A Casual Yet Professional Workplace Works For Us.
The idea of a casual workplace was once taboo. In the past few years, however, it has emerged as the new norm for many companies. What started with “casual Fridays,” has grown to represent an overall relaxation throughout the work week that also encompasses looser restrictions on tattoos, facial hair, jewelry and so on.
While it’s borderline cruel to make people wear suits and ties to work every day in South Florida, a lot of companies do. Fortunately at 2TON we have PacMan in our office and we’re a dog-friendly workplace, so formal business attire doesn’t really match our overall vibe. That being said, we’ve carefully considered what “Business Casual” really means–how far we’re willing to take it and if it’s beneficial to our productivity.
For the most part we’ve found that for us, a more relaxed atmosphere works. We like to listen to music, pet each other’s dogs, wear jeans and t-shirts all while still meeting at the water cooler to chat (not everything’s antiquated from traditional office life).
Here’s why this works for us along with some good stats to make a case for the benefits of a comfortable workplace.
We’re more productive when we’re comfortable.
We sit or stand at our desks all day and need to make sure nothing is hindering the flow of our creative juices. By being able to wear more casual attire–breathable fabrics, comfortable shoes and so on, we are absolutely more able to stay focused. In fact, Mike Slepian, author of “The Cognitive Consequences of Formal Clothing” says that casual clothing makes workers able to think less abstractly and more concretely. And statistically speaking, as many as half of firms surveyed by the Society for Human Resource Management said they allow casual dress every day; up 6% from 2017 and 18% from 2014.
A more relaxed atmosphere boosts morale.
And high morale at work means people work better together. At 2TON, our professional yet casual standards help our team feel connected to one another and also feel more comfortable collaborating. According to Justworks, a Professional Employer Organization, employee happiness is extremely beneficial and can be achieved by relaxing the overall environment, a simple solution that requires no investment.
We value individuality.
Having a more relaxed dress code and a more relaxed workplace overall, promotes individualism and we think that’s a good thing. We want each of our team members to feel encouraged to be themselves and we feel like forcing something formal could possibly stifle creativity.
Have an uptight office? See if moving towards business cas’ will fly–you’ll thank us later.
