Dress Code or No Dress Code?

Dress code

Hong Kong is a pretty liberal working environment when it comes to dress code and “casual” seems to be an accepted norm for most city offices.

But what is the difference between business casual, everyday casual, holiday causal or just plain inappropriate.

Pants

Things like blue jeans, sweatpants, exercise pants, Bermuda shorts, short shorts, bib overalls and any form of body-fitting pants are considered inappropriate.

On the other hand, Dockers and other cotton/synthetic/wool pants would be a smart choice for office wear.

Skirts and Dresses

Dress and skirt length should be at a length which you can sit comfortably in public. Short, tight skirts that ride halfway up the thigh are inappropriate for work. So are sun dresses, beach dresses and spaghetti0strap dresses.

Shirts, Tops, Blouses, and Jackets

Tops like classic shirts, sweaters, golf shirts and turtlenecks are acceptable in the workplace. So are suit jackets and modestly-coloured and styles sports jackets. Inappropriate clothing includes: tank tops, shirts with offensive words, slogans, terms, ,logos, pictures or cartoons, tops with bare shoulders, sweatshirts and T-shirts unless you wear then under a blouse.

Shoes and Footwear

Conservative should would be be your best bet: loafers, clogs, flats, dress heals or classic athletic shoes. You should stay away from flip-flops, open sandals, slippers and other informal footwear.

 

 

PERSONAL CALLS AT WORK….Are They Worth The Trouble?

personal calls at work

With the hours we work these days, often staying up late and putting in Saturdays and Sundays, it is inevitable that our personal and professional lives tend to overlap.

Personally, I often find it hard to balance out the overlapping, especially when it comes to phone calls.

The general rule I try to follow is simple: no personal calls from 9 to 5, unless it is an emergency. Of course, my friends and relatives often have a different idea of what constitutes an emergency. For my girlfriends it may be the annual sale at Sephora and for my mom her problem opening an email attachment.

Another issue here is, how to handle getting a personal call at work? I tend to act embarrassed and either run out of the room whispering or mute my cell and call back when nobody is around.

However, some of my colleagues seemed to be very OK about taking personal calls at the desk and even more OK with loudly discussing their personal issues. This way I got to learn a lot about a wide array of things about my co-workers: from the kids’ grades to their position on high heels versus flats.

So the question is: in today’s working world are personal calls an inevitable and welcome part of professional life, a cause for embarrassment or a complete taboo?

My instinctive guess is that we cannot cross out our personal relationships and ignore our friends and family. After all, they are what matters in the end. But we should aim for a balance. The starting point would be trying to schedule all our calls during a lunch break. Or, the next tome we have a few leisure minutes at work – use them to call a loved one (instead of surfing the net for celebrity gossip updates)

What do you think? Drop me a line at sales@cantreo.hk.

工作中的私人电话

(图片)
随着我们这些天的工作时间,经常熬夜,周六和周日,我们的个人生活和职业生活不可避免地会重叠。
就个人而言,我经常发现很难平衡重叠,尤其是在电话方面。
我尝试遵循的一般规则很简单:从上午 9 点到下午 5 点不要打私人电话,除非是紧急情况。当然,我的朋友和亲戚通常对紧急情况的构成有不同的看法。对于我的女朋友来说,这可能是丝芙兰的年度促销活动,而对于我妈妈来说,她打开电子邮件附件的问题。
另一个问题是,如何处理在工作中接到私人电话?我往往表现得很尴尬,要么跑出房间小声说话,要么把手机静音,等周围没人时再打电话。
然而,我的一些同事似乎对在办公桌上接听私人电话觉得不在意,甚至更愿意大声讨论他们的私人问题。通过这种情况,我可以了解很多关于我同事的各种事情:从孩子们的成绩到他们在高跟鞋与平底鞋上的地位。
所以问题是:在当今的工作世界中,私人电话是职业生活中不可避免和受欢迎的一部分,是尴尬的原因还是完全的禁忌?
我的直觉猜测是,我们不能划掉我们的个人关系而忽视我们的朋友和家人。毕竟,他们才是最重要的。但我们应该以平衡为目标。起点是尝试在午休时间安排我们所有的电话。或者,下一本书我们在工作中有几分钟的空闲时间——用它们给亲人打电话(而不是上网查看名人八卦更新)
你怎么认为?给我写信 sales@cantreo.hk。