My manager has banned all vests, skirts and shorts

OMG that woman, a human, has <whispers> shoulders.

Gasp.

passes out...

They don't... for the simple fact that the offices are air-conditioned! So you actually often need another layer. Unless the organisation invests on proper air-conditioned to keep staff at a reasonable temperature they are being unreasonable to stipulate long dresses or skirts.

I am genuinely staggered by how many people have an armpit aversion.

Who knew!

I think it’s fair enough to expect people to cover their shoulders and armpits at work , ie not wear a vest. A short sleeved top isn’t going to make you any hotter really, and I don’t think displaying armpits is professional.

The no skirts or shorts thing is bizarre though. Women wear skirts to work all year round, they’re basic female clothing.

That said, loose linen trousers are much cooler than wearing shorts or skirts so maybe look for these? H and M do decent ones quite cheaply or M and S is good. Linen is the way to go, or cotton. Nothing man made.

Yes, in some countries even police officers, newsreaders and politicians wear smart tailored shorts.

Others have breezy traditional dress options.

Flashing your knees! Disgraceful!!

According to many posters anyway & certainly the OP's manager who thinks ankle length is most appropriate.

bloody loon

😂😂😂😂

id be taking it to HR.

It’s the age old story of people can’t use common sense
manager has to put clear expectations
one persons appropriate is another’s inappropriate

Whilst I agree that she is being absolutely unreasonable (I often wear smart vest tops with a thick strap for work) I think you need to focus on what can be cool.

Yesterday I was out all day in the sweltering heat and I chose to wear a pure cotton maxi skirt as I knew it would be much cooler than my shorts.

Cotton maxi skirts, thin linen trousers and short sleeved blouses will be cooler than a traditional polyester mix pair of shorts or pencil skirt.

Maybe your manager is deeply closeted and repressed, and struggling with all-gender lust.

Maybe she grew up on a farm, and human joints remind her of losing her animal friends to the abattoir

Maybe what she means but cannot articulate is that people need to iron their clothing, pull the necklines and armholes into place and give a tug or tweak or pat down to the hems after getting dressed, tuck errant strings into waistbands, etc. to look smart, but they are less likely to do that with hot weather clothing.

No, they start work at silly am, then everything shuts for a siesta during the hottest part of the day.

I used to work in an office with customers and suppliers coming in and out all day and knee length or sleeveless would have been fine in this heat (though I probably wouldn't have done both at the same time)

I did always feel a bit sorry for the men in shirts and ties though

I foyu think about populations in hot countries, they don't wear vests and shorts

There is a minimum which I think is 16 degrees for offices (off the top of my head) but no maximum.

I agree with the vest aspect but not the rest. Without air conditioning some offices can get unbearable.

It's a very unflattering length for most people and quite an aging look, that's probably why.

OP I wonder if you are at my old trust! I also had a mini dictator boss who sat in am air-conditioned office and our south-facing officers were 35 degrees in the summer. I left asking the whole place was so toxic and now work in an environment here I can wear whatever I like. It's great. They don't measure my performance against my sleeve length

I would check that that is a safe temperature to be working in. Since you work for the NHS you will have an HR department with solid policies and Occupational health to

No it suggests the manager is a loon wanting ankle length skirts.

“would you honestly care if your doctor/lawyer/bank manager/whoever was dressed practically and comfortably but was doing a good job?“

Yes - if my lawyer etc were wearing a strappy vest top with pits on show and shorts/short beach skirt and flip flops, I would care. I would instinctively think ‘unprofessional’ and like that they couldn’t be bothered or were in their way to the beach or something

They've probably been told (or more likely misinterpreted) that they have to apply the same rule to men and women, and they don't want to have to deal with men turning up in Bermuda shorts and a vest.

In fairness, when the weather gets hot I do think men get the short end of the straw when it comes to appropriate office wear. Not so bad if you can wear tshirts, but many places expect a man to be in long sleeves in order to be considered "smart" and most offices would frown on men turning up to work in shorts.

Armpits are a weird hill to die on. I don’t want to see anyone’s boobs, but completely unoffended by shoulders and armpits.

I worked for a software company years ago. All the
programmers wore shorts in hot weather. If you’re not customer facing, I don’t see that it really matters. All I care about personally is whether people are clean. Is your manage a former teacher? These are the type of rules that schools make.

My team have a relaxed dress code this week.

My rules are if I can see up it, down it or through it - don’t wear it. Otherwise, go for it.

I need them to work, and nobody’s going to be in the mood to do that if they’re melting to death at their computer.

I had thought that was common sense, but maybe not.

Because it’s a bloody nightmare when you allow shorts and vests as people can’t be relied upon to exercise judgement and dress appropriately and managers end up becoming the clothing police.

There are many versions of shorts that are more elegant and work-appropriate than the silly flippy kneelength or longer skirts with or without slits that I like to wear off work. Not that I wear shorts to work (yet), but I admire the tailored-shorts look.

In the 2010s my preferred work 'uniform' was tunic dresses above the knee with tight thickness according to season. Nobody died.