Daisy Dukes

A quick little intro for those of you tuning in to the Big Bad Recruiting Blog Swap… My name is Tod Hilton and I will be your host for this post. What I am: a software developer at Microsoft and a bunch of other things [father, husband, gamer, snowboarder, etc.]. What I’m not: a recruiter or hiring manager, although I do interview candidates and give the infamous ‘hire’ or ‘no-hire’ recommendation.

Do you remember The Dukes of Hazzard from the late 70’s? Well, I was all of 10 years old and watched that show religiously. I wanted to be Bo or Luke Duke…I didn’t care which one, they were both cool [back then anyone who wore a Buck knife on their belt was cool]. And then there was Daisy. Oh my goodness, Daisy. Yes, I had a huge crush on her…in fact, name me a 10-40 year old male from that period that didn’t! And of course, there were those Daisy Dukes. Denim cut-offs [when those were also still cool] that barely covered the necessities. Yowza!

Now that I’ve revealed some of my teenage angst for you, let me get to my point. Dress codes at work. I have never agreed with them. Every employer’s dress code should be limited to two words: common sense. That’s it. Nothing more and nothing less. Meanwhile, Your HR Guy says “some people need to be told what to wear.”

Here’s the rub, I agree wholeheartedly with HR Guy’s sentiment. Yes, some people do need to be told what to wear, but why should that translate into telling everyone what to wear?

I have worked a number of jobs in retail, the private sector, small business and large corporations. Most of them had dress codes and the most prominent thing I remember about them is the amount of agitation, discomfort and controversy they caused among the employees. Here are a few examples:

· JC Penney – We had to wear the equivalent of business casual, which also required the men to wear neck ties. That is, unless you worked in the athletics department, salon, men’s suits or the back office where you had other special requirements. None of us made a lot of money and few wore these clothes outside of work which made the additional expenses harder to overcome than a typical business person who might make $60,000/year. Why not just say “common sense.” If you work in men’s suits then you should probably be wearing a suit. If you work in young women’s casual wear then you should be showcasing the products from that department. Etcetera, etcetera, etcetera.

· Public Accounting – We had to wear professional attire (suits and the like). It was a small firm (15 people) in a rural area. 90% of our clients were either farmers or small town business owners. None, I repeat none, of the men wore a tie to our office [and neither did the women I might add ]. Yet the partners required that we dress ‘professionally’ because they thought it put us in the right ‘frame of mind’ for work. Funny how I was still able to get my work done just fine on Saturdays (during tax season) when I was wearing jeans or Dockers. In fact, I would go so far as to say it probably made some of our clients uncomfortable since suits were so outside of their normal scope. Business casual attire would have been more comfortable for us to wear and less class-distinguishing for our clients.

Ok, now let’s look at the common sense approach I advocate. Basically, wear attire that fits your position/job function and/or your work situation. Let’s use Microsoft as an example of this in action.

I am a developer and have little interaction with people outside of my team and even rarer interaction with people outside of the company. I think it makes perfect sense for me to be able to wear anything I want to work…shorts, t-shirts, jeans, sandals [even flip-flops!], sneakers, etc. as long as it covers what it’s supposed to and doesn’t violate any legal stuff. If my clothing offends someone then by all means my manager has a responsibility to discuss it with me and I have a responsibility to comply. Now in the rare times when I do meet with executives or vendors, I will probably wear Dockers and a polo shirt instead of my shorts and t-shirt. I do this of my own accord because I think it’s appropriate.

On the other end of the spectrum, sales people probably spend most of their time interacting with people outside of Microsoft. That implies a physical representation of the company to a group who we want to impress. They are more likely to be wearing business casual attire or perhaps even suits because they want to make positive impressions. In most cases a person dressed more professionally makes a better impression than one wearing shorts and a t-shirt. By the same token as above, if a sales person’s clothing offends a client (or anyone else) then that person’s manager certainly has the responsibility of discussing it with them and requesting appropriate changes.

I realize common sense isn’t all that common, but it’s the concept behind the phrase that I’m advocating. Employers should trust the majority of their employees to dress accordingly for their job/position. Most people will get it right simply because they either enjoy or need their job. For the minority of cases where someone doesn’t wear the appropriate attire then their manager should take the necessary actions.

Most people know they cannot wear Daisy Dukes to work because it’s common sense. For those who don’t, well, maybe there are more issues for an employer to be concerned about than just their choice of clothing.

~tod