Business Casual Services and Programs


Casual dressing in the workplace is one of the biggest challenges facing professional organizations. We wrangle with what is appropriate. Employees report that casual dress is a more popular perk than even flexible scheduling and on-site daycare. Meanwhile, companies report that casual dress policies seem to provoke increased absenteeism and tardiness.

What's an organization to do? The current trend calls for defining dress standards, says a recent article in USA Today. 90% of all US companies have casual day of some kind, 33% of all companies allow casual clothing every day. More than 40% of all companies have expanded their casual dress options in the last three years.

Casualwear Businesswear Human Resources Survey

• 87% - improves morale
• 81% - perceived by employees as a benefit
• 51% - employees save money because of casual dress
• 47% - improves productivity
• Given the chance, 96% of employees take advantage

What employees said

• 81% - Improves morale
• 57% - I'm judged now more on my performance than appearance
• 57% - Better camaraderie with managers & co-workers
• 51% - Do best work when casually dressed
• 43% - Boss is more approachable

46% reported that if they were offered two equal positions, the employer which offered casual days every day would get preference.

Making the best impression when dressing in business casual clothing is a must for all businesses today. Dressing too casually can affect your bottom line. Both employers and employees will benefit tremendously from clearly defined and established guidelines. Professional Skill Builders is in the business of helping companies establish business casual dress polices that are appropriate and customized to each unique environment and industry.

Professional Skill Builders, Inc. offers the following services to manage a productive business casual environment:

• Seminars and Presentations - Be Better at Casual: Professional and Comfortable in the Workplace, offered in 90-minute and 2-hour formats for groups of 5 to 500. Workshops are available via 'live audience' training and webinars.
• Appearance Standards - Our dress code consulting services provide solutions for you, your employees, and your organization: whether you are introducing or updating a business-casual dress code policy or are challenged by inappropriate casual dress in the workplace. We help you establish guidelines on appropriate choices for dressing at work and communicate those guidelines to your staff.
• Appearance Quick Guides - Visual displays of appropriate and inappropriate clothing articles for the workplace which includes explanation of appropriate, inappropriate and questionable items. Available in Spring/Summer or Fall/Winter fashions for males and females. If you are interested in receiving a sample of our appearance quick guides, please contact us.
• Fashion shows and critiques involving employees and managers as models.
• Business Casual Consulting Services - . Our consultants will review your organization's business materials, including sales and marketing kit, company mission, vision, values, and appearance guidelines. You will receive a checklist of appropriate and inappropriate clothing items, accessories, and grooming standards for review prior to our session. Services can include dress code consulting, train-the-trainer, coaching managers and supervisors to confront inappropriate appearance/grooming, policy support and reinforcement, noncompliance issues, etc.
• Resources - "Defining Business Casual: Decoding Casual Confusion in the Workplace" by Donna Panko and Kathryn Pfeiffer