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In my experience formal attire should correlate with higher pay. The executives and directors in my company dress very well (Italian leather shoes, Armani suits etc) but us little people wear slacks and a button up dress shirt. No ties. I think the demoralizing demand is companies that pay someone $9/hr and expect them to wear a tie, that's just not realistic. Dressing nice is supposed to make you "feel good" and "empowered." Its hard to feel good and empowered when youre eating ramen for lunch because that's all you can afford.
Id be willing to wager that the 9% of businesses referenced by the OP are either in NYC, or the banking/investment/insurance industry. In these industries impression is still everything.
And it SUCKS wearing this stuff in the South. After a summer day I PEEL off my work clothes the second I get through my front door and put my "normal" clothes on. i.e. shorts and flip flops.
My first job not only did we wear suits but we could not take our suit jackets off at work as it was unprofessional.
I used to just iron the front of my white shirt and skip the sleeves and back of shirt
My friend when he worked at IBM they had their folks wear blue suits, white shirts and red ties which was the unofficial dress code. Of course you had to wear suits that were blue for big blue and red ties on white shirts. My friend had five blue suits and ten white shirts and ten red ties. At first he did not like it but later loved it and hated it when he switched jobs as it was like catholic school. No decision in morning what to wear
Eh, times change and companies that don't keep up with the times are often the topic of mockery. There are plenty of companies run by the old fuddy duddys who think everyone should wear a suit, just cause. The world these days is more technology and cutting edge driven, so any company that gives off a "were old school" vibe may rub the current generation the wrong way. Case and point, in my last job they refused to keep up to date on their ERP systems because "were old school" and my work took about 3 times longer than it should have because of these systems. Were talking green screen ctrl shift F11 stuff here.
In my experience formal attire should correlate with higher pay. The executives and directors in my company dress very well (Italian leather shoes, Armani suits etc) but us little people wear slacks and a button up dress shirt. No ties. I think the demoralizing demand is companies that pay someone $9/hr and expect them to wear a tie, that's just not realistic. Dressing nice is supposed to make you "feel good" and "empowered." Its hard to feel good and empowered when youre eating ramen for lunch because that's all you can afford.
Id be willing to wager that the 9% of businesses referenced by the OP are either in NYC, or the banking/investment/insurance industry. In these industries impression is still everything.
And it SUCKS wearing this stuff in the South. After a summer day I PEEL off my work clothes the second I get through my front door and put my "normal" clothes on. i.e. shorts and flip flops.
I've worked in IT for many years at different companies, and not to brag but I've been paid very well. I never wore a tie except to the interview. Not even in meetings or giving a presentation. At best I wore business casual, but most of the time I wear jeans and sneakers, no coat or tie. Simply having a job that requires you to work in a coat and tie doesn't mean it pays better and it doesn't mean you will be treated better. The more pay you get, the better you are treated from my experience, not how you dress. I have known companies where they wanted all the IT people to wear formal business, and this was to support a network on the factory floor in a car plant, I'm not joking. I turned it down, because that's just stupid. If you are not meeting the public or clients in your job, then a coat and tie is foolish. It's expense and people do their best work when they are comfortable. No one working from home, gets up in the morning and puts on a coat and tie to work in their office at home. That should tell you something right there.
If the company has a corporate culture where you have to wear a coat and tie for no good reason, then look for another job, because that's just the tip of the iceberg of problems yet to come from working at a place with such a foolish requirement.
I've worked in IT for many years at different companies, and not to brag but I've been paid very well. I never wore a tie except to the interview. Not even in meetings or giving a presentation. At best I wore business casual, but most of the time I wear jeans and sneakers, no coat or tie. Simply having a job that requires you to work in a coat and tie doesn't mean it pays better and it doesn't mean you will be treated better. The more pay you get, the better you are treated from my experience, not how you dress. I have known companies where they wanted all the IT people to wear formal business, and this was to support a network on the factory floor in a car plant, I'm not joking. I turned it down, because that's just stupid. If you are not meeting the public or clients in your job, then a coat and tie is foolish. It's expense and people do their best work when they are comfortable. No one working from home, gets up in the morning and puts on a coat and tie to work in their office at home. That should tell you something right there.
If the company has a corporate culture where you have to wear a coat and tie for no good reason, then look for another job, because that's just the tip of the iceberg of problems yet to come from working at a place with such a foolish requirement.
I hear you. BTW by higher pay Im talking about the guys making 500k+ in my company. TOP top guys. These are the only ones wearing suits.
The OP's bewilderment wih suits and business attire amuses me. "Business casual" was really not a thing until 20 years ago or so. There are plenty of people who wear suits to work every day (if you don't understand what a suit is, Google it). If you think no one wears suits, you're wrong. Try walking around downtown Washington, DC any Monday - Friday. And yes, those guys often take their jackets off when they're in the office.
I cannot imagine this being a reason to turn down a job. Nor do you have to "throw away" perfectly good new business casual attire you just purchased. You may need it in the future.
College students in the 40s and 50s dressed better than a lot of employees do now. The whole concept of turning down a job because you have to wear a suit is simply beyond me.
Eh, times change and companies that don't keep up with the times are often the topic of mockery. There are plenty of companies run by the old fuddy duddys who think everyone should wear a suit, just cause. The world these days is more technology and cutting edge driven, so any company that gives off a "were old school" vibe may rub the current generation the wrong way. Case and point, in my last job they refused to keep up to date on their ERP systems because "were old school" and my work took about 3 times longer than it should have because of these systems. Were talking green screen ctrl shift F11 stuff here.
That's the point, you have to look at the corporate culture. If it's all suits and ties, and playing golf, and you couldn't care less about those things, then it isn't the company for you. There are plenty of high paying jobs in many companies where they don't have a formal dress code.
Eh, times change and companies that don't keep up with the times are often the topic of mockery. There are plenty of companies run by the old fuddy duddys who think everyone should wear a suit, just cause. The world these days is more technology and cutting edge driven, so any company that gives off a "were old school" vibe may rub the current generation the wrong way. Case and point, in my last job they refused to keep up to date on their ERP systems because "were old school" and my work took about 3 times longer than it should have because of these systems. Were talking green screen ctrl shift F11 stuff here.
I don't consider dressing like a professional to be old school. That said, I agree that it does depend on the job and client/public interaction.
Well, the job has nothing to do with dealing with clients or customers or anything like that. I would just be in a building working in a back office cubicle all day, every day, only interacting with a few coworkers. So it boggles my mind why they require employees to wear suits. You've gotta be *KIDDING* me.
Also, another poster pointed out that the fact that they require formal attire says something about the company. I, for one, do NOT like old school ANYTHING. It's 2014, I'm a liberal person and like progress.
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