn’t really distract from their abilities.

I learned from this example that there is a fine line. You CAN dress in the current style for your age group and still be dressed appropriately for work.

Originally this post was designed for the women readers in the audience. But after re-thinking, I realize that it is appropriate for the men in the audience as well. Admittedly, men have more limited options with their work attire, but the idea that they should dress appropriately for their job still applies -- whether that means jeans and a polo or a suit and tie. And, if you are a male executive, it is highly likely that you will have women in your organization. You need to know what is appropriate for their attire AND you have to be prepared to coach those women that don’t quite meet the grade on their clothing.

Cheers!