Tattoos are popular everywhere except the workplace, it seems. Frequently, you hear of people having to cover their tattoos or wear certain clothing, such as long sleeves, to cover up a tattoo. Tattoos should be allowed in the workplace for multiple reasons. Most tattoos are symbolic, or meaningful. The worth of an employee is not contingent on appearance or body image. There are seven billion people in the world, and forty five percent have one tattoo or more.
The worth of an employee is not contingent with appearance or body image. There are countless stories of employees being fired or not hired, for their body image, whether it was tattoos or something else, like hair color. If you have two employees, identical, one has graduated high school, and has no tattoos. The other, has a Master’s degree, and tattoos. It makes no sense to hire the person who has no tattoos over the one who does just because of them. Kayla, a twenty seven year old from Rochester Hill, Michigan, had been employed by the popular coffee chain, Starbucks, for several years. She arrived to work one day, to be informed that she had thirty days to begin a removal process for her tattoo, or she would lose her job. The tattoo that is smaller than a penny on her hand, which she had gotten before her five years of employment. It’s one thing to refuse to hire someone because of their tattoos, but to fire someone after five years of having that policy in tact? That’s like a business firing everyone who has blond hair. Most tattoos having some sort of symbolic meaning behind them.
People getting tattoos for loss, death, wisdom, remembrance, love, friendship, adventure, and so much more. If you ask someone who has tattoos why they decided to get them, they will have a story behind it. Good tattoo or not. They realize that, yes, they are permanent. But there’s always the memory that tattoo has behind it. In February of 2012, The Harris Poll surveyed 2,016 people of all ages who have tattoos. Of those 2,016 people, 86% do not regret getting a tattoo. In fact, 21% say it makes them feel more attractive and strong.
As children, it is always preached to us “be yourself, express yourself.” Does that mean when we hit adulthood and decide to get a tattoo to express ourselves, we should be penalized by not being hired? Most adults have tattoos. Not all, but most of them do, or have considered getting one. In the survey The Harris Poll took, 21% of people said they have one or more tattoos, 46% said they considered at one point. One in five adults have one or more tattoos. Those are your parents, your teachers, your bosses, your police officers, your counselors, your doctors, and the people who serve you your food. Not every tattoo is huge and noticeable, and some can relatively be hidden just by wearing normal clothes, such as shirts and shorts, or jewelry, like thick bangles. The amount of people with tattoos is bound to increase rapidly in the next few years. The most common thing people hear about having or getting a tattoo is, “It may seem like a great idea now, but not later.”
Bringing back the poll, 86% say they don’t regret getting their tattoo. Joseph O’Grady, professor of business at Champlain College in Burlington, Vermont, says that certain businesses will not hire people with tattoos for three main reasons. They believe their company will not be taken seriously, and the company’s image will be compromised by outlandish tattoos. They also have the concern that one person's body art could be perceived as offensive or hostile to a co-worker or customer. In all honestly, it’s not up to an employer to control an employee’s personal life. Too many people have tattoos, or want tattoos, for someone to not be taken seriously.
Most people won’t even make a remark on tattoos, unless it’s a compliment on the piece of art itself. If a business denies to hire someone for a tattoo, it makes their image worse, just for simply denying someone a job because of a tattoo. Also, not every tattoo is utterly horrific. It’s understandable not hiring someone with a tattoo on their face as a teacher, but not letting said person serve coffee? It just isn’t logical. In summary, tattoos are not popular in the workplace, but they should be. Tattoos are about expressing yourself in a creative way. Some people get tattoos just for the sole fact that, they do look pretty.
Nicola Barker, author of The Yips, once said, “Tattoos are a right of passage. They're a marker of bravery, of maturity, of cultural acceptance. The tattoo represents not only a willingness to accept pain - to endure it - but a need to actively embrace it. Because life is painful - beautiful but painful.”
