We’re regularly asked this question, and, if you want a short answer, then “yes, you can refuse a candidate on the basis of their visible tattoos” however, what you should really be asking is “is it wise to refuse a candidate on the basis of their visible tattoos?”
West Yorkshire Police made national headlines by backtracking on their visible tattoo policy. Their previous policy, which was described as “bizarre and unfair”, had been that only “small, inoffensive and non-prominent” inkings on necks and hands could be shown. This led to an 18-month long campaign by the West Yorkshire Police Federation, which was finally won in August this year.
Interestingly, in a survey completed by the Federation, 55% of police officers interviewed had a tattoo and 80% thought that their colleagues should be allowed to show inoffensive arm tattoos.
They aren’t the first police force to make this change to uniform policy though. Last year the Met Police changed their rules, with their Commissioner Cressida Dick commenting “many young people are ruling themselves out of joining us because of their tattoos”.
It’s clear that both these police forces concluded that prominent arm tattoos wouldn’t affect the work of their officers, and this is the crux of any argument about whether to accept obvious inkings within the workplace. Your dress code policy must give clear and justifiable reasons why tattoos would affect your business. It may be, that they don’t, but offensive tattoos shouldn’t be on display. It could be perfectly reasonable to argue that for a front of house position, for example, obvious white supremacist tattoos would be offensive to some customers and could therefore affect your business.
In an increasing era of more casual dress codes across many industries, it may be worth considering how prescriptive your policies are and if you are losing out to potential talent as a result. With Virgin Atlantic relaxing their high heel and make up policy for female cabin crew, it is becoming increasingly obvious that businesses are waking up to the idea that strict rules are becoming increasingly antiquated.
So, if you’d like your team to roll their sleeves up at work, it might be time to review your policies. We always recommend asking an HR professional to look through and advise you on any new staff policies that you create.