Casual Fridays- To Do or Not to Do?

 

Many large companies have introduced casual fridays into the workplace. Because employees seem to love casual dress, nine out of ten employers have adopted casual dress days for at least part of the workweek. The idea behind this is to reduce stress, promote creativity, and lift employee moral.

I believe the negative effects of casual fridays such as sloppy attire, and a lazy attitude outweigh the positive effects such as reduced stress. casual fridays.
What do you think?

Are the effects of Casual Friday more positive or negative ?
	Positive
	Negative
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It is my experience that the concept has led employees to appear sloppy as they push the boundaries of what would be acceptable to wear to work. It seems that often people need guidelines as to what is appropriate to wear.

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From what I have seen, many employees struggle to meet standards even when they are given uniforms. It would seem the concept of uniforms would make things easy, but without proper laundering habits uniforms can appear grungy in no time. Don't you find a once crisp white shirt, after a couple eight hour shifts can be less than professional looking? The same can be said for a vest that once fit, but has now become too tight or has lost buttons.
Customers view employees as less professional when they are not in uniform. Therefore customers are less likely to take them seriously. It is one thing for a grocery, or hardware store to allow casual dress days, but how would you feel if your lawyer showed up to a meeting in ripped blue jeans, a baggy t-shirt, and flip flops?

At my past workplace, cashiers in particular pushed the limits of casual friday. They accomplished this by wearing UGG brand boots, overly tight yoga pants, and low cut shirts. I witnessed a conversation between a customer and a cashier, where the customer was talking about how she was unsure who were the employees v.s the other customers. This is a perfect example of why casual dress days are not always advisable. 

Quite often, businesses arrange casual days around a variety of causes such as cancer, drunk driving, and animal abuse.  In this case employees pay a fee that is donated to a specific cause. This donation allows the employee to wear a t-shirt that represents the cause of the day. While I am all for donating to good causes, I do not agree with only being aloud to dress casually if you donate. I know from experience that many people rebelled against this idea and simply wore whatever they felt like. In this case, where everyone is not participating the organization does not appear united. In a case where support of specific causes is the reasoning behind casual dress it is important that everyone participates.

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Some businesses introduce casual fridays, but have rules to accompany the concept. This should be the only way that business allow dress down days. Otherwise, boundaries are pushed which leads to the workplace environment becoming a place of leisure, and poor work habits. Also customers need to know who to ask for help, and a uniform is a great way to show authority and knowledge. Would you not be frustrated if you required assistance and could not tell the employees from the customers?

My workplace had casual Fridays, but I opted out of them and wore my regular uniform. I personally felt too laid back, and relaxed in my everyday clothing. Also, the one time I did participate in casual friday, I had more than one customer ask me why I was not in uniform. On the days where I did not participate in casual friday and continued to wear my uniform I had a few customers tell me that they appreciated my professionalism in my workplace. Given the chance, do you, or would you participate in casual friday? In my experience representing the company with a crisp white shirt, and proper dress pants led to a higher level of customer satisfaction.