So here I sit on Friday in my designer jeans, Savile Row shirt and of-the-moment socks*, wondering what all the fuss is about.
A survey of 2,000 workers by clothes retailer Very is reported in Metro today, shedding a whole new light on workplace stress. You and I might have thought that small matters such as workload, bullying, money worries or job security would secure at least a podium finish among those things causing most stress at work. However, they all fall a distant second, apparently, to the misery and heartache caused by dress-down Friday.
There is no way of making this sound sillier than it already does, so this is lifted directed from the Very blog: “New research has revealed that almost half (45%) of the working population are actually dressing up on a Friday, causing additional stress and planning before the working day has already begun. This stress and strain over what to wear, cited by more than 1 in 10 (13%) of Brits as the most stressful time of the working week, has led to 15% admitting to calling in sick to avoid the day altogether. Nearly a quarter (23%) have been late due to indecision, and 1 in 5 have returned home to change after leaving the house”.
Summing up this new threat to morale and retention in the British workplace, Very’s in-house model and Legal Correspondent Fearne Cotton, says “We’ve all been there, rummaging through drawers and trying to find the outfit that makes you look fabulous without looking like you’ve tried too hard”. Personally, no, I haven’t, sorry.
However, employers reeling at the prospect of absenteeism and legal threats arising from negligently allowing people to wear their own clothes on a Friday need not fear – the Very blog’s tagline (and therefore a significant indicator of its survey respondents) is “Fashion, celebs and the things that rule our world”, those things presumably not including actual reality or any sense of perspective.
So your dress-down Friday is safe, subject only to the usual rules about equivalent (but not necessarily) identical rules for each gender, a right to take exception to particular items of clothing or jewellery, etc., and a nagging sense that one’s chinos are a little bit 2011.
*This is not true
