I think most offices, at this point, have transitioned from their pandemic policies to whatever is next for the company policy — I know this can create a lot of flux! I’m curious: What is your ideal work location, if you could choose? What is your current work situation, and does it reflect your ideal?

Here are the questions:

• How has your company’s policy changed, and do you think it’s still in flux?
• Are you in the office all the time, or only some of the time?
• Do you still have your own office or cubicle, or are you hot-desking?
• If you’re remote for some or all of the time, do you prefer to WFH — or somewhere else, like a coffee shop?
• (If you live with other people, how has their situation(s) affected yours?)
• What is your ideal work location, and are you seeking a new job because of it (seeking all remote work or all in-office work?)

I’d also wonder how seniority plays into this — I’ve seen a lot of chatter about how hard it is to teach new lawyers how to be lawyers remotely, for example.

As I noted back in early 2020, also, working from home doesn’t necessarily mean working from your kitchen table. Some people prefer to go to coffee shops, libraries, or even hotel lobbies to get their work done. Having your own office, set up just for you, makes a huge difference also! Depending on your company policy, you could even become a digital nomad and live elsewhere in the country or world.

What is your ideal work location this year — office, WFH, remote, or hybrid?

Stock photo via Stencil.

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How do you dress professionally for a heat wave? I got an emergency email from a reader, who noted that given the heat wave here in NYC her BigLaw firm has told her she’s free to dress “comfortable casual” (but not in denim) for the duration of the week. Given that the firm is already “business casual,” she’s a bit perplexed.  (Pictured:  Cute, but probably not what the firm had in mind…)

{related: The Ultimate Guide to Business Casual for Women}

This is a new phrase to me, but here’s my advice to any woman told that this week: I would stay the course and wear your usual “business casual” to work until you see your female superiors dressing differently. My guess is that this email is intended for the men, who may now be able to include polo shirts, short-sleeved shirts, and khaki pants in the mix. (To any male summer associates who are reading this blog: I’d be shocked — shocked! — if this email was the firm’s way of encouraging you to wear shorts to work during the week.)

{related: the best summer work clothes}

I’m curious to hear what the readers say about this, but my attitude is that if you’re dressing properly for summer (for “business casual”) that most women are already sitting pretty, whether it’s Hot or Very Very Hot. For example:

• If you’re wearing dresses or skirts, you already have a built-in ventilation system. If you’ve been wearing pantyhose to work, my guess is that you can relax that for the next week and skip the hose (but keep a pair or two in your office in case you’re called to a big meeting).
• If you’ve been smart purchasing your summer wardrobe, fabrics like linen, cotton, and silk all breathe very easily. If you’ve worried that you look too “wrinkled” for work, I would also take this “comfortable casual” as an invitation to not worry about the wrinkles.
• Know your office on this one — but ladies, if you feel vastly more comfortable wearing capris than pants to work, you might also want to see if other women in your office are doing it and then take that step. If you’re seeing knee-length shorts around your office (worn by your superiors, not the staff), and want to wear them, my best advice is to keep the rest of your outfit as professional as possible. For example, wear the knee-length shorts with a pair of closed-toe pumps (perhaps in a nude-for-you color) and a nice blouse. (But ultimately: are you THAT much more comfortable in shorts or capris than proper pants? I never have been, but maybe that’s me.)

(Also:  who wears denim to be comfortable during a heat wave?)

As always, I recommend keeping a blazer and/or cardigan (at least) in your office in the likely event that the A/C will be blasting, as well as a pair of closed-toe pumps in case you’re called into a big meeting at the last minute.

Readers, how do you dress professionally for a heat wave? What’s your take on “comfortable casual”?

The post “Comfortable Casual” for a Heat Wave appeared first on Corporette.com.

Ah, office jewelry… too much and you run the risk of looking like Tess, pre-makeover (from Working Girl). Let’s discuss: what jewelry DO you wear at the office? Is anything off limits?

Today’s reader mail:

I adore jewelry, and I can pull of a bit chunkier necklace, but I hate wearing earrings or bracelets at the office. Bracelets always end up hurting my arm when I’m writing, as my watch goes on my left wrist and I’m right handed, and earrings always poke into my head when I’m on the phone. I’ve gotten around it by wearing only necklaces, or taking my earrings off when on the phone much like the ladies on Designing Women, but I’d love a more modern suggestion, and to know what jewelry others are wearing!

We totally agree — it can be tricky. For our $.02, we’ve mentioned our dislike of bracelets before: bangles are too noisy and distracting, and even tennis bracelets dig into our wrists while typing.

{related: how much jewelry should you wear to work?}

As for earrings, we haaate, hate, hate wearing post earrings for precisely that reason. Our solution has been to wear earrings with what we believe is called a “European” back — far more comfortable! — but it can be hard to find ones that are small enough to be acceptable for the office that are nice yet reasonably priced.

We end up wearing a lot of “huggie” earrings (like the ones pictured at right), which hug the earlobe.

{related: how to build a tasteful jewelry collection}

Hunting for great jewelry for the office? As of 2023, we’re long been fans of affordable brands like Kendra Scott and Gorjana, as well as mid-tier brands like Monica Vinader, David Yurman, and Stephen Dweck. For our $.02: spend money on things like a good watch (or watch strap), gold or diamond earrings, a pearl necklace, and more.

(At right: Perfect Huggie Hoops in Yellow Gold by Jude Frances, available at Amazon.com for $480.) We would argue that earrings that dangle farther than half an inch from your earlobe are a bit too distracting for work, but maybe that’s us.

In terms of other jewelry, keep in mind that office jewelry should be about restraint — you want to garnish your outfit, not embellish. You might want to pick a few small pieces, like a ring, small earrings, and a watch or necklace.

You might want to pick one big piece, like a very chunky necklace (or several necklaces for a layered effect) or a cocktail ring, to be worn with bare ears and wrist or very plain accessories.

Another piece that we often mention is the brooch — they’re not as “in” as they were a few years ago, when the trend was to layer several brooches on a sweater. Still, we do like the way one nice brooch looks on the lapel of a blazer or cardigan, or even as used to “close” a cardigan, a la Michelle Obama. Here are all of our tips on how to wear a brooch…

Readers, what do you think? What do you wear in terms of jewelry at the office?

Psst: here are Kat’s latest favorite ways to store jewelry…

2020 image updates via Stencil. This post was originally written in 2009 but substantially updated in 2020, except where otherwise noted.

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This week’s poll is about an office space — if it’s your own, and you have a door that shuts and blocks it from view entirely, how clean do you keep it? (We’ll also assume, for the purpose of this poll, that you don’t have frequent clients or superiors coming to your office.)  We have friends who keep their desks bare of all paper except the immediate project they’re working on — and we have friends who have files and boxes and loose papers and half-read magazines from the commute and pens and other things lying about on the desk and the floor, as well as spare shoes, spare clothes they keep at the office (suit jackets, more comfortable pants), and various food stuffs. Then there are the people who have the truly messy offices — the “wall of paper” offices, where you wonder how they were able to stack the files so high without the pile falling over. All this brings us to our question today: When does messy cross the line into unprofessional? Is it worse for women, who are more prone to keeping personal items (shoes, jackets, low-fat food items, etc) in their office?

What’s the messiest your office has been — and what did you do about it? Has anyone brought in professional organizers or bought office furniture to hide the mess? What’s the messiest office you’ve ever seen (and whose was it — a superior’s? junior? college professor?)

Photo Credit.

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