Do you dress 'professional' or just 'smart casual'? Rosita Boland finds out what's appropriate on the job - and what's not

The tracksuit bottom is officially reviled when it comes to dressing for work. It comes out top as the item of clothing deemed most unsuitable as office attire by the people who pay you to work for them.

"Tracksuit bottoms are not acceptable to wear to work," explains Nora Benson, general manager of the Mary B. Cremin chain of Dublin recruitment agencies. "It doesn't show respect. And first impressions last."

Benson puts runners into the same category. It's not difficult to guess why sportswear is quite so unwelcome in the workplace. Tracksuits and runners seem to be the exact opposite of an employer's idea of a neatly turned out appearance for work, with a mind focused on work. Employers see leisurewear as the shapeless and malodorous outfit for pursuit of sports, or the preferred dress choice for couch potatoes with leisure, and only leisure, on their mind.

The Cremin agencies have some 5,000 people on their books at any time, and their clients include insurance companies, banks, accountancy practices and solicitors' firms. When a client calls with a job, the agency will ask what the workplace dress code is.

"It's not written into a contract, but there is always an unspoken, unwritten dress code for each company. It depends on the company, but 'smart casual' would be the norm, and sometimes 'professional'," Benson says.

"Smart casual" translates as skirt or slacks with a shirt for women, and trousers with a jumper or jacket for men. T-shirts are not acceptable for either sex as a substitute for a shirt. "Professional" is always a suit and tie for men, and a suit for women - either slacks and jacket or skirt and jacket.

"It is expensive, quite honestly, to dress for work, particularly if you're a teenager and in your first job," Benson says. She's had to advise people on her books to borrow suits for interviews, if they can't afford to buy their own. "It has nothing to do with your skills, but being professionally dressed shows that you have respect for yourself."

The somewhat surprising thing about dress code across different professions is that it all seems to be unofficial. Nothing is written down, but everything is implied, unspoken and unwritten. Even the Civil Service, which employs 36,000 people around the country, does not have an official dress code.

The Minister for Finance has statutory responsibility for setting terms and conditions for all civil servants but, at present, dress code is not mentioned in any official circular.

"Each department currently sets its own policy," explains a spokesperson for the Department of Finance.

"You are required to be dressed in a way that's appropriate for your work environment; that shows due consideration for your colleagues and for the post you hold. If someone is serving the public, they wouldn't be able to go topless, for instance."

Topless? Do exciting things happen within the Civil Service that we don't know about?

"Topless is a man not wearing a jacket," he qualifies. "But we wouldn't have a problem, say, with someone having their nose pierced if they were a cleaner or a gardener. Or with a night watchman wearing Doc Martens; you couldn't say that they were inappropriately dressed for work."

Fergal McCarthy is a primary school teacher at Gaelscoil Chluain Dolcáin in Clondalkin, Dublin. He teaches fourth class. "What you wear as a teacher depends on the school you're in. In my first job, the principal was a nun and we had to wear suits and ties every day - to teach infants!

"For the most part, dress at this school is very, very casual, although women make a little more effort - but then, they always do. Your clothes are always getting destroyed with paint, especially with the younger kids. I've had yogurt thrown over me at lunchtimes, milk goes flying, all sorts of food ends up on you.

"We do PE with the kids, so we're constantly bringing them in and out of the classroom. Your clothes get a lot of wear and tear, that's for sure."

Carole Kane is an internal communications executive with Dell in Bray, Co Wicklow, where there are around 1,000 employees. In Dell, from Monday to Thursday the (unwritten) dress-code applies. "What you should wear is never really communicated, but it's assumed you wouldn't wear anything inappropriate, such as something revealing. Belly-tops, mini-skirts, high heels and lots of jewellery would be real no-nos. Anything you'd call 'going out' clothes, really," says Kane.

The "smart casual" rule applies in Dell too. "It's very unusual to see someone in a full suit and tie unless they're having a meeting with outside clients. I'd mostly wear shirts and trousers all the time to work. I have a lot of shirts, but I wouldn't spend any more or less on clothes for work than I would for the rest of my wardrobe. I guess half of my wardrobe is clothes for work and the other half is for everything else."

Fridays in Dell are dress-down days. "Dress-down days are quite common in the workplace," Kane explains. "99 per cent of people here avail of it, and come in in jeans, usually. It's normal for employees anywhere to think 'Thank Crunchie it's Friday'." Kane doesn't think wearing less formal clothes affects employees' production. "It may improve your mood but it won't disimprove your work performance," she says.

She's pleased they don't have to wear a uniform. "I'd find it kind of strange if I had to wear a uniform to work, but it would have the advantage of it being the end of me rooting round in the wardrobe at 7.30 a.m. each day wondering what I'll wear!"

Bernard Gilna is an associate director with Dublin-based architects Murray O'Laoire. "There's no dress code here," he says. "You dress according to the occasion, and as long as it's clean, it's OK.

"One guy did have a ripped T-shirt one day which was a bit much, I suppose. If there is a dress-code, it's 'smart casual'. That means a shirt, with a blazer sometimes. No tie. They don't mind you not wearing a tie.

"You can always spot the architect at a client meeting, because we'll be the ones who stand out. I think people expect and want to see us dressed a bit differently from the suits; we are in a creative job, after all. Black is always fashionable. So are polo necks. And architects wear a lot of trendy shoes.

"Do we wear tracksuit bottoms? Er, no. Definitely not."