HRGuru

Can you get away with wearing a nice pair of sandals at work in the summer? Shorts?

Depends on your company's dress code. Mine does not allow flip flops but dress sandals are fine. No to shorts, for both male and female.

We have a casual dress code policy at work.  We can wear jeans, snaekers, sandals (not beach shoes).  I try to not dress that casually - but there are times that my sneakers are calling my name and I give in and wear them.

I've worn shorts and flip flops to work for the last two days, though I rarely do. Up here in Seattle we're not used to the heat, though. Of course the AC has me shivering right now...

I've never worked in an office that allowed casual dress, but I have seen them.  I guess it depends on what kind of business the office is geared to.  There are quite obviously some offices, such as entertainment industry ones, where casual attire would actually be beneficial.  You're more likely to be in a "fun" mood if you're dressed for play.  In such cases, I think it makes alot of sense.  I've just never been blessed enough to work in such a place!  Now that I work at home, I can work in my nighties.  And since alot of my work is done at night, I frequently do!  Too much information? ;-)

I would agree.  You can always take anything too far, and even in completely casual offices, such as some of the entertainment offices and radio stations in California, you can get some dress that isn't acceptable.  So, common sense does need to prevail.  But if tastefully and appropriately done, I think it's fine.

I recently did a several month gig at an internet start up, near the beach in CA.    They allowed the most casual dress code I've ever seen.  But, they did not have retail customers and the such.   What I saw is the programming and back room staff were ultra casual.  The Execs and the sales staff were generally dress casual with some days being dresssed down when they new they didn't have any clients coming in.   We still had people who dressed professionally as a normal course of their day, so it really depended on whether or not you had clients, or would be seen by clients.

Some days I jetted in for only a meeting where none of their clients were present and they were fine with me showing up in my motorcycle gear.  Cool place, great productivity.