Professional dress code and Tattoos Business Tips by Burleson Consulting

With today's young people going into "Body Art", the question arises about how these people can advance within American professional careers.  Many corporations have a strict policy against visible Tattoos, especially companies that must make a good impression of the general public. 
 

Here is a photo of my good friend, Dan Shaw.  Dan is blind and the victim of bad peer pressure.  Dan has no idea how ugly his tattoos are, especially when they extend to the back of his hand where they cannot be hidden, even by a long-sleeve shirt. Dan wonders why no companies will hire him . . .

Tattoos have a curious history

• 1850 - 1900 - Tattoos used to be the bastion of carnival freak shows, with people flocking to the circus to see the amazing tattooed Lady.
   
• 1900 - 1950 - Tattoos in the early 20th century indicated a Sailor or Marine and they did not have any social stigma, except that tattoos were generally indicative of enlisted men.  Few Navy or Marine officer dared to draw on their body.
   
• 1950 - 1960 - In the early 1950's tattoos became popular with the criminal element, mostly bikers, social outcasts and the mentally ill, and Tattoos took-on a more ominous reputation.
   
• 1960 - 1990 - This was the age of "prison tats" where having a tattoo indicated to some people that you were a tough, ignorant, convicted felon.
   
• 1990-2007 - Today we see hoards of low-class young people drawing on themselves with free abandon, (almost 30% of people in the 1980's).  These people do not understanding that a tattoo may effectively prohibit them from pursuing a professional career, regardless of their other qualifications.

Today, a prejudice still exists within corporate America about tattoos, especially since there is a clear and direct correlation between income, education and the percentage of those populations who have tattoos.  It's no surprise that tattoos are more popular among the poor and under educated.

Don't kid yourself about the importance of hiding or removing tattoos.  If you look at middle management and above in any of the Fortune 50 companies, you will hard-pressed to find any managers that have tattoos, hidden or otherwise.

Corporate Dress Codes and tattoos

A study by Careerbuilders shows the perils of tattoos for aspiring professionals, and conforms the conventional wisdom that Tattoos are a sign of immaturity, bad judgment and bad taste:

• Over 42 percent of managers said their opinion of someone would be lowered by that person's visible body art.  Personally, I think that the actual figure is much higher.
   
• Three out of four respondents believe that visible tattoos are unprofessional.

You don't have look hard to find hundreds of corporations which have banned employees with tattoos.  San Bernardino County California, bars all employees from wearing denim, having visible tattoos, and any piercing in the nose, lip, or tongue that contains jewelry.

In sum, tattoos send a message to corporate America that you are ignorant, low-income, that you have have bad taste, and worst of all, that you may have a criminal record.

Hiding tattoos is important in corporate America

Many tattooed people think that they are protected by their First Amendment rights to freedom of expression.  Unfortunately, this is not true in the workplace. 

Corporations have every right to discriminate against "optional" appearance-related traits, and many large corporations ban long hair, beards and visible tattoos.

As a corporate manager myself, I've seen that hiding a tattoo is not enough.  I've seen cases where an employee reveals a tattoo at a company softball game to the horror and disgust of their manager, who, in turn, find other reason to terminate the employee.  If you live in an employment "at will" state, remember that you can be fired for no reason at all.

First Amendment Freedom of Expression and Tattoo laws

This article titled "Body art in the workplace" confirms that companies have a constitutional right to ban employees with tattoos:

Companies can limit employees' personal expression on the job as long as they do not impinge on their civil liberties. According to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), employers are allowed to impose dress codes and appearance policies as long as they do not discriminate or hinder a person's race, color, religion, age, national origin, or gender.

There is a strong legal basis for discriminating against the tattooed, especially if the employers fears that having tattooed employees might hurt their professional image:

In the landmark court case Pik-Wik Stores, Inc. v. CHRO, the Connecticut Supreme Court established the standard for reviewing dress codes under the Connecticut Fair Employment Practices Act.

In Pik-Wik, an employee complained about a grooming standard that required men to wear their hair "off the collar and above the ears." The employee argued that the policy discriminated against him on the basis of gender because women were not subject to the same standard. The court rejected the argument concluding that the grooming standard was non-discriminatory because it did not deny equal employment opportunities on the basis of an immutable characteristic, e.g., sex, race, national origin, disability or religion.

This Kentucky case verified that employers can fire employees who have exposed tattoos:

A dress code that required tucked-in shirts and covered tattoos for Kentucky State Parks employees did not violate the civil rights of three fired maintenance workers, a federal appeals court ruled.

However, regardless of the legalities and rights of people to look like a convict, many states have "at will" laws.  These statutes allow you to quit at any time, for any reason, and fives allows corporations to fire employees at any time, for any reason, or no reason at all.

Are attitudes towards tattoos changing?

This WSJ article titled "Tattoos and Piercings
Come Out at the Office", notes that attitudes in corporate America may be changing to become more tolerant of tattoos in the lower ranks, and the prejudice towards tattoo owners is also fading, but "discrete" tattoos still remain the most popular:

"Mr. Hempel, the Inverness lawyer, says he "doesn't flaunt his tattoos around the office." According to a 2001 survey on tattoos in the workplace from the Internet site Vault.com, which deals with work issues, the most popular placements of tattoos are areas that can be hidden: the backs, arms and legs."
 

COMPANY	TATTOO POLICY	COMMENT
Boeing Chicago	"Non-offensive" tattoos permitted	"I've seen people at all levels with tattoos and piercings," says spokeswoman Barbara Murphy.
White & Case New York City	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	"If they're not offensive, I don't see it as an issue," says spokesman Thomas Williams.
Tenet Healthcare Santa Barbara, Calif.	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	"It's left up to people to use their own discretion," said spokeswoman Anne Marie Gattari.
Subway Restaurants Milford, Conn.	Discrete tattoos permitted	Company literature specifies: "Non-dangling earrings in the ears only. Any other visible parts of body may not be adorned with jewelry."

This article it also talks about a senior executive at Inverness Medical Innovations Inc. who has tattoos and is rather proud of the fact.

For more insights, please see my related notes on Professional Dress Code, Professional dress and Tattoos, Professional Perks, etiquette requirements, Cross-Cultural Guidelines, forum guidelines and obfuscation requirements, Inappropriate corporate sponsorship of charities,  professional golf etiquette  and Professional Corporate Tipping tips

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Tattoo Comments:

Hello my name is jack, and I run a watch dog company to check in on people who use general stereo-types to push their moral majority agendas on the general public. With your very generic article you have offended a number of my clients, some of which are rather high ranking police officers in my city.

The officer that directed me to your site actually has quite a few more tattoos than me. If you would like to have such narrow minded, completely ignorant, opinions towards people who are different than yourself maybe you should get on your high horse and head out because we are going to be the majority soon and you will be fading away like an old sunburn.

And that's going to feel great because sunburns are only irritating for a short while, and then they're gone.

Jack Thrasher