Body ink and the career world have always had a rocky
relationship. Traditionally, tattoos were associated with criminal, violent and
lower class members of society, with many employers still discriminating
against hopeful employees with body art today.
Some believe tattoos make employees appear more
unprofessional than their un-tattooed counterparts, with the traditional
stereotypes previously mentioned still coming into play here. But why, and in
what circumstances are tattoos viewed as okay and not okay in the business
world?
Type of industry and client perception
The type of industry may affect the rules and thoughts on
tattoos. For example, in an office where the dress-code
is full suits – typical ‘office-wear’, chances are, you won’t even be able to
tell if an individual has artwork inked onto their body as most of it is
covered by clothing.
Of course, an individual may have neck, face and hand
tattoos, and the views and restrictions on visible tattoos in an office will
vary from company to company.
A law firm or something similar may not allow tattoos to be
visible at the workplace due to the serious nature of work and clients may
connect with employees. While tattoos are becoming more accepted as a norm in
contemporary society, many still connect tattoos with negative connotations,
and in a business where business-client contact is regular, tattoos may be a
disadvantage in some instances.
While the tattooed employee may be perfectly capable at
doing their job successfully, if a client views the employee as less-capable,
it could deter business. At the end of the day, clients are the ones who pay
for the service the business provides, and if they have out-dated views on
tattoos, it could cost the company business if they employ a heavily tattooed
person to work with said client.
In other industries, tattoos may be embraced and encouraged.
For example, in artistic and majority-millennial-dominated industries such as
social media, self-expression – through fashion, make-up, tattoos etc. – may be
embraced and actually make tattooed applicants perfect for the job with
evidence of creativity and self-expression visible without any words being
said.
Type of tattoo
This section is quite self-explanatory; it depends on what
the tattoo(s) is actually of. If the tattoo is more offensive than artistic, it
can be more of an issue. Artworks displaying nudity, explicit images or language
or anything else which may offend are obviously less likely to be allowed on
display at work.
This then goes onto the argument of fairness; if one
individual is required to cover an offensive tattoo, shouldn’t every other
tattooed (offensively or not) have to do the same? Equality and
anti-discrimination at work is extremely significant in contemporary society.
Self-fulfilling prophecy
When a perfectly qualified candidate is rejected from jobs,
this discrimination can lead to self-fulfilling prophecy. When discriminated
against in society, tattooed individuals may be forced to turn to crime or
anti-social behaviour as a way to survive; unemployment may lead to theft and
boredom, for example. In these cases,
they are fulfilling the traditional tattoo stereotype due to being exploited by
higher members of society (e.g. employers who don’t like tattoos).
Of course, while in society tattoos are becoming more
accepted in terms of employment, this is still occurring in some areas where
rejection may have taken its toll.
No rules on tattoos can benefit performance
In an office of a company like Pinterest or Etsy – where
creativity and self-expression is encouraged – the freedom of self-expression
with no restriction on tattoos is likely to make individuals happier, and
therefore better at their job.
Even companies that aren’t so artsy – offices in different
industries – who have no restrictions on tattoos are likely to find this
freedom beneficial to the productivity of their workforce.
While some industries and employers may have legitimate
reasons for hiring blank-skinned applicants over inked ones – e.g. offensive
art or client perception - much of today’s millennial work-force are tatted and
employed without discrimination, following changed perceptions on the subject
over previous years. Nowadays it can be
surprising if an individual under 30 years old doesn’t have any inkings, with
self-expression and not worrying about job prospects in terms of tattoos
becoming more prominent than ever. What
are your thoughts?
Laura Sewell
An
aspiring journalist, Laura is our Content Writer. Pop-punk gig-goer and drag queen enthusiast,
Laura is working her way into the industry with a love of writing about
anything and everything in tow.
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