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.

In this weather, in a classroom of 30 children, crammed into an old Victorian building where each room was designed for 10-15 children you do not want to be wearing tights. Trust me. You’ll explode.

I’d actually be pretty happy with a summer uniform like the children; loose cotton dress, little ankle socks and shoes. I’d look like a nutter, but I’d be comfy!

I wear flesh coloured tights with dresses, simply beciase I am quite formal. But I wouldn’t bat an eyelid of a colleague was bare legged - I’m not sure if I would even notice!

Flip flop however are awful - the noise. I had a member of my team who wore hem all bloody summer. My office was at the end of a long corridor, I hated hearing her slap her way down the corridor.

? I've been very unprofessional today then. I'm in HE and no one bats an eyelind at bare legs. If I wore tights in this weather I'd be laughed at!

I'm astonished your senior manager thinks flip flops are acceptable; sandals yes, but flip flops? If there's a fire drill and she has to get down the stairs in a hurry she'll sharp learn why they're not appropriate footwear in most business settings...(So tempted to ask, do you have more shapely legs than she has, by any chance?!)

Your outfit sounds fine to me; when I worked outside the home I did tend to wear very light tights or linen trousers in summer but that's because my skin tends towards blue, being a Northern lass with Celtic ancestry, and I didn't feel comfortable flashing my pins about.

Don't give up on the NHS entirely - I've worked in 4 different NHS settings, 2 of them were super and 2 of them were bloomin' awful. So much depends on your manager, the hospital/unit, and every department is different. Though you could often tell what job someone did by their footwear - cute little kitten heels, just perfect for teetering about on? EITHER a brand new doctor who hadn't yet realised just how skiddy those floors can get OR HR/senior management (we used to call one senior HR manager Imelda...) OR a business consultant who'd come in to tell us how to run things. Crocs? Probably a surgical nurse. Flat, practical service shoes or brogues for men? Definitely medical staff....

Bare legs fine. Flip flops are a no for me.

Ffs....who the hell wears flesh coloured tights?? Some serious unclenching needs to happen on this thread.

Just to put my tuppence in, I regularly negotiate contracts worth hundreds of millions in bare legs. I also have a penchant for animal print, tight trousers and glittery nails. But guess what, I’m still shit hot at my job despite my clearly high inappropriate work attire

Can we please stop with the “ugh, vile / grim / dorky!” comments about nude tights? Some of us prefer them - I’m under no illusion that I’m any kind of style icon but neither do I need or am deserving of anyone’s pity or insults. I don’t think bare legs are unprofessional but for various reasons, including coping with a working day better if I have on light support tights thanks to disability-related issues, I choose to wear them for work. I live in a part of the country still waiting for this mythical heatwave where the temperature rarely hits the 20s for more than the odd day here and there, so no thrush or sweaty fanjo to worry about either.

They may not be your choice but that doesn’t mean you have to slag off women who do wear them.

I used to work in NHS admin and had bare legs on hot days. It doesn’t have to get all that hot before some hospitals (well every one I’ve ever been in, but I’m prepared to accept there may be a mythical air conditioned hospital somewhere in the UK) turn into an environment akin to the surface of the sun! No one ever batted an eyelid, and I was patient facing.

Iceberg- noone's slagging off women who wear them - just the bosses who make them!

I regularly wear light skirts with bare legs in the summer. Unsurprisingly, I'm much more productive at work when I'm comfortable. The people I work for usually neither know nor care what I'm wearing, but are perfectly happy with the quality of my work.

Read a lot of this thread bit not all of it so apologies if this had already been suggested.
Could you speak to HR to clarify the position before you decide to change your job?

My work is no flip flops. Smart casual. Dress down Fridays. No extreme cleavage on show. No shorts. No beachwear.

Tomorrow it will hit 32 degrees here. I am 35 weeks pregnant. My feet are swelling a bit in the heat.

I’m going in flip flops. I have 2 weeks left. Am seriously uncomfortable and they’d just better be glad I go in.

That said when not pregnant I wear smart casual and stick to all “rules”

No bare legs buts she’s allowed flip flops 🤔

Iceberg, I wear stuff for disability reasons that makes me look pretty frigging daft (noise cancelling headphones). Unfortunately some people find them really offensive and will be nasty to me about them. That's just the way life is, and it's something I've had to accept.

I don't think having an opinion on the asthetics of nude tights is quite the same as slagging people off. If you like yours, that's fine. I promise I won't tell you my opinion in person unless you explicitly ask. This IS AIBU.

Tights in a heat wave = thrush.

Flip flops at work are a health and safety risk surely?

Well said @TheTitOfTheIceberg

I've worked in NHS settings and bare legs and sleeveless tops and all sorts of dresses and skirts are the norm for women from top management down to admin during the summer.

I would only consider it 'unprofessional' if the skirt or dress was very short.

"I probably wouldn’t employ someone who turned up to interview bare legged."

And the relevance of this?
OP was not at a job interview.
I think tights usually look better than bare legs and that it wasn't very hot today, but flip flops are definitely much worse.

Short skirt and bare legs - no
Knee length and bare legs - fine
Flip flops - never (and you'd have to have bare legs to wear flip flops)

Ironically, the office I worked at in Sydney insisted on women wearing tights with skits.

Pancaketits - was the Sydney office air-conditioned? That makes a difference.

I love everyone arguing about their rights and personal style, then slagging off anyone who wears flash coloured tights!

I think a few people need to google hypocrites

When it’s hot like this all guides for what to wear should go

you can think nude tights are really ugly and also think people should be allowed to wear them if they so please.

I would love to go bare legged to work but my legs now are truly horrible. I am mortified someone thought they looked like sausages

I wore exactly the same outfit as you describe today and my manager didn't bat an eyelid!