Board shorts or Burberry? Should you wear jeans to the office or will this put you at the bottom of the corporate ladder? And is the casual image in the workplace acceptable in the Bay?
Do you worry about what you wear to work daily and how your work wardrobe stacks up against your company's dress code?
Do Tauranga workers cut the right cloth in the workplace, or dress too casually.
Work attire, particularly in the business sector, has trended towards a more casual look over the years.
Tauranga Chamber of Commerce CEO Max Mason says there are now fewer ties worn than there were in the past.
"Leaders of Tauranga are seldom seen wearing ties but rather an open neck shirt with their suit," says Mason. "Businessmen and women do tend to dress up if they have a formal meeting to attend."
"The 'formal professions' such as lawyers and accountants can still be seen in ties, particularly those in and over their 40s. Lawyers are the bastion of tie wearers," adds Mason.
Co-owners of the Style Company, Megan Hewett and Rebecca Kneale, have also noticed this trend.
They have been to a company where someone who turned up in a tie would be told to remove it.
Five years ago, Mason says he would wear the same thing to work everyday, this included a jacket and tie.
However, these days it's different.
"I have to think about what I have on during the day to see if I need to wear a tie or can go without."
This idea of planning what you wear around your meetings is common for businessmen and women in Tauranga.
"You project your image through your attire," he says.
Mason says he has started to see jeans appearing in the business wardrobe.
Particularly on creative, web design, advertising and marketing people.
He says this suits the culture of their profession.
Mason agrees people are casual in the business sectors in Tauranga, he puts this down to Tauranga being a tradies' town.
He says the outdoor environment and summer have an influence on people. "Middle management [positions] do wear jeans and less formal shirts."
Mason says he knows successful business owners in Tauranga who wear what they want to work, and one often goes to work in a tracksuit.
Casual Fridays are becoming more popular, which Mason sees as a good thing. He says meetings on a casual Friday are probably the only time you may see jeans in a business meeting.
Men have fewer dress codes to follow, but what about professional women? To see how business people in the Bay dressed, we contacted four different professionals to see what their rules are and how they look on a typical work day.
The accountant
Michelle Malcolm is associate principal at WHK accounting company.
Michelle says the company has a dress code of smart business attire, which she describes as"funky but business-like".
Michelle moved from an office in Auckland to a Tauranga one, and she says while in Auckland she wore suits to work.
She felt over dressed when she first wore a suit to work in Tauranga. As the "boss", she has taken the opportunity to change the dress code slightly so staff dress nicely but with "funk". "This style matches our clients," she says.
There is a known rule in the office that jeans are not to be worn to work.
However, casual attire can still occasionally be part of your work wardrobe as an accountant. Michelle says they have a casual day twice a month to raise money for different causes.
"This gives staff the chance to wear jeans, shorts or jandals."
Photo: Craig Robertson /FullFrame Photography
The legal secretary
Olivia Cosford is a legal secretary at Mackenzie Elvin.
"We do have a dress code but it is fairly broad. A high standard of dress is required at all times. Dress should be appropriate for a legal firm and uphold the firm's professional image.
"Generally the expectation is that people in legal firms wear outfits that are reasonably formal and conservative," says Cosford. "In Tauranga, work attire tends to be more relaxed than say working in a law firm in Auckland or Wellington, but this doesn't mean we don't like to look professional.
"We don't have to wear certain colours but working in a corporate place, black is often the colour of choice. "There are definitely factors that you take into account when dressing for a law firm.
"Being a corporate workplace you want your clients to see you as a professional."
Cosford says this means no jeans (unless there was a casual Friday), jandals, boob-tube tops, strappy tops, and anything showing too much skin is generally frowned upon.
Males tend to wear suits, or failing that, dress pants, a dress shirt and a tie.
Looking scruffy can reflect on how clients interpret the quality of work, she says. "I would never wear anything too revealing, preferably keep skirts to the knee line and shoulders covered, high heels appropriate for walking back and forth to the photocopier, not 8-inch stilettos."
Photo: Mark McKeown
The dentist
Sarah Bronte is a dentist at the all-female practice of Jennifer Corson Dental
"Unfortunately, dentistry isn't the ideal career for the fashion-forward woman as we have health and safety issues to consider (no stilettos, no open-toed shoes) as well as the fact that we use some materials and chemicals that can ruin your clothes," she says.
"So on that basis we wear a uniform to protect our clothes.
"I tend to buy cheaper trousers from Glassons as they need replacing quite often.
"Dentists are perceived to be quite conservative and most of us probably stick to that image at work, which is a shame for me because I love clothes and shoes.
"I personally never wear skirts at work because of the posture seat I use to keep my back healthy. Jeans aren't considered to be professional enough for medical professionals."
Photo: Mark McKeown
The creative
Loretta Crawford is marketing co-ordinator at Reserve Group, a marketing technology company.
She says the company has a dress code of "smart casual". "In the design industry you dress to fit the culture. This is an industry where wearing a suit to work every day would not fit," she says.
Staff at Reserve Group are occasionally sent emails to remind them of the dress code - hoodies, jandals, and baggy jeans are not allowed to be worn. Tidy jeans are okay to wear to work.
Loretta says the staff are aware they must look presentable and tidy as clients often come through the office.
" Reserve Group does not have any casual days but the company does support causes, with staff wearing fake moustaches for Movember, and jandals for Jandal Day."
Photo: John Borren
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