On Friday, in preparation for my trip to HQ, I asked C what is the appropriate dress code. She told me whatever I do, don’t turn up in a suit. Jeans is great and I would fit in perfectly.

What a contrast from my previous company! I recall on my first trip to HQ in my previous company, I fretted over what to wear as I had up till then mainly polo tees and jeans and at best, a few shirts and pants in my office wardrobe. I had to do a fair amount of shopping in preparation. And even then, I got feedback from my supervisor after the trip that I had to dress better. And when she same to Singapore, she gave me the same feedback to dress better in Singapore (meaning suits and dresses). At the time, I told her jokingly that if I were to do so in the local office, people would think I were having job interviews on the day. Such was the much more laid back culture in the local office compared with HQ.

Fast forward to now and my current (and new) employer and it is entirely the other way around. As the current local office is in CDB, rubbing shoulders with banks and financial services companies, local staff tend to dress up a fair bit, especially the ladies as it is a daily competition and you don’t want to be walking around with people thinking you are either the tea/coffee lady or the IT support staff (no offence to them!). I was quite relieved to be dressing down for HQ, until I realised that I do not have very many casual winter wear (as my winter wardrobe had been mainly for business!). I didn’t have any nice updated sweaters in my collection! So, time to go shopping again!