How do you expect your employees to dress, and do you enforce a code?

I came from a job where I had to wear heels and a skirt every day. When I left I swore I would never do that again. I found that even though we have a pretty classy store, nobody ever didn't buy something from us because of how we were dressed. My philosophy is that people work better when they feel comfortable. Of course, we're in a beach resort, and we dress like our visitors. Nevertheless, we have a minimal dress code: T-shirts, but no slogans; shorts, as long as they're walking length. Sandals are fine. I allow jeans and sneakers, but no sweat pants. For special events we dress up more. But the bottom line is that I'll take someone with a tattoo and nose ring any day over some 50-year-old woman with a bouffant beehive dyed blue.

This being Key West, home of the most liberal and free-spirited people in the country, dress codes are complicated. There are many different types of people here, so I don't mind that being reflected in the store. Shorts, for example, are a part of our dress. We allow T-shirts, but not with slogans. However, we continually remind staffers that when they're trying to sell a $3,000 item, they need to dress to be taken seriously. We have about 50 employees and they really influence each other. They each have their own casual tropical look, but very neat and presentable, reflecting the store. We encourage it by giving a 40 percent discount on clothing.

Sometimes it's not easy, since we hire very self-actualized individuals. We have a page-long dress code in the employee handbook, because we want all of our employees to look professional and to dress in a way that makes our customers feel comfortable. We don't allow clothing that reveals the midriff. We ask that people who have piercings other than pierced ears to leave the jewelry out when they're here. We allow jeans that are clean and not frayed, but we don't accept shorts. We don't allow sneakers but we do encourage wearing comfortable shoes. Women can wear open-toed shoes but they have to have clean, nice looking feet. However, men can't wear sandals.

We've had no problems with a verbal dress code. Because our art gallery is a less conservative store, we can get away with more. It's important that people look neat. They're hired in part on how they present themselves. Jeans, sneakers, sandals, and walking shorts are all okay as long as they're neat and clean. I've never had to admonish anyone. We hired one guy with a lot of piercings, including one in his tongue, but we thought he was really professional. I don't feel that I can not hire people based on their personal appearance. I don't encourage it, but if that's the way they come, and they're the right person for the job, then it's not an issue. Blue hair has never come up, but I know I wouldn't like it.