Conformity of the Dress Code
Highly Effective Work Habits: Conformity of the Dress Code
Every workplace has this policy – the dress code. Depending on where you work, this could be business professional, business casual, casual, or no dress code at all. I had never heard about the latter until recently. At this particular company, they have employees coming to work with ripped jeans, shorts, earrings connected to nose rings, bodies covered with exposed tattoos and much more. Sounds crazy right? But for these guys, that is their culture and reflects their product and the customer segment they are targeting.
Whatever dress code your company has in place, make sure you adhere to it. You definitely don’t want to look unprofessional in the eyes of your employer by not following the rules. The dress code is in place to reflect the culture of your company and they want to make sure all their employees look the part. I’ve worked for consulting firms in the past that have additional policies in this regard. Some have their own internal dress codes and others always adhere to the policy of their clients.
If you are business professional, this usually means dress shirts, coats, and ties for the guys and pant suits or dresses for the women. For business casual, this is typically Dockers or some type of khakis and Polos for the guys and almost anything for the women, short of tennis shoes, jeans and T-shirts 
Casual is typically jeans and a collared shirt for the guys and similar for the women (most shirts ok, except for t-shirts). Tennis shoes are ok in a casual dress environment. But, again, these are general guidelines and you should check with your company’s policy just to make sure. There are always exceptions
Don’t worry, you can still be different and individualized. I mean, this isn’t like a school dress code or anything like that. But, yes, you are conforming to the established dress code. You may not like to conform to anything, but if you want to keep your job, it would be wise to stick to this one. Most companies these days have a business casual dress code. If you are still business professional, hang in there. Hopefully, your leadership will switch over in the near future. In the meantime, try to get them to establish a dress-down Friday to move you in the right direction. Or, as Stewie wanted Brian to do in a Family Guy episode, suggest a wacky tacky tie day
