In a time where we are working hard towards equality in all aspects of society, we appear to be behind with just one minority: people with tattoos. Labelling this as a minority may be incorrect, as, according to The Guardian, a fifth of all British adults have at least one tattoo. Despite this, it is still not uncommon to see people with tattoos refused work, asked to cover them up in the workplace, or asked not to get them in the first place.

For this reason, the majority of tattoos are in places where an employer will never see. Temporary tattoos are also being used in order to get the experience of a tattoo, without the consequences. We now have laws in place to ensure that your race, religion, culture, sexuality or gender identity cannot affect your chances of landing a job. Even though having a tattoo is seen as a choice, we can question how integrated they are to someone’s identity and could it be argued that refusing someone work for having tattoos is an act of discrimination?

Ruby, a second-year English student agrees that tattoos should not be a reason to get fired or rejected. Although she does not have any tattoos herself, she believes that the physical attributes of a person should not be an advantage or disadvantage. Whether you have a face tattoo, no tattoos, pink hair or natural coloured hair, ‘it should be your individual skill set and only your skill set that is considered during the recruitment stage and beyond’. After graduating, like many other students, she hopes to get a job, but she would not feel that it would be fair if she was compared to another applicant, with similar abilities, but with tattoos.

For jobs that involve working with children or a vulnerable population, it is understandable that visible tattoos that may have upsetting imagery or inappropriate words are able to be rejected. This would not be discrimination, as the safety of children or a vulnerable population is the priority. Yet, if a carer for example, had a small elephant tattoo on his or her wrist, no one is going to view that carer any differently, or receive a different level of care.

Face tattoos seem to have a particular stigma attached to them. The reason behind this may only be because the face is the least common place on the body to get a tattoo. In customer service jobs, it is common to see that face tattoos, or all visible tattoos, are not allowed as part of the uniform policy. Their reasoning behind this is because they want to maintain a professional reputation of their company, but this suggests that tattoos do not give off a ‘smart’ look. This is a common attitude because the majority of society have been conditioned to view them in this way. If companies begin to be more open to hiring tattooed applicants, perhaps the stigma will start to disappear.

Rather than suggesting that it is more practical to go for a temporary version or have them in less visible places, companies should encourage their employees to embrace who they are, and freely express themselves. Once a few businesses make the move, it is likely that other businesses will follow in their footsteps and conform to this new, open-minded attitude.

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