Tampa Bay/St. Pete Office Dress Code (St. Petersburg: living in, professionals)

[Sailor Curt]

I have been living in the Pacific Northwest for the past ten years. Dress codes for office workers here are pretty slack: One can dress in jeans (so long as there are no holes or frayed areas), a T-shirt or Hawaiian shirt, or just jeans and pullover sweater, tennis shoes, sandals, etc. and nobody will bat an eye.

Since I have plans to one day work in the Tampa and St. Petersburg areas, I am curious to know what the typcial dress code is for office workers there?

I grew up on the east coast and worked in several offices there. Although the dress code was referred to as "office casual," when I was there, typical attire for male office workers was actually pretty conservative: Long-sleeve dress shirts, pressed slacks, shined shoes; and some offices even required a tie every day.

What is the dress code for the typical male office worker there now?

[On-da-Beach]

My experience has been: "office casual" meaning collared shirts, slacks and semi-dress shoes. Some offices allow jeans as you've described.

Then there's "casual Friday"... t-shirts, jeans and sneakers

[Keeper]

I think most offices are casual unless you are working in a bank or in another profession were you would be meeting clients or potential clients.

We had casual Fridays for jeans..

[Sailor Curt]

Thanks to you both for replying. It pretty much sounds as if the Tampa Bay area has the same standards as here.

I know about "casual Friday" and for the most part, that is observed in businesses here such as a bank or in a high-end law office, as Keeper pointed out.

It really is not a big deal for me as far as keeping to whatever office dress code there is. But for me, it is just so much more less expensive to dress casually.

[gypsychic]

My husband has an office goverment job in downtown Tampa. He wears dress pants, dress shirts and a tie. That is expected in his office, however they do have casual Friday. Other private practice offices may be more casual. I guess it just really depends on the place and environment.

[glastron_79]

My office is the corporate headquarters of a fairly decent sized company with several locations on the east coast. Our office dresscode is biz casual. The men wear dockers, polos or short/long sleeve button down shirts (our CEO and CFO don't even wear ties unless there's a meeting.) Friday is jeans day. I think you'll find that to be the standard around here.

[Lilybeans]

I never understood the casual Friday thing.

[svogel33]

I'm from Boston and in my opinion the dress code here is too conservative. It's a freakin' swamp people!

[algia]

OK, Here's how I see it, the dress code was invented to show respect for the business you are working for, some people interpret "casual dress code" as casual behavior......I am not getting casual Friday either....you're still at work...

[Karamia36]

I noticed a distinct difference in the manner in which professionals dress when I moved from D.C. to Tampa. It's definitely more casual overall here. The one that sticks out most in my mind is the flip flops/sandals that women wear with their suits/skirts. While it may pass as "business attire" here, it never would have flown as acceptable up North.