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1. Adam (inkslinger@mastodon.club)'s status on Friday, 24-Aug-2018 10:56:01 EDT Adam

   Many (most?) office jobs have casual Fridays these days. The fact that we can do it one day a week, with no impact on the quality of work (actually, in the hot summer months, quality of work may go up when you can wear less restrictive clothing) short of proves the lie that more formal clothing is needed to maintain professionalism. It's all just an illusion we allow ourselves to buy into (necessarily, for many, if we want to remain employed).

   1. Michela (michela@mastodon.club)'s status on Saturday, 25-Aug-2018 05:43:00 EDT Michela

      in reply to

      @ink_slinger I don't think professionalism is an all or nothing thing. Surely, one can be professional amd dressed casually, while the same person dressed smartly looks a lot more professional.

      How we present ourselves does indeed have an influence on how we are perceived by others, and even over how we feel about ourselves. I don't have it handy, but remember seeing research on this.

      1. Michela (michela@mastodon.club)'s status on Saturday, 25-Aug-2018 05:59:15 EDT Michela

         in reply to

         @ink_slinger A totally subjective anecdote: I dress "business casual" at work, even though I am not required to do so. I definitely feel that dressing this way helps prompt others to listen to me and take me seriously. Of course, that's in addition to my knowledge, experience, integrity, methods, and work ethic.

         Dressing reasonably well is an easy, relatively inexpensive (a lot of my clothes come from thrift stores) thing to do, and I'm happy to do it to help me be effective at work.