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Tattoos in the Workplace

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Submitted By Moggy2869
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Tattoos and piercings

Michael Johnson
7/18/13
EN1420

While it is true that many companies forbid visible piercings and tattoos, more and more companies are beginning to broaden their views on visible body modifications. In the past, tattoos were seen as the mark of gangsters and other criminals and sailors, while body piercing was mostly unheard of except the lip plates you read about in National Geographic. Hopefully, the current attitude will change to be more accepting once the generation from the 80's and 90's enter into the power structure. As it stands, the baby boomer generation still holds most of the policy deciding positions within a company. They were brought up on conservative values, which stuck with them even after the 60's and 70's of their youth. Now that their children are coming into the power positions, the restrictions of body art are starting to loosen in the professional world. While certain "extreme" mods are still highly frowned upon, like facial and neck tattoos and large gauge earring and other facial mods, small things like a single lip piercing, tongue piercing, or nose piercing are no longer a deciding factor for HR personnel. There are certain companies that are more lenient than others, such as AT&T. While their salespeople and other face-to-face customer interaction folks, the salesmen and installers, must maintain a clean cut appearance, the call center representatives have virtually no restrictions on visible body mods. Since this is a non customer facing position, the policy doesn't really address body mods, since body mods have no effect on whether or not you can do your job.

That being said, there are other companies, mostly packaging, manufacturing, and food production companies that are concerned about health and safety of both customers and employees. It is understandable that a fast food place does not want

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