Only dinosaurs think tattoos are not suitable for workplace

Long time ago, tattoos might have been the symbol of hard life, prisoners, sailors, prostitutes and exotic countries, but in todays modern society, one fifth of British adults have one.

Luckily for us “heavily tattooed modern folk”, tattoos are now becoming increasingly harmless across a variety of workplaces and situations.

Starbucks, for example, which used to be the leading business in the mainstream uptightness around the world, has recently (finally) given in and approved tattoos for their staff. In this world of boosting individualism, especially in a city like London, many employers now value our differences and ways of expressing it. Many even see it being good for their business concept that their individuals stand out.

Obviously we are not talking about offensive tattoos here, as those can indeed have an impact on how professional a customer or a future client sees a person. We are talking about little cute things like dolphins around an ankle.

(Did you notice how I used the tattoo of Samantha Cameron, wife of our current PM, as an example here?)

Employers and the perfect world!

In a perfect world all candidates for any position wouldn’t be judged by their appearance, with or without tattoos, but by their professional skills and merits of their work.

However, we do know by now that not judging a book by its cover has never really worked for the business world before, and is unlikely to work any time soon.

As long as “old dinosaurs", the white middle-aged male who ru(i)n the majority of businesses in London, get their way, tattoos will be covered under jackets and skirts, turning the business world into grey mass of emotionless achievers.

“I would never even want a job where my tattoo would be a problem,” said Annika, a Senior Consultant who has a big skull with roses in her left arm.

“It is so important to like the atmosphere at the office and the culture of the company, so I think that in a place where tattoos in general would be a problem, I would not feel comfortable anyway.”

Even though she proudly carries her skull anyway, all the comments about her tattoo have been positive on her workplace.

“If someone is doubtful about the affect of a tattoo in a workplace, then maybe they need to have another thought about having one in the first place. They are forever so you need to be sure in all that comes with it,” she said.

Inappropriate or not? 

When looking at the recent statistics, a strict no-tattoo-policy would remarkably cut down excellent candidates for any role so it seems like a no-brainer, but there are other kind of statistics too.

Forbes published a 2011 study by CareerBuilder which shows that 31% of surveyed employers ranked “having a visible tattoo” as the top personal attribute that would sidetrack them from promoting an employee, 76% of respondents felt tattoos and piercings hurt an applicant’s chances of being hired during a job interview and 42% felt visible tattoos were always inappropriate at work.

There has been no reliable statistics from the UK recently, but it has been argued that the amount of people with at least one tattoo was close to 20 million in 2013. What is certain though, is that people in all walks of life have them. We should not try to fit in the same template.

People should stop being afraid of the dinosaurs who fight for their dear lives in the business world. Their time is done and a confident, high achieving woman with a visible tattoo can drive them to extinct better than a meteor ever could.

Tattoo removal: Is it worth it?

By Hannah Thompson 

Most regrets in life are ones that you can get over, with only mental reminders occasionally coming back to haunt you. Regretting a tattoo, however, is something that you’re constantly reminded of simply because; well ... it’s inked onto your skin.

The slight scent of burning hangs in the air, similar to the smell you get if you accidently singe the ends of your hair with a lighter whilst trying to light a cigarette after one too many glasses of plonk. The room is spacious, clean and gives the impression of quite a sterile environment, but somehow still has flare a that a beauty salon would. It’s not a place you would expect to have your tattoo removed. 

Situated at the bottom of Sara Armstead’s garden is the home of her successful tattoo removal business, ‘GoInk’, which she says is “doing really well at the moment because summer is coming, people are starting to get their bodies out and realising that they hate their tattoos ... it’s brilliant!”

Sara, who is 32 and living in Barnet, North London, has been in the game for 5 years after ditching being a beauty therapist simply “because it wasn’t bringing in the money.”

“I needed to make a decision whether I wanted to carry on with waxing people or if I wanted to do something exciting,” she laughs: “Someone actually came forward with the idea for me, I took it and it took off!”

Whilst explaining to me how her business developed, Sara is setting up her workspace in preparation for her last two clients of the day. After rolling paper onto a beauty couch she explains how the treatment works and what it does.

“It’s basically a small laser that comes out of this (she says whilst holding up rather a large pen shaped object) that hits the skin and breaks the ink of the tattoo down.”

It’s 6:15pm and her clients have arrived, both of which are over 6ft, sporting designer facial stubble and are obviously no strangers to the gym.  

James Hill, 32 from East Finchley is first up. It’s his fifth session and he’s currently having a large tattoo removed from the top of his left arm that he got when he was “25 and stupid.”

“I was going to get a full sleeve but lost interest after I got the first bit, it’s expensive and now it looks stupid so I’m getting it gone,” he says after handing me a pair of red tinted glasses.

The procedure starts and it makes a sound similar to that of a gas cooker being sparked up. After 15 minutes of what looked like a light flashing over James’ skin, his sixth session is completed and his tattoo looks lighter and softer.

“It stings, it isn’t comfortable to say the least.”

Sara moves onto her second client, who seems to be a lot more nervous than James.

“It’s my first one (session) obviously I’m nervous,” he says and on that note I leave, leaving Sara and her successful business to carry on booming. 

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