Tattoos in the Workplace Environment and Career Promotions

Although tattoos don't have as bad of a reputation as they did back in the 1900’s, they still can cause many problems for the people who have them. Tattoos are able to be dated all the way back to between the 3370 and 3100 B.C. and they are a huge form of self-expression. Although when tattoos first originated they may not have been as big of a deal as they were during the nineteen hundred and the early two thousand. During these time periods tattoos had such a bad reputation that they would often be connected to crimes, gangs, and many other bad things. Tattoos don't only affect the people who have them. Many jobs can also be affected by tattoos due to some of the company’s strict tattoo policies. Some employers may even miss out on some really good employees just because they have tattoos that can be visible or viewed as offensive by some. Around the world there is still an alarming amount of stereotypes that are put onto tattoos and the people who have them. For instance, some people believe that only delinquents get tattoos, they are rebellious, and that they are even unprofessional. Tattoo stereotypes should be a thing of the past because way too many people still see tattoos as unprofessional, affiliate them with gangs, and can even believe that people with tattoos are less intelligent.

There are employers and customers in almost every field of work that tend to see tattoos as unprofessional. Many of these people see this is because they believe that people who have tattoos are rebelling against someone or something. They see these tattoos and automatically stereotype that the person with tattoos is a rebellion. They stereotype them as someone who will not be a good worker, will slack off, and eventually even get fired. Employers can also scare that customers will see a tattoo on an employee and end up being scared to ask that employee for help. This could cause the store to lose sales and even in the long run lose customers. Every company, brand, or person has an image that they want to maintain and some companies believe that tattoos can ruin these images. So when this is the case, people with tattoos end up having less options as to what type of jobs they can get, or what companies will hire them. No job wants to have someone who is a rebellion as a worker, but why do people think that a tattoo represents a rebellion?

For instance, tattoos can cause employers to become skeptical at hiring an employee just because they decided to get a piece of body art. In the article “Workplace tattoo taboos fading” a professor of business at Burlington Champlain College does a great example of explaining some of the reasons. He stresses the fact that, “an employee will not be taken seriously by tradition-minded clients”, “the concern that the organization's brand or image might be compromised”, and lastly “the concern that one person’s body art could be perceived as offensive or hostile to a co-worker or customer”. I don't understand how having a simple piece of body art can cause someone to not be taken seriously. All they are is a form of self-expression and in today's day and age people tend to consider just about anything as offensive. People have grown soft and will find almost any reason to complain about a company, start drama, or even make someone else feel bad about themselves. You should never judge a book by a cover and you should never judge a person based off of their tattoos. A tattoo does not fully define who a person is. If you were dying and the doctor who saved your life had two full sleeves and neck tattoos you wouldn't care about the fact that he has tattoos or think it is unprofessional. You wouldn't stop the doctor while they are saving your lives to ask for someone who doesn't have tattoos. All you would care about is the fact that he had saved your life. So why is it unprofessional if a sales clerk, office worker, or any other type of employee has tattoos.

In the nineteen hundred tattoos were greatly affiliated with crimes, gangs, and violence, as they were typically the only people that had tattoos. Over the years this had changed a lot, but yet people still assume that if someone has a tattoo they are automatically a bad person. This is nowhere near the case though. An alarming study, by Pew Research, was done that found that people around the age of 18 to 20 have almost a 40% chance of at least having one tattoo. This means that almost half of the young adults have at least one tattoo on them. Does that make half of the young adult population in the US bad people, because I don't think it does. I have 3 tattoos but yet have never been in trouble in my life but yet people see my tattoos and automatically stereotype me as someone who is a bad person. This stereotype that everyone who has tattoos is a bad person and has committed a crime needs to become a thing of the past. People use tattoos as a way to express themselves. Some people even get tattoos for family members that they have lost. Is someone really a bad person for getting a tattoo for a family member who lost their lives?

In addition, if you have a tattoo it can cause people to believe that you are a bad person. In an article by Psychology Today, the author Vinita Mehta who has a PhD, stresses the fact that “Moreover, it has been suggested that tattoos may influence how men are perceived by others with respect to personality—that is, they are seen as 'bad boys.'” Mehta has been in the business of psychology for over 10 years. So if someone who has been studying the mind and brain for over 10 years’ states that the stereotype of tattoos making someone a “bad-person” then the problem is clearly still there. There is still people out there in the world that see these wonderful pieces of self-expression and claim that it makes that person and a bad guy. People need to stop seeing tattoos and automatically becoming scared of the person or thinking that the person is a delinquent. Most of the time that is nowhere near the case and the person who has the tattoo just decided to make something that they care about or enjoy become a part of them permanently.

There are many people out there who believe that tattoos don’t cause anyone to have problems and there are also plenty of people that just don't care about the topic at all because it doesn't affect them. In “Workplace tattoo Taboos Fading” Bailey, an employee who has worked in diverse capacities, stresses how, “In the past two decades there has been a huge cultural shift as far as accepting tattoos. Having them doesn't necessarily impede career success”. However, the beginning part of this statement is very true, the acceptance of people with tattoos has grown greatly over the years, there is still however a huge problem. For instance, my brother applied to a job where the interview was going great but he later found out he didn't get the job. He decided to go to a different location of the same company and have an interview where he covered up his tattoos. He ended up getting the job with basically the same interview. The only difference was that his tattoos were covered. I'm not saying that the only reason he didn't get the job at the first place is because of his tattoos but there has to be some sort of correlation between it.

Tattoos are becoming more and more popular all across the world but yet they still aren't fully accepted. People need to start looking as tattoos as what they are, simply just a form of art. A tattoo doesn’t fully define who a person is, or how good of a worker they will be.