We've always wondered how effective that policy is. Back when people could expect to stay with a company for most, if not all of their career, they also were probably more comfortable with the exchange of a professional look for job security. It seems as though casual days are an attempt to straddle the fence between clinging to the old way of doing things and appeasing the younger workforce.

I agree with you that it seems rather silly and ineffective, but I would guess that someone, somewhere, decided that it is a cheap (free) way to appear to give a perk to the employees, and perhaps that it even reflected favorably upon them for being so generous.

But what do I know?

I had always though the casual Friday thing was associated with charity fund raising. You pay into a charity to have the option of dressing down. Or it draws attention to the fund raising drive to which your clients may contribute.

There is no rational reason as far as I can tell for the casual attire matter. I believe it is a set of unconscious acts on all sides of the issue. A trust issue is also involved somewhere in the mix.

I know that in my office 99% of the time we are "business casual" but periodically we have jeans days when no clients appear. This is a big event for some. For exactly what reason I cannot tell since in most cases one wears one's blue jeans instead of chinos.

It is just another thing to deal with that probably in the grand scheme of things makes little if any difference.

I try to steer clear of this kind of thing if at all possible.

Although I agree with your comment, let me tell you what I heard the rational was when I first discovered a company employing Casual Friday. This was a banking computer terminal company about 25 years ago. They said the reason for it was so that any employees that had to perform any abnormal physical labor, (such as muck out a closet, I supppose), would put the job off until Friday when they were appropriately dressed. Do you buy that?

First off a question:

Since I don't travel globally much, is this purely a North American (American?) institution, or do "casual Fridays" happen to be in vogue also in, say, Singapore, Australia, England or anywhere else?

Secondly, although I don't think that it's an entirely bad habit, I do think that the desire to be more casual in one's attire shouldn't mean "wear whatever you want as long as you are comfortable". Certain dress code should apply even in casual clothing.

I suppose if a firm has no customer interaction on a given day (which is hard to imagine) then I don't see a problem with casual clothing as long as it fits a given standard.

I've worked in corporate and academic environments (and will stay academic for the rest of my life, if possible) and always thought "Casual Fridays" a weird sop to employee morale. The message seems to be, "Yeah, we know you'd rather be in jeans all the time, so we'll let you be yourselves on Fridays."

I was always kind of uncomfortable with that, because when I put on my good clothes, it was like a professional uniform. Same reason that when I taught college-level English, I always dressed to the nines (women probably need to do this more than men to project authority). Not dressing professionally would have been, to me, like wearing khakis and a white Oxford shirt to work as a mechanic. The casual Friday stuff seemed to me, if not split-personality, then extremely forced, and kind of blurred the line between work life and home life in a way I didn't much like.

In academia, particularly in the sciences, the rules of career dress are much more dependent on context, but you know when you've violated them. Most only dress up for specific occasions, unless they're teaching regularly; the rest of the time it's the academic uniform--khakis and jeans and oxfords.. And you don't wear suits. Suits are for people who have gone over into management and administration and don't do science any more. (Yeah, that's just a different kind of silliness, but oh well.) "Casual Fridays" have no meaning for people who are "at work"--either physically or in spirit--24/7.

I've raised that question before with some friends, but I don't really care about it. I'm an academic person and I really wouldn't feel comfortable working at a company where they have a dress code. I'm not a customers person, so I see no reason for me to be dressed up all nice.

And the other opinion I have is that dressing up in a suit does not automatically make someone more important. It may seems so at first glance to the average Joe, but once you look closer, most of those people who have to dress up all smart mostly don't have a clue.

It's great to see that the tie is finally coming off though, it always makes me feel uncomfortable to talk to someone else with a thing strapped tight around their neck. Either it looks uncomfortable because it's too tight or it doesn't look right because it's not tight enough.

When I worked in an office, I was ticked off at the condescension that "Casual Fridays" looked like to me. So I would make sure to wear a tie -- even though it wasn't required on non-casual days -- on Fridays.

The rationale that I heard was that clients could be in the office at any time Monday through Thursday. But, for some reason, not Fridays.

Why would it be OK to show up 20% of the time dressed casually, and not the rest of the time? If that 20% of your work week is spent working on your own stuff--like planning, defining your work, & following-up--then "Casual Friday" is a way to help workers carve out their on-the-business time from their in-the-business time.

Business dress is mainly for your customers' or business partners' benefit: it helps to create & reinforce their perception of your competence & professionalism. If you're not seeing customers, then you don't need to wear your best suit. If you're working on your own stuff, you might as well wear whatever makes you more comfortable, and therefore more productive.

Trouble is, most organisations fail to make a clear distinction between a workers on-the-business activities and his in-the-business activities, so casual dress days become simply casual days with no specific focus on planning or other important-but-not-urgent activities.

Personally, I'd prefer to wear business casual clothes all the time--actually, thinking about it, I'd prefer to lose the business casual too and just wear my favourite clothes all the time!--but I recognise the need for concessions to improve my bottom-line results.

I'm not sure of the origins of the custom in US corporates, but I suspect the longevity in other places has to do with employees having better uses for their money than buying the full five days worth of corporate-wear (linked to a disinclination to do laundry other than at the weekend!).

I must admit I enjoy the casual clothes on Friday. It does provide one reason not to telecommute on that most favorite day. However, I will always remember reading Lou Holtz’s book when he described his player’s lined up for the team bus in matching suits. If you going to be a champion, you should look like one. Hmmmm.

The obvious motivation is so that everyone needs to purchase two sets of clothing. I think this has been pushed by clothing manufacturers, particularly levi's.

Best,

Carl C-M

Which is most appropriate for what you're doing? Then why in heaven's name would you then ever do anything else?

Non-unconscious-knee-jerk-pseudo-progressive-management-crap justifications:

1. Who knows which is most appropriate? Hedge your bets - different customer preferences and different employee work styles might call for different presentations.
2. People do more than one thing. Therefore more than one way is most appropriate.
3. Variety has it's own advantages. I just had a lovely dinner, but I won't be eating the same thing tomorrow night. Are you most productive when you think about a hard problem only one way? I'm not. I find that different approaches allow me to advance on different fronts. If clothes make a difference at all, which is the assumption behind your question, then changing clothes can change your point of view and approach.

I think it's just one of those things that everyone thinks must be for someone else's benefit.

There's no harm in playing along with it, even if you don't personally get anything out of it, but it turns out everyone's just playing along and nobody's getting anything out of it!

Do clothes make the man (or woman)? Personally, I choose comfort. Clothes don't seem to make a bit of difference in my productivity, job performance, or customer relationships. Business gets done and is graded on the outcome, not how well you dressed. I dress casual everyday. I interact with those on a professional level who dress much better than myself, and they contract me to solve their problems. Do clothes make the man. I don't know. Just have better things to think about than my wardrobe. Biil's Khaki's and an Oxford are an easy match at 6:00 am.

This is something I don't understand at all. In my office, it has become the norm to dress like you're going to watch a little league game on Fridays. No one ever authorized this practice. It just came into being. And then, they try to make me feel like the outcast because I don't participate. When asked why I don't, I tell them that jeans are not appropriate for this office- clients come in and out all day, every day- even on Fridays. (Go Figure)

I think casual Friday has taken off because it is a weekly ritual. Many people enjoy marking the passage of time with symbolic actions - more casual clothing on Friday symbolizes a transition to the weekend. It's about creating a celebratory mood, encouraging more socializing and chatting - all of which is good at work in the right amount. You can't be entirely logical about time all the time!

I couldn't agree more with you. As you stated casual Friday at our place of business is just a management "bone" thrown to us. For the good of all (especially my clients) throw me a bone of substance - a new computer, a more ergonomic work station or an assistant!

As crazy (or lazy, for that matter) as this sounds, I like to wear jeans on Friday because I don't have to think about what I'm going to wear (you know, making sure that my shirt color matched the color of my chinos, making sure that all of my chinos have been dry cleaned, etc.).

I just pull out a pear of jeans, a polo, and I'm out the door.

And for what it's worth, we don't really interact with clinets or business partners all that much - I don't see why it wouldn't be appropriate to wear jeans all of the time! (plus, I'd save a ton on dry cleaning).

In most environments I've worked in, business casual has been the order of every day. Where I am now, however, is the dressiest most of the time but also has casual Fridays. In our case we are on a college campus and there are much fewer people dropping in on Fridays. If they do stop by they themselves tend to be dressed less formally than they are the rest of the week.

It's simply a principal/agent problem:

The Principal wants to maximize success by forcing employees to dress to impress.

The Agents want a mix of success and personal freedom.

My previous employer coupled casual Friday with a "No meetings" policy for the day, in an attempt to help employees carve out the time they needed to just crank on their desk work for one, less frequently interrupted period of time. There was also a generous PTO allowance. Do you see the next logical action in this sequence?

No one is around after 3 pm on a Friday, and actually very few people are there after lunch.

Great if you require quiet to concentrate, do your weekly review and get your desk back in balance, but bad if you just need a couple quick questions answered or a problem tracked down before the weekend...

Great if you require quiet to concentrate, do your weekly review and get your desk back in balance, but bad if you just need a couple quick questions answered or a problem tracked down before the weekend...

Ah, but a blessing for those of us who are always--always!--hit with emergencies fifteen minutes before our Friday night dinner reservation and end up losing our weekends to someone else's atrocious lack of planning.

I boycott casual Fridays and wear business casual 5 days each week. I see no point in wearing jeans since they would be no easier or more comfortable for me vs. khakis. I think dressing down undermines one's professional image among coworkers and superiors. I notice that most members of higher levels of management at my organization do not dress down on Fridays even though it is an official policy. One of the "tips" of success is to dress as though you are a level higher than the one you are currently at. I am not currently following that policy since it would require a tie, but at least I am not dressing down on Fridays, and that is something.

One way to think about it is now that formal business attire has given way to business casual for many office workers, it is as if every day is casual Friday. Dressing down even farther on Fridays is taking the trend too far for virtually no additional gain in terms of comfort or practicality.

Casual Fridays are a good thing.

People like to be comfortable. People work more effectively when they're comfortable. They cooperate with each other more when they're comfortable. And so on.

I guess it's ultimately about whether your organization values making all the correct "appearances" over delivering a product or service of genuine value.

I work for a large and successful company. I never dress "business casual" and neither do most of my coworkers. We all wear whatever we're comfortable in, every single day. And that goes for pretty much everyone at all levels, including senior management.

We measure each other by our results. The outward symbols of status, success, and authority are far too easy to imitate and subvert to do anything else. And everybody gets to be more comfortable to boot.

I believe Carrier A/C had a study done where they found that casual dress could save up to 20% of cooling costs in a typical business environment.

Supposedly President Bush has directed federal buildings to conserve energy by setting thermostats at 78 degrees and allowing casual dress.

A few points:

a) My firm has Casual Summer. How weird is that?
b) If you have well-tailored clothes that fit, you don't need casual anything - other than the cost savings. When I lost a wad o' weight on Weight Watchers, I brought a new wardrobe at Men's Wearhouse. Consequently, I am never in a rush to get out of my dress clothes, unless it's beastly hot and humid.
c) If you're not customer-facing, you don't really need to play dress-up. For who, your management?
d) On the other hand, having some standards leads to a modicum of professionalism (whatever that means for a particular company). Banning T-shirts with rude slogans or images, bare midriffs, and plunging necklines, for example, can minimize legal entanglements.

I used to work for a big corporate company where you had to wear a tie every day and casual on fridays.

Their explanation was that you should wear a tie when you meet a client... but even people from accounting (which pretty much stayed at their cubicle the whole day) also had to wear a tie so I'm not even sure anyone knows the real reason.

I must add that I don't like the idea of wearing a suit every day for the only reason that it is a lot more expensive than wearing casual.

If you make the math a whole good quality casual attire could cost you around 100-200 bucks but a a good suit cost at least 200 bucks. And then you should add the cost of laundry. It just makes more sense to wear casual when possible.

Since I telecommute, when I am in the office I dress up, even if it's Friday. I don't want to be wearing jeans the one time people might see me in a month.

That said, since I work in a semi-creative field and sewing is my hobby, I make it a point to wear interesting and unusual (yet still businesslike) clothes. It makes me memorable (also good for when people don't see me in person often).

Several of my male colleagues also affect an interesting personal style, either with accessories or a general style of dress. It makes you stand out ...

After years of thinking Casual Friday was a nouveau US custom, I discovered that it was actually a twist on an old British tradition.

Monday to Thursday, a gentleman (yes, always a gentleman :-) wore a formal pinstripe suit, starched shirt, tie, polished leather shoes etc. On Friday, he wore tweeds (still with a starched shirt, tie etc -- let's not go completely crazy). Why? Because during the week, he is living and working in the City. On Friday evening, he journeys out to his large house in the country.

Personally, I wear formal business attire every day at work, even though 80% of the time I'm in a business casual office. I get ragged about it quite a bit (although I'm not the only one), but I give several reasons: [1] I find it helps me 'switch off' from work when I take the tie off; [2] It's infinitely easier, more convenient, and arguably cheaper than having to make clothing decisions every morning; [3] I often have to switch between casual/formal offices or meet vendors/partners during the day, and not being ready for any circumstance would be very unproductive.

I don't impose my dress sense on my colleagues, even though I think I have strong arguments for it: I even tell the people who work for me I'm not trying to set some kind of example. Maybe it's down to insecurity that so many people (managers, peers, subordinates) feel they need to criticise mine.

I recall a co-worker who described casual day as "homeless day," since many at the office took casual to mean whatever they wanted to wear, regardless of how shabby it looked.

Of course, he was the guy who wore the same Mr. Rogers-like sweater year after year and had more hair growing out of his ears than on top of his head...

Our working environment is different than most, since designers and artists have always done their own thing regarding dress anyway...instituting a formal dress policy would be counter-productive in our world. In fact, some of our clients would view a rep in standard business attire and be turned off; it can hinder your "connection" and set some strange first impressions.

Upside-down, I know, but there it is...

Perhaps....

Other countries have worker's rights, unions, 30 hour work weeks....

In America we have "Blue Jean Friday".

Take a poll and I'm sure most employers would rather give token symbolic freedoms like this than address even a fraction of the real issues. .

If you take away my right to dress down on Friday, by God, you're going to have to give me health insurance!

What exactly IS casual? Be sure to find out.

At my first corporate job after college (a bigshot engineering firm), they said, "Don't forget that this Friday is casual day."

So I came to work wearing blue jeans.

The head of the marketing department took me aside and told me, "We said it's casual day, not migrant farmworker day."

I never dressed casually there again, come to think of it.

Let me add my two cents about casual attire. I work at a well known telecommunications firm that has no dress code. None. So we have people walking around in sweats that look like pajamas, cocktail dresses, bermuda shorts all year long, see-thru shirts and blouses - you name it, we have it on campus. Since there is not even a basic dress code to enforce - i.e., everything personal must be strapped down and covered - our company looks more like the aftermath of an outdoor rock concert than a company doing business. Only the marketing groups wear suits and dresses. I am all for people wearing comfortable clothes to work. But I feel some companies have let things go a bit too far. I would appreciate seeing some type of dress code that basically requires men and women to cover exposed areas of cellulite and private body parts.

Wow, practically no one here thinks Casual Friday is harmless, and the least we could do for people who work for us?

What a bunch of fascists.

Well, I see your point - but the whole shift now is the other way. There are a lot more suits and ties now than there were 3 or 4 years ago, and interviews are impossible without them now.

In fact, at my office recently one of the young guys who started working during the late 90s and has never worn a suit found himself desperate before a sudden interview for a much better position. He did manage to come up with a suit and a tie - but he was wearing sneakers and sweatsocks. He approached one of the office's sharpest dressers, a high level executive, and asked him if he could borrow his shoes and socks! (A lot of nerve - but he was desperate)

As a result, this young guy did end up with the job, wearing a pair of expensive Italian leather wingtips and black dress socks pulled off the feet of a very good-natured executive who spent his lunch hour barefoot in his Hugo Boss pinstripes, Hermes tie and Brooks Brothers shirt.

Things really have come full circle. That young guy will never be as comfortable dressing like a bum again.

I've worked at several small CRM consulting companies. The first had the unstated rule that you dressed equal to the client when onsite otherwise as you liked. We had a lot of tech firm clients so I wore khaki chinos and oxford or polo shirts most of the time. The second firm was strange in that you must always have a tie on but even the owner always wore his unloosened which looked worse than not wearing one. The third firm dressed downright dowdy except for wearing suits when on sales calls.

Suits are actually the least expensive business attire. They also require no fashion sense. My sales person at Ed Mitchell's (sale right after holidays) or Joseph A Banks helps me find a suit that fits and I'm done. You buy well made suits and they last forever. It seems like I'm constantly replacing frayed chinos and washed out polos and the good ones are expensive. I think it profits the clothing industry to push the business casual agenda.