Has Your Office Become Too Casual?

At one time, offices were the epitome of formality where bosses were addressed as "Mr." or "Mrs." and you wore only suits or dresses. Now, many workplaces have a business casual dress code with even more casual Fridays, and the bosses -- who go by their first names -- are your Face book friends.

Employers relaxed the rules to enhance workplace attitudes. If you're on the phone or on the computer all day, it doesn't matter if you're wearing a tie. At least you'd think so of course, as with all things good, too much can be detrimental. How can you have a relaxed, casual environment while still maintaining your professionalism?

Friendships are commonplace in all jobs. They exist between colleagues and sometimes between employees and their bosses. Try as you might, switching from friendship to professional mode while you're on the clock can be difficult. For the sake of your office, however, you might want to try harder. "We spend so much of our day at work that people often forget where the line between work and personal life should be drawn," says Roberta Chinsky Matuson, president of Human Resources Solutions. "Discussions regarding what you did last night and with whom are not necessarily conversations one should be having at work." what you say to a close co-worker can be overheard by many other people in the desks or cubicles within earshot. Even if no one else hears, you could be talking to the wrong person in the first place. You might be close with your boss, but giving information that could undermine your reliability or professionalism can harm your career down the road when it's time for a promotion.

Your words, appearance and behavior are three key factors in gauging whether work has become too casual. The use of expletives, overly familiar terms (calling someone by [his or her] first name or a nickname when few others do), using common slang deemed inappropriate for work communication or failing to use appropriate jargon for your particular work context. The obvious wardrobe error is dressing down too much, including jeans and belly-revealing shirts, not to mention showing a lot of cleavage or tattoos and piercings. When it comes to grooming, the rules are pretty much common sense: Keep the style and color appropriate to your field and bathe on a regular basis. And Lastly, Your behavior: "This could include too much socializing at work, socializing that is perceived as too personal and too often getting inside another person's personal space, which for most Western cultures is about arm's length.

VOCABULARY: discuss and give the meaning of the highlighted words.

ARTICLE DISCUSSION:

· Do you think it is appropriate for a workplace to have a strict dress code? Why and why not?

· When do you think should an employer and employee draw the line in a business environment? And will there be an advantage and disadvantage for doing so?

· According to the article, what are the no- no’s in a workplace attitudes?

· Do you think it is inappropriate or appropriate to be close to your boss?

· What are the standards of measure to determine whether work has become too casual?

· Do you have this kind of situation in your office? And if so, does it really affect the workplace environment?

IDIOMS:

Dressed to the nines - if you are in your very best clothes, you're dressed to the nines.
Dress to kill - when someone is dressed to kill, they are dressed very smartly.
Dress someone down - If you dress someone down, you scold them.

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