Tats bring colour and style to the workplace
Employers are now far more accepting of ink, writes Nina Hendy.
Tattoos are an important self-expression tool for Polly McGee. Her hands, chest, both arms, fingers and neck have been inked in bold colours.
‘‘I like bright old-school American-style pin-up girl tattoos,’’ she says.
‘‘I wanted tattoos from a very young age. I’m not sure why, because no one in my family had tats. They just appealed to me.’’ And while landing a corporate role might have been a little challenging for someone with so much ink a couple of decades ago, that certainly not the case any more.
McGee works for a Sydneybased tech company. She’s always worked in senior and strategic roles for bureaucratic and conservative organisations including government, which have required her to be out in the public eye representing her employer.
Turning up to a work meeting with visible tattoos tends to disarm people, she says. ‘‘I’ve never had an employer comment in a negative way about my tats. They’re part of who I am, and I think it’s great that we see so many beautiful, visible tattoos in the workplace these days.’’
McGee’s a strong believer in the benefits of celebrating diversity in the workplace. ‘‘People are more than skin deep. We should never be making judgments about someone’s ability based on how they look as a society anyway.’’
Employers are far more accepting of ink than they once were, according to recruiters.
Anna Hodges, founder of Purple Squirrel Recruitment, says there’s a lot less stigma and greater normality of tattoos.
However, there are plenty of corporate industries that are less open to visible tattoos, she says. ‘‘These organisations don’t mind if you have tats, but just don’t go showing them to any clients. In my experience, the bigger the dollar value of the product or service, the less likely the company is to accept visible tattoos on customer-facing staff.’’
Although tats are far more of a mainstream event these days, context is everything, the general manager of Peoplebank Australia, Peter Kennedy says.
‘‘Well-done ink may help you get a job in a hip bar, but your visible tattoos could count against you when interviewing for a customer-facing role in a more conservative organisation. And broadly speaking, tattoos that carry offensive or political statements could be considered a risk by any number of organisations,’’ Kennedy says.
Not so sure you want to hire someone covered in ink? Tread very carefully, warns Melbourne lawyer Bianca Mazzarella, who says employers need to be careful not to discriminate when it comes to tattoos.
It’s common practice for an employer to draft policies that regulate an employee’s dress code and appearance in the workplace. But it’s important that an employer doesn’t discriminate against a worker’s attributes such as age, sex, race and colour.
In circumstances that a tattoo doesn’t relate to religion or race, an employer can ask employees to conceal it, she says.
Before racing down to the tattoo parlour, bear in mind that regret features heavily among corporate types with tattoos, who frequent central Sydney tattoo removalist parlour Detail Tattoo Removal.
Owner Andrew Chim’s parlour books up to 80 tattoo removal sessions a week and half of those are with corporates working in the city who say they don’t feel their tattoo reflects their corporate image.
Other times, they want an expartner’s name removed, don’t like the design or sometimes, there’s a spelling mistake in the tat. ‘‘There’s a lot of regret. They tell us that their past doesn’t reflect where they’re going,’’ Chim says.
People with new jobs as flight attendants, police officers or in the armed forces also frequent his parlour. ‘‘They’re not allowed to have any visible ink.’’
A female customer in her 40s came in with large tattoos on her thigh that she desperately wanted removed. She spent A$16,000 having them removed in a process that took eight sessions, Chim says.
‘‘It wasn’t one of those horror tats. But it was absolutely massive, and she just didn’t want it on her body any more.’’
He warns people to think very carefully before getting inked. ‘‘You should absolutely love the design before you book in to have it done. And don’t get tats on your fingers or your neck. There aren’t many corporate jobs that will accept that.’’
‘‘I think it’s great that we see so many beautiful, visible tattoos in the workplace these days.’’
Polly McGee