To think bare legs at work isn’t unprofessional

[Basketofkittens]

I work in a non customer / public facing role in an office. Today as it was hot I wore an nice knee length A-line skirt and a T-shirt. All very respectable. Think White Stuff style. With ballet flats.

One of the more senior managers pulled me up and said that bare legs and a casual skirt weren’t appropriate. She was wearing linen culottes and flip flops.

In my last job I would wear a maxi dress and sandals in the heat but there was no formal dress code. I looked at the dress code for this workplace and it’s smart-casual. Knee length skirts and smart tops are in the acceptable column. Flip flops are not.

Normally I would wear a smartish work dress with tights but it’s just too sticky and the office has poor ventilation.

My legs are very nice. Hair free. No veins. Not that it matters if I had those things!

And they are white legs because I am pale. I don’t feel the need to use fake tan.

Madness. Can't believe her criticism after wearing flip flops herself.
Thank goodness for HR woman!

Pasty white legs don't look personally pretty or professional to me.

Choosing to talk about "pretty" above "professional" does not inspire me to regard your advice.

Unless you’re naked or it’s a H&S issue who cares what another person is wearing? I don’t get it, it’s not the 1950’s !
Dress code/uniform for H&S and/or to allow customers to ID you, but otherwise a professional person doing a professional job is more than capable of dressing themselves.
Concentrate on work related issues instead.

Where did this notion come from that women's legs must be covered in a thin man-made fiber in order to be professional? Very odd, that.

bahhhh ha ha ridic.

I worked for a couple of blue-chip companies in the eighties, so a lot of years ago and no one there thought bare legs were an issue. Having to wear some hideous skin coloured tights in the warm weather, or any weather as far as I'm concerned is a crime against humanity.

Tights are just bloody horrid fanny sweat bastards. I only wear them in the winter and then they're woollen tights. I stopped wearing "lady tights" when I left school and didn't have to any more. I've worn stockings occasionally and fishnets - all those holes let the air circulate, but if a job demanded I wear tights I wouldn't take it.

I’m a lawyer for a top 100 law firm. We have a ‘dress for your day’ policy so I wear jeans and a smart top on most days unless I have a client meeting. Now that it’s warmer I wear a smart casual summer dress and sandals. Even when I have a meeting and wear something more formal I only wear tights when it is cold!

I think your boss had no room to talk. No difference in either of you. Her footwear was worse if anything.
I have psoriasis and never wear thin tights ( they would he in shreds and my legs bleeding . I tend to wear knee length or maxi dresses and no tights. I'm winter I wear 100 denied + tights or fine leggings with a shorter dress or skirt..

Really depends on your workplace culture. Personally I don't like to see bare legs with short skirts, I think short skirts should only be worn with opaques but yes I don't wear tights in summer - bare legs with longer dresses and crop leggings with short dresses. Or trousers/culottes.

To be fair, although I think a senior manager has the right to pull you up, she is being very hypocritical if she had bare legs and flip flops herself.

I wore flip flops and bare legs to work today, a professional environment and I saw people all day from 7.30 - 6pm

Maybe I’ll get the sack 🙈

Bare legs are absolutely fine. I work in a corporate environment and bare legs everywhere in summer. Flip flops however no no no. That senior manager needs to stop her power trip.

I think a senior manager has the right to pull you up

She does not have the right if it is not part of the dress code.

@SenecaFalls that's true - I'd be pretty pissed off if somebody criticised my clothing due to their personal opinions

Take no notice - keep going bare leg. I'm in NHS management on the admin side and my team are expected to cover their backside and their cleavage at all times and shoulders out of respect for different cultures - we relax the dress code in exceptional heat.
Flip flops? An absolute No No.

I think a senior manager has the right to pull you up

I'm a senior manager and, no, I wouldn't dream of it.

I'm operating under the assumption that my subordinates are functioning adults fully capable of a) reading and adhering to relevant company policies and b) applying their considerable intellectual capacities as necessitated by their job to the question of what is and is not appropriate to wear to work.

I'd pull an employee up on their appearance of they looked obviously dishevelled or were dressed very inappropriately indeed. But, after more than an decade in upper and middle management, I've yet to come across a single case where I would have deemed this necessary.

People, as a rule, don't like feeling embarrassed and will hence tend to dress in a way that doesn't embarrass them.

I'm operating under the assumption that my subordinates are functioning adults

Had to say, I love this comment!! True!

Anyone who thinks the colour of someone's legs has any bearing on how professional they look belongs in a tribunal.

I think generally yes tights look smarter but in this weather flexibility should be allowed. I’m not so co conceded that a more casual knee length skirt is ok though. A normal smart work skirt or dress with bare legs would have been more smart.

... who wears nude tights?

... who wears nude tights?

Me. In autumn/winter when I've forgotten and/or couldn't be arsed to take my trouser suits to the dry cleaner's again and am faced with the choice between stained trousers and a dress.

Actual fact about nylon tights: while I hate the fuckers with a passion, you can layer them, and three pairs on top of one another actually feel warmer than one pair under trousers.

jessebuni - HR agreed that what I was wearing was fine. It’s an NHS admin job.

Someone else was saying that you can dress people in expensive clothes and they still look like a sack of messy spuds. Wearing tights and a cheap suit for example would make me look worse!

Oh my goodness, our own legs are now not acceptable🤣🤣🤣
I think bare legs look fine for work, as long as its not paired with a teeny tiny miniskirt in the office.

I like working from home in my PJs. But I’m sure some people would be horrified by the fact that I’m WORKING in my own home and not dressed in an appropriate knee length work dress with tights and court shoes!

My arms are just as pasty as my legs. They also have scars on them from a car crash. My face is also pasty...it's my complexion.
How on earth do bare legs, or legs covered with a very thin, transparent fabric differ in professionalism?