One of the most important parts of a dynamic workplace is diversity – a number of different views, opinions, lifestyles, and characters working together in harmony. In the current day and age, a workplace issue is starting to arise more and more and that is the place of body modification in the workplace. Body modification is a broad term encompassing all types of piercings and tattoos in a work environment. Here are a few different suggestions of how to handle this growing trend:
1. No tolerance – Many workplaces do not allow visible tattoos and piercings and, while the most severe, this is an option. The problem with this is that, without trying, subjective stances can be taken. It is easy to say that a small marking on a back, a belly button piercing or something similarly unnoticeable that you have been told of is okay since they are not visible, but someone who is turned away from a job for more visible tattoos or piercings can use that against the company by way of legal precedent.
2. Modesty – This is, in my opinion, the easiest and most efficient approach. If an employee has any piercings or tattoos but they are kept tastefully covered, then they can be accepted in a workplace. It is up to you to decide what is tasteful or not and to make sure that is clear in your policies so that no mistakes are made. Being clear of when visibility is acceptable and not acceptable and being accepting in your approach is a good way to keep all those with and without modifications happy. This can be done by keeping in your company handbook what sort of occasions you will require covering of tattoos – for instance, when a customer is coming to the office for training or for a meeting – and when it is okay, on the average work day or a similar idea.
3. Acceptance – An uncommon and fairly modern approach is complete acceptance. This can be positive for your company if you use it as a platform for a completely holistic hiring process that focuses solely on an applicant’s intelligence and competency, but there is the inevitable fact that it is likely that not everyone your company may interact with will be comfortable with that approach. While it may help you gain a title of a modern enterprise, it may also lose you business from those who prefer the classic idea of a worker.
The prevalence of body modification is increasing and I’m sure will continue to do so for time to come, so it is hard to say how policy in relation to it will develop as well. These three options are just basic concepts that you can be delved into further based upon what kind of business you run and what types of customers that you interact with on a day to day basis. To stay at the edge of issues on HR and staffing, be sure to subscribe to the Human Capital Supply Chain Blog.
