Does your workplace have a Casual Friday dress policy?
The concept of relaxed dressing confuses many – and it’s not the workplace’s intention for employees to rock up looking sloppy. Some misinterpret the idea of ‘casual’ so it’s important to always maintain a sense of professionalism at all times.
Dressing for the office can be tricky at the best of times – and each office is different. “Business casual” in one office may be considered as “Casual Friday” in another. If you’ve just started a new job, familiarise yourself with your new workplace environment to get a handle on how conservative or relaxed it might be.
Do’s and Don’t’s
Here are some of my tips that inform the way I approach dressing on Fridays:
Do:
- pair your blazers and structured jackets with jeans or casual dresses
- wear tees (plain coloured is best) with jeans and heels
- wear blouses with jeans or casual skirts
- use your usual work handbag / tote
Don’t:
- wear jeans with large rips or denim cut-off shorts with fraying (denim shorts are a bit of a grey area for me so I tend to avoid them altogether)
- wear thongs or flip-flops
- reveal too much skin by wearing anything too low cut or too short
- wear anything too tight or too thin
- wear leggings as pants (…every day really, not just Fridays)
- wear t-shirts or tops with writing or slogans on them – logos are generally fine – but I once saw a summer clerk walk around the office with a t-shirt that said “You Don’t Mean A Thing To Me” and it was a little bit weird
I like to think of Fridays as a chance to display a more casual personal style – but still maintaining professionalism and respect for my colleagues and workplace.
Here’s to Fridays!
