While business casual dress policies can boost employee morale and productivity, they can be a source of stress for supervisors and workers alike. Not everyone has the same understanding of what "business casual" really means, and what is considered acceptable for this style of attire may vary significantly among companies. Use the sample policy provided here as a guideline for creating a policy that clarifies acceptable attire for your workplace.
Creating Your Policy
Using the Sample
To download a sample business casual dress code policy, simply click the image. A printable PDF that you can edit and customize with your logo will open in a separate window.
- Save the document by clicking the diskette icon in the toolbar, then assigning a unique file name and navigating to the area of your hard drive or external storage device where you'd like to store the file.
- Change the logo by clicking the "Insert your logo here" text, navigating to the graphic file that you want to use, and clicking the "Save" button.
- Edit the text by clicking anywhere in the text area of the document and make changes using your keyboard and mouse.
If you need help downloading the printable, check out these tips.
Establishing Guidelines
While the sample policy has example text often used in business casual attire policies, everything in it might not be appropriate for your company. Use what is here as an example, making changes so that the finished document meets your requirements.
Consider what standards of attire make sense for your workplace when defining your business casual dress code, being sure that you provide guidelines for what is acceptable and specify items that are prohibited.
A few things to keep in mind:
- Some companies, especially those that are not customer-facing, let employees wear shorts and collarless shirts.
- Others consider jeans with polo shirts or pullovers to be acceptable
- Some consider jeans and collarless shirts to be too casual, instead requiring twill slacks or skirts paired with shirt that have collars.
- Others intend "business casual" to be only slightly less formal than standard professional attire like business suits.
Time Restrictions
Your policy also needs to specify when this particular approach to dressing applies. The sample policy here assumes that the dress code applies all the time, but you can adjust it to cover certain days of the week, for example, by changing the name to something like "Casual Friday Apparel Guidelines." If you go this route, be sure to establish guidelines for attire on days that the casual dress code does not apply.
Clarify Expectations
Whatever your organization's take on what business causal really means, it's essential to have written guidelines establishing a business casual dress code. This clarifies expectations for employees and gives supervisors a basis for making fair decisions about what is - and is not - acceptable attire.
Policy Distribution
The policy that you establish should be distributed to all employees at the time it is adopted, and you should get each member of your workforce to sign a document indicating that they received the policy, as well as that they have read and understand the document. It should become an addendum to your employee handbook and be worked into the document the next time it is updated.
