The store owner encourages staff to work barefoot

Put your shoes aside and get some work done.

PeskyMonkey/istockphoto

Even while working without shoes isn't commonplace just yet, it's become increasingly common during the warmer months and has gone well beyond the realms of street performers, yoga teachers, and authors. Some business owners, CEOs, and marketing directors work barefoot, as do some professors and librarians. So do some politicians, like British Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, who took off his shoes during the country's recent heat wave and caused considerable disquiet among the locals.

This topic was highlighted in a recent online post in which a woman who worked at a liquor store shares her experience to work bare foot.

The author claims that while working at a liquor store, her boss had the bright idea of letting them work barefoot to see whether it increased productivity. His inspiration came after a particularly long night shift, when he noticed that practically all of his coworkers were hobbling around on their painful feet. They limped more as the day went on, and as their aches and pains increased, they were less productive. The boss was seeking for every advantage he could get to boost output, so he suggested they remove their shoes. She doubted it at first.

Who wants to walk around barefoot all day in a place that sells food and beverages?

The more she considered it, however, the less terrible it seemed. She hoped it might ease the pain in her feet. She ultimately decided to give it a shot. She found that she could get her work done more quickly and more easily if she didn't wear shoes. Plus, going shoeless for the whole of the day was a welcome change. Despite having dirty feet by the end of the night, she is thankful that her boss allowed them to work barefoot.

More and more companies are reportedly allowing employees to go shoeless, and in some cases even sockless, in an effort to attract young, fickle workers, as reported by Business Insider.

Working barefoot, on the other hand, was not a viable choice. She would occasionally lose a bottle or slip on a wet floor, and she was constantly afraid of getting wounded. Overall, she had a good time and is pleased she did it. She's also relieved she didn't step on her toes. A jug of wine on bare toes would be far more uncomfortable than a nice steel-toed boot or even a solid pair of running shoes. Furthermore, there were frequently shards of glass on the floor from cracked liquor bottles. Things were going to break in a busy store like theirs, and no one wanted glass in the soles of their feet more than she did.

According to the Society for Human Resource Management, about one-quarter of US businesses have a more relaxed dress code during the summer months, and another 36 percent maintain a more relaxed policy all year long. It's not entirely clear if that means employees can come to work barefoot or if they just need to take them off in the office. Shoeless employees may feel less stressed and be more productive, but it's hard to estimate how many businesses actually allow their employees to do so. A burgeoning subculture refuses to wear shoes or boots on a daily basis.

She recalled a night when business was brisk and a customer knocked down a shelf full of vodka bottles. There was broken glass and general chaos. On that particular evening, she was relieved to be wearing shoes. She also once, while wearing shoes, knocked over an entire rack of wine bottles. After working a whole shift barefoot the first time, she decided to buy a supportive pair of running shoes and wear them regardless of how her feet felt. Her coworkers became bored of the novelty of working barefoot and, depending on the weather, returned to wearing boots, loafers, and flip-flops. While it lasted, the experiment was entertaining. She's simply relieved that nobody got wounded.

So, what do you think? Do you have the option of going shoeless at work? How do you feel about it?