I recently left the warehouse industry and got an office job. They never really told me what the dress code was but it seemed to be business casual so that’s what I try to abide by. I’m not a particularly feminine person so I don’t have a lot of nice clothes (and I also don’t wear makeup just by personal preference) but I did buy some nice dress pants and blouses.
Yesterday I wore what I thought was a nice shirt and a cardigan over it and some dress pants. I got hot so I took off the cardigan temporarily so I was in my shirt and dress pants. I don’t interact with anyone all day unless I run into them in the break room. I did run into the company VP yesterday while getting coffee.
I guess I didn’t look nice enough for him because within an hour of running into him, he had emailed my boss and made her tell me I need to ‘dress up more’ for work.
I guess I’ll try and buy some ‘fancier’ blouses but I have a hard time understanding the importance of it. We never have clients in the office and we all work independently in cubicles all day.
Is there any evidence to suggest that ‘dressing up’ for work boosts morale or something?