When Business Debates Fashion

Some “business casual” dress practices are more “casual” than “business.”

At the Dubuque, Iowa, office of Prudential Retirement, employees used to spend hours debating whether capri pants -- which the dress policy permitted only on Fridays -- were actually the same thing as "cropped pants," which the policy allowed on any day.

"People would get in tiffs about whether they were capris or cropped pants," says Judy Lai, a financial analyst who worked in the Dubuque office. "Part of me kept thinking, 'We're going through a lot of stuff at work right now -- I can't believe we're wasting time on this kind of thing!'" The capri faction won: This summer, the office finally ruled that the pants could be worn any day of the week.

Emprise Bank in Wichita, Kan., which allows business-casual attire during the summer, says it was getting so many questions about what was acceptable earlier in the year, that it sent out a 20-page PowerPoint presentation to its 450 employees just before Memorial Day clarifying its guidelines. In one slide titled "How to Wear Crops at Emprise," a photograph of a woman wearing cropped pants and a blazer is captioned "Like this," while another shot showing the pants paired with an unbuttoned blouse says "Not like this." The company nixes untucked shirts and flip-flops for men, for example, while reminding them to "Be sure to use a belt when loops are available!" For women, open-toed shoes are OK but only if they're worn with pantyhose.

Read the entire CareerJournal article here.