Several years ago, tattooing carried a certain stigma. People thought only bikers, sailors and criminals had tattoos. But in the last several years, that has changed.
Tattooing is more prominent than it once was, but how has the workplace adjusted?
Some workplaces are accepting this new fad. From the West Coast to the East Coast, people have been subject to employers’ choices regarding tattoos in the workplace.
Todd Myers of Portland, Oregon, a man who has experienced both sides of the argument, is one of them.
Myers has five tattoos. He has flames on his ankle, his Mayan birth date on his right arm, a castle wall and shield on his left arm, a bull skull on his left upper back and a dragon on his right upper back.
The hospital he currently works at, Providence St. Vincent’s, allows tattoos.
“I work at a Catholic-run hospital that is amazingly ok with tattoos showing,” Myers said. “I get compliments daily at work.”
The last two hospitals he worked at, Intermountain Medical Center in Salt Lake City, Utah, and OHSU in Portland, Ore., were not as accepting of tattoos. He had to wear long sleeves to cover them up, at least while management was around.
“[They] allowed no tattoos or piercings to show,” Myers said. “[There was a] written policy forbidding them.”
What are his thoughts on tattoos in the workplace?
“I believe in 2010 people are used to seeing tattoos everywhere,” he said. “I will continue covering them up, if required, when management is around. Otherwise they will be out in all their glory. I think if you are confident and friendly at your job that tattoos are no big deal to most people.”
Megan Miles of Charleston, S.C., has tattoos that are regulated by her workplace. An employee of the U.S. Air Force, Senior Airman Miles knew she could have tattoos, but there were stringent rules regarding them, even their placement.
“We have a whole chapter in our rules and regulations regarding tattoos,” Miles said.
Among the plethora of rules is the requirement that tattoos are not allowed above the collar bone and can’t cover one-fourth of exposed skin. Her tattoos, which are of sparrows and flowers, are only 3 to 4 inches large, and are kept covered due to the regulations on tattoos.
“[The rules are] somewhat out of date, but that’s the military for you,” Miles said.
Closer to home, Jill Walker of Logan, Iowa, is not allowed to have tattoos. Although her job doesn’t explicitly prohibit tattoos, the idea isn’t widely accepted.
Walker, who works as a Human Resources and Benefits Administrator at Perfection Learning Corp., has a small pink tattoo of a heart with crossbones on her left foot. She hasn’t told her employer that she has one.
“I know they would wig out at work,” Walker said. “I think it’s crap. I think I should be free to express myself the way I want. Sometimes I think it would be cool to work somewhere where they didn’t care.”
It would appear that tattoos haven’t found a permanent place in the work force, not yet anyway.
Employers are still torn between the expression of their employees and the professionalism of their business. If the rate of people getting tattooed continues to increase, perhaps businesses will be forced to change their prohibitive rules, especially if the minority becomes the majority.
A qualified person should be able to get a job, regardless of being tattooed. Just because people have tattoos doesn’t mean they lack brains.