Interpreting the Dress Code

Idris Hsi, June 15, 2000

Introduction

In response to the recent memo describing the Georgia Institute of Technology's Business Casual Dress Policies for Summer and Fridays sent by the Office of Human Resources, we are posting the following to clarify specific policies in the item and to offer guidelines that will be specific to the College of Computing. Below is the policy as stated by human resources in italics followed by clarifications for those who are unclear about the specific guidelines. As this policy applies to all employees of Georgia Tech, graduate students employed as GRAs and GTAs will also have to comply with the standards.

Policy

"It is the policy of the Georgia Institute of Technology that each employee's dress and grooming be appropriate for our work environment."

All employees of the College of Computing are required to wear bow ties¹.

"The normal dress code will be relaxed during the summer to provide a more practical and comfortable clothing standard."

Bow ties will only be required on days where the average temperature is predicted to be less than 82 degrees. This includes days where thunderstorms or hurricanes are predicted to occur with a greater than 47.2% chance.

"This policy will be in effect at the beginning of the summer semester and will end after the Labor Day holiday."

This policy retroactively began 12:00 am, May 15 and will end 11:59 pm, September 4, 2000, whether or not summer weather conditions have ended.

"Fridays throughout the year will be designated as Business Casual Dress Day."

On Friday, you should dress casually and go about your business as opposed to the other days of the week where you dress business-like and act casually.

"It is the intent that each employee may choose to wear less formal attire as long as clothing is in good taste and will not negatively affect the Institute's image."

Your clothing may be less formal as long as it tastes good.
Employees are not permitted to wear any clothing that display allusions or colloquial expressions related to The Shaft.
Attire promoting UGA² in any manner will not be permitted on campus. Clothing dyed with UGA colors will only be permitted if the color coverage is less than 23% of the item.

General

"Acceptable personal appearance is an ongoing responsibility of each employee."

Translation: We're not going to dress or clean you before you go to work each day.

"Specifically, "common sense" should be the basic guideline and employees should not wear suggestive attire, athletic clothing, shorts, T-shirts, novelty buttons, baseball hats, and similar items of casual attire that do not present a businesslike image."

Employees should read Thomas Paine's Common Sense for basic guidelines.
"Suggestive attire" includes any clothing that suggests that you might have a personality.
"Athletic clothing" covers any clothing capable of working out on its own. (Free Safety tip: If your clothing can move on its own, it probably needs washing.)
While the policy of banning shorts and t-shirts seems to conflict with the basic idea behind a summer dress policy, it should be noted that the Institute spends a lot of money on keeping all the buildings air-conditioned. Employees arriving at a reasonable time of day, e.g. before 7 am, and not leaving the building until a reasonable time, e.g. after 2 am, should never experience a temperature range that require wearing shorts and t-shirts for comfort.
Since our business consists of computers and the computing lifestyle, we have determined that our image should reflect the stereotypical programmer to reflect competence in this area. Clothing, especially socks, should not match. External computing and electronic devices should be readily available and visible on a belt or shoulder holster. Pocket protectors, while stereotypical, are outdated and entirely optional. Further guidelines will be established as needed.

"As always, supervisors are responsible for determining appropriate dress for each specific work situation or environment."

So as not to burden our supervisors with this responsibility, the College will be appointing an Assistant Dean of Dress Policy in the next year to develop further specific policies for each office, cubicle area, lab, and public area and to inspect employees on a regular and spontaneous basis.
The College will consider funding a research project to automate the process of monitoring employee compliance with the dress policy.

"Radical departures from conventional dress or personal grooming standards will not be permitted."

As conventional dress has great variation in the world, we ask that everyone maintain the following minimal standards:

All primary and secondary sexual genitalia be covered with sufficiently opaque materials designed for this purpose.
Any area of the body that does not meet the current optimal standards for physical beauty, with the exception of the face, must also be covered with clothing designed for that purpose.
Footwear is mandatory. Fashionable shoes or footwear endorsed by famous athletes are preferable.
External cosmetic accessories, such as jewelry, are permitted. The total exposed, reflective surface area of the jewelry must not exceed 32.4 square centimeters.

As personal grooming standards have a great variation amongst personnel at the College, we ask that everyone maintain the following minimal standards:

Showering/Bathing - All employees are asked to immerse themselves in some form of water a minimum of once per day. Soap should be used during this process at least once per week.
Fingernail length - Fingernails must not be allowed to grow past a length of 1.46 cm.
Toenail length - Toenails must not be allowed to grow past a length of .54 cm.
Hair - Only 8% of hair surface area may be split. Up to 29% may be entangled where entangled is defined to be 3 or more adjacent strands that are not in parallel alignment .
Oral hygiene - It is permitted for employees to have not brushed their teeth provided they don't smile or talk.
Body odor - Body odor must not be detectable from a distance of more than .86 meters - the average distance to another person sitting at a neighboring workstation.
Chemical masking of body odor through the use of deodorant, perfume, or pizza is permitted provided the molecular airborne diffusion rate does not exceed 39 parts per million/sec
Sweating is not permitted.

A radical departure is defined to be one greater or equal to 150% of the above standards where such metrics apply. This can always be overridden by the judgment of the Assistant Dean of Dress Policy.
Any radical departure from these standards, for example letting fingernails grow to 2.19 cm (+50% over the guidelines), will be reported to the Dean. Employees caught violating these standards twice will be publicly sprayed with a fire hose. Habitual offenders will be asked to work from home.

"When dealing with customers and the public, your attire should be consistent with a positive business image."

Translation: The value of your attire should be directly proportional to the probable or real amount of money donated to the Institute by the external contact.

Exception

'Employees whose jobs require them to wear uniforms and/or whose attire must meet prescribed safety standards are not covered by this policy."

Translation: Everybody who is already suffering from a tougher dress policy than the one we've set out don't have to follow these rules.
Employees whose lives will be threatened by the above dress policy are also exempt.

¹Our Dean, Peter Freeman, can usually be seen wearing a bow tie.
² UGA stands for the University of Georgia and is a football rival of Georgia Tech.