Other business professionals echoed Prue's observation. <

"The pendulum has swung" back toward more traditional clothing choices, said Ron Osperholz, senior vice president of human resources at Anchor Bank, 25 W. Main St. <

Ray Peacock, a real estate agent at Century 21 City Wide, Fitchburg, said that business casual may have become too casual, revitalizing a trend toward a dressier look. <

Still, many area businesses allow a more relaxed look at the end of the workweek. Employees at both Anchor Bank and U.S. Bank, for example, may leave their ties and dresses at home in favor of collared short sleeve shirts and dress pants on Friday. <

"As a culture, the business world has accepted Friday as casual," said Gail Piper, an administrative assistant at U.S. Bank, 1 S. Pinckney St. <

In particular, casual Friday pleases younger workers who tend to be less enthused about dressing up, Piper and Ospeholz said. <

"Part of it is what you have to do to keep and maintain a work force that is smiling at the end of the work day," said Osperholz. "And, as an employer, how many rules are you going to administer or confront them with during the course of their work?" <

But for employees like Aaron Rossmiller, assistant manager for Enterprise Rent-A-Car, 6514 Odana Road, there is little relief from the professional business image he must maintain when he is at work. At Enterprise Rent-A-Car, he is required to wear a white dress shirt, dress pants and a tie, even when temperatures rise. And while women have a few more options than men, all Enterprise Rent-A-Car employees must maintain a professional image, Rossmiller said. <

"The only people who get outside of that is if you're in Hawaii, then you get to wear Hawaiian shirts," Rossmiller said. <

Among local law firms, the difference in dress often depends on a firm's size. Mark Brown, a partner in Wessel, Brown & Associates, 123 E. Doty St., said that while large law firms tend to adhere to traditional business attire, many smaller firms do not. Employees at his firm all wear business casual, he said. <

"I think it relaxes the clients that we're not formally dressed in full business suits," Brown said. <

In some industries, however, casual attire is the norm in businesses both large and small. <

Although Bellbrook Labs has just five employees, for example, its casual dress code is not out of the norm for the biotech industry, said John Majer, chief operating officer of the business at 505 S. Rosa Road. <

Even at biotech firms as large as Promega, tennis shoes, T-shirts and shorts are common, he said. Promega, in Fitchburg, employs 758 people. <

"It's always been a casual industry," said Majer, who wore a collared short sleeve shirt, shorts and a pair of sandals for an interview. Although Majer looked more prepared for a hike than a day at work, some of his co-workers were even more casual. <

The president of Bellbrook Labs, Bob Lowery, and research scientist Matt Staegen, for example, favored the rumpled T-shirt look. <

"We've had our running clothes on in here," said Karen Kleman-Leyer, Bellbrook Labs' project leader. <

Majer said scientists - and particularly biotech scientists - are used to dressing casually. Requiring a strict dress code might put off potential employees. <

"It's not a standard they're used to and it's not a standard they like," he said. <

U.S. Bank's Piper, however, said she does not mind dressing up because it positively influences her working habits. <

"Some people say it doesn't affect the way they work, but I disagree," Piper said. "I think if you dress up, it gives you a professional internal demeanor." <