Ozarks' dress codes shift to business appropriate

For example, employees at CPA firm Elliott Robinson & Co. LLP are expected to dress business casual, with an upscale twist, meaning dress slacks and dress shirts, but no khakis

“It’s a little more relaxed, but one thing that we stress is – and this is where the appropriate thing comes in – that if you’re meeting with a client that day, we expect you to dress up,” Simmonds said. “Likewise, if you’re going out to a client’s manufacturing shop, and they’re going to give you a tour, it’s OK to wear jeans.”

Employees at law firm Neale & Newman LLP are expected to maintain professional appearances, said firm administrator Ray Dees, though he noted that they’ve gotten sidetracked by casual Fridays.

“If (some) of our attorneys don’t have a court appearance or a deposition or something of that nature, they may come in a little more casual, but they’re still pretty careful about their appearance,” Dees said.

As with many businesses in the community, Neale & Newman has a written dress code in place, but Dees said he’s not worried about nit-picking details. He does, however, look at the overall impressions employees make.

At the Springfield office of law firm Blackwell Sanders, employees dress in business professional, said Teri Pearman, office administrator.

“Our clients expect that if you’re dealing with an attorney, then the attorney should look like an attorney,” Pearman said. “So, it’s important to take that into consideration.”

Great Southern Bank also has a business professional dress code, according to Matt Snyder, vice president and director of human resources, for the same reason as Husch Blackwell Sanders.

“You don’t want to see the person sitting across the desk from you discussing your finances in an AC/DC T-shirt,” Snyder said.

Snyder said that ties, slacks and dress shoes are expected of men, while women wear dresses, pantsuits and hose, though the bank does take into account employees’ levels of customer contact when determining dress code.

Employees at Great Southern’s operations center who don’t work directly with customers are allowed to wear corporate business casual, which includes logo shirts and khakis.

Flexibility makes sense, according to Michelle Maynard, human resources manager at Springfield Underground.

“If you’re working in a warehouse, you wouldn’t want to come to work in a suit,” Maynard said. “There are variables all over the place.”

Even at smaller businesses, appropriate attire depends on individual positions.

Joy Sorbo, office manager at Wannenmacher Advertising Co. Inc., said the company’s dress code is “a one-line thing in our manual: ‘employees should dress in an appropriate manner to reflect a professional attitude toward their jobs, clients and co-workers.’”

Sorbo said the firm’s nine employees generally dress in business casual, which they consider to be no jeans and not sloppy – jeans are allowed only on casual Fridays. Sorbo said sales employees typically dress in slacks, dress shirts and sweaters since they are working directly with clients.

Sheri Hawkins, president of human resources and marketing consulting firm 2balance, said appropriate business dress often has to be explained to younger generations, who may expect a more casual environment and carry fashion trends into the workplace. When consulting with younger workers, Hawkins advises them to develop two different personal styles: one for work and one for home.

Hawkins says the biggest dress-code mistake is not wearing clean, well-pressed clothing.

“Dress at the high end of what’s acceptable for that particular environment, whether it’s construction or an office environment,” she said.

That’s good advice for job candidates at Pellham Phillips Architects & Engineers, where Cheryl Doran, director of operations, expects job applicants to wear ties, even though the firm’s dress code is business casual.

Doran notes, however, that more creativity is allowed when designers are being interviewed.

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