Dear Bill,

We Op Smile employees wish to formally petition you to change the dress code to permit us to wear jeans. As you’re probably well aware (having lived and worked in California for a number of years), denim no longer carries a stigma. Many, many organizations around the world now consider jeans to be perfectly acceptable workplace attire, especially when paired with a dress shirt or blouse and nice shoes.

Over the last few years, “jeans days” have been extremely popular among Op Smile staff (many are even willing to pay money to participate!). Employees see it as a perk. So imagine if the dress code was revised to allow jeans every day. Employees would consider it a benefit, which means it would boost morale, increase productivity, and, even, lead to greater employee retention and lower turnover. If you think that is an overstatement, consider that there are studies that show that among organizations that implement casual dress policies, 85% see improvement in employee morale, 82% say employees perceived it as an added benefit, 72% claim it saves employees time and money, 66% find it can be used as an attraction and retention tool, and 45% see improvement in workplace productivity.

We know there have sometimes been problems in the past with dress code abuse. Most staff understand the importance of appropriate attire and feel that those instances were aberrations that can be resolved through more nuanced revisions to the dress code, rather than an across the board prohibition on jeans. We understand, for example, that jeans should be proper fitting, without holes, and clean. We know, too, that there are situations where jeans may not be appropriate –at industry conferences, speaking engagements, while entertaining donors, hosting corporate partners, etc. But Op Smile should trust that its employees will dress appropriately, just as it trusts that its employees will communicate properly, behave properly, etc.

Thank you for your consideration!

Op Smile staff

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