"Tattoo taboos" no longer in the Corporate world

The Tattooed Executive; Body Art Gains Acceptance in Once-Staid Office Settings was written by Mielikki Org and published by Dow Jones & Company Inc. in Wall Street Journal (eastern edition) in August, 2003.

Summary
Tattoos and body art are no longer considered a “subculture urge” (Mielikki Org, 2003).  In fact, they have been gradually finding acceptance in more unlikely environments, including the workplace; everyone from federal judges to a retired corporate vice president is lining up for body art these days.  However, while more office employees are showing up with tattoos and piercings, it may not always be because of the sweeping change in corporate policy -- often, most companies leave it up to the individual managers to set the rules for their employees regarding dress code. In addition, while some executives have admitted to having them, they aren’t always visible to their subordinates and co-workers.

Corporate companies that are more readily accepting of body art say they are “just going with the times”, in an attempt to take advantage of the open-mindedness and innovation young employees are bringing to the workplace (Mielikki Org, 2003).  These shifting attitudes have helped tattooing become one of the faster-growing retail businesses; tattoo artists report that their earnings have doubled within the past decade.  Apparently, “tattoo” is even one of the most popular search words on the Internet. 

Retrieved from needlesandsins.com

Tattoos used to be strictly blue-collar domain (i.e. construction workers, mechanics), but the companies that do have policies against them are mostly service-based corporations:

• Wal-Mart Stores Inc. does not allow any facial piercings and asks employees to cover “offensive” tattoos.
•  Subway Restaurants limit piercings to the ears.
•  McDonald’s does not allow for any visible tattoos.

As the tattoos become more white-collar, the tattoos themselves are becoming more upscale and artistic, and people are looking for more “thoughtful” and “focused” pieces.

Body art can help an employee retain a sense of dignity and independence when they get involved in the corporate workplace. It projects personality in a healthy and interesting way without coming on too strong and possibly damaging relationships with co-workers, bosses and clients.

To go even further, tattoos are even said to enhance a company’s image.  A neuroscientist and professor was teased by his colleagues for getting the Macintosh Apple logo tattooed on his shoulder, but Apple featured this individual and his tattoo on their corporate website.  One employer even sent one of their former employees (who had tattoos covering his back and entire arm, a pierced lip and ear discs) to meet with a staid bank representative -- the employee’s “unusual appearance” helped his business. The bank representative may not have been in his “mode” but he heard what he had to say -- an “unusual but effective” way of doing business (Mielikki Org, 2003).

            Polices at some big companies on body adornment [retrieved from article]

COMPANY	TATTOO POLICY	PIERCING POLICY	COMMENT
Boeing  Chicago (manufactures military aircrafts and commercial jetliners)	"Non-offensive" tattoos permitted	Allowed if they don't pose safety risks	"I've seen people at all levels with tattoos and piercings," says spokeswoman Barbara Murphy.
White & Case  New York City (law firm)	None	None	"There are undoubtedly people who have tattoos (but) it's certainly not conspicuous," says spokesperson Roger Cohen.
Wal-Mart Stores  Bentonville, Ark.	"Non-offensive" tattoos OK to show	Earrings allowed; facial jewelry prohibited	"If they're not offensive, I don't see it as an issue," says spokesman Thomas Williams.
Tenet Healthcare  Santa Barbara, Calif.	None	None	"The key point in our policy is that the appearance must be appropriate to the position," says spokes-person Steven Campanini. "What we do is rely on local hospitals to enforce what is appropriate."
Ford Motor  Dearborn, Mich.	"Non-offensive" tattoos permitted	Allowed if they don't pose safety risks	"It's left up to people to use their own discretion," said spokeswoman Anne Marie Gattari.
Subway Restaurants  Milford, Conn.	Discreet tattoos permitted	Limited to one per ear	Company literature specifies: "Non-dangling earrings in the ears only. Any other visible parts of body may not be adorned with jewelry."

Note: "Non-offensive" generally means no violence or profanity

Opinion
Although this article is quite dated, it still outlines some pretty interesting facts regarding the tattoo craze.  The chart featured above I retrieved from the article in and of itself is extremely interesting.  It displays the policies of tattoos and piercings for a number of different companies, ranging from retail stores and sandwich shops to corporate law firms.  The basic element behind it essentially labels blue-collar service industries (like Mcdonald’s and Wal-Mart) as being the employers who are much more stringent with their workplace policies and rules regarding the employee dress code.

Based on the assumptions I’ve made on tattoos, especially in the regards to the workplace and the hindrance of potential employees’ ability to find employment, I definitely wouldn’t have expected Subway and Wal-Mart to be pickier of body art than a law firm (however, based on my previous blog obviously customers in the service industry aren’t too happy about them…).  You can see this based on the chart provided in the article; the restriction of body adornment is much greater for these businesses than in corporate offices.  Subway even goes so far as to limit the number of piercings per ear... I’d be very interested to know how that’s even regulated. I doubt they are going to send someone home because they have two piercings in each of their ears instead of just one.  I myself work in retail, and my work has a somewhat “strict” policy of tattoos (you can have them, they should just be covered).  Or tried to be covered. No one ever makes any efforts to cover them (myself included), but no one ever says anything about them not being covered, so is it really a problem then?

I have even read somewhere that HMV, the entertainment retailing company, has extremely strict policies regarding tattoos and piercings as they are not “appealing” to customers and do not do much to increase sales.  This shocked me, because the atmosphere in the stores is very cool and “punk” like so to speak… they almost have their own subculture. Most people that I have personally seen who work there are on the more lax side of personal appearance.

I would have thought white-collar corporate businesses would have had much stricter policies regarding body art, as they are more formal in just about everything they do.  I worked as a summer student in a re-insurance company, and I made all efforts possible to cover my tattoos, in fear that if they were seen I would get turfed. I constantly wore my hair down to cover my neck tattoo, and wore only dress pants rather than skirts to cover the tattoo I have on my thigh – but this makes me wonder if my co-workers and possibly even my boss would have actually cared if I showed up sporting one of my tattoos? It definitely gives me hope, that’s for sure.

This article makes me feel extremely confident about tattoos in the workplace and the opportunities to find prospective employment.  If a law firm executive is readily showing off tattoos, it must mean things are changing… especially within the corporate realm of business (and this article was from 2003…the tattoo business has only continued to grow).  Regardless of why it’s changing, it is definitely changing.  Whether it be accepting innovation and independence of employees, endorsing the “hipness” that they may bring to corporate businesses, or just the fact that businesses have no choice but to accept them, things are looking up for those who express themselves through body art.

Citation
Mielikki Org. (2003). The Tattooed Executive; Body Art Gains Acceptance In Once-Staid Office Settings; Corporate Counsel's Yin-Yang. Wall Street Journal. D.1. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/398830227/9E36D7D5691B484EPQ/1?accountid=3455

Questions
Do you think corporate businesses will continue to ease up on the body art policies? Voluntarily or by force of the growing tattoo population?

Do you think the display of tattoos on employees is more helpful or harmful to businesses?