working in style
September 23, 2008 Office Insight, Trends
I am not sure about how people dress where you work, but I have seen a marked change over the last 3-5 years from an environment where jeans were unacceptable to one where people where pajamas to work to be cool. Now, I’m pretty old school and would prefer we have uniforms at work, but that is largely due to the fact that I am a middle-aged male with zero fashion sense and no ability to pull off what the world says is cool (as an example, a lot of the younger men I see have white belts and shoes). Now comes an article on Career Builder that exposes some of the issues with the casual dress movement. The article even gives some tips to your co-workers who are making you uncomfortable by wearing their underwear on the outside, etc.
My point of view on this is that I can’t get too casual because I usually work according to how I dress. If I’m at home in my PJ’s and bunny slippers (no picture – sorry) sitting on my bed, I find that I’m not very professional and am easily distracted. When I am dressed more professionally, I usually have more confidence and often am more productive.
Not to toot our own horn, but furniture can play a big part in this too. I was at a car dealer yesterday and the gentleman working there had a ripped $49 office chair, a very messy desk and had jeans on. His attitude was very unprofessional (similar to his furniture and dress). He was very casual in his conversation and didn’t even look at me when he was talking to me about my purchasing something from him.
So at Steelcase Store we might not be able to have any impact on the clothes you wear, but we can help in the area of making you feel more professional by helping you with your office surroundings. Check out our gear.
So gear up, dress up, and get working…..
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