Many school leaders have questions about their school’s guidelines for faculty and staffs’ visible body art.
On one hand, dress codes exist for a reason, and can add a sense of decorum that provides support for employees and students. Many school leaders feel visible body art can be distracting or isn’t mission-appropriate.
On the other hand, strict dress codes can deter otherwise promising employees who could be great assets to your school. According to the Pew Research Center, nearly four in 10 people born after 1980 have a tattoo and one in four have a piercing some place other than an earlobe. Body art is becoming more common, and you may experience the issue of visible body art with many employees.
It’s important to decide how your school will handle visible body art and tattoos, and make appropriate additions to your employee handbook.
By law, you can establish dress and grooming policies matching your school's mission, ethics, and values. So, the question here is, do strict policies indeed match your school's principles? Not all positions (such as your maintenance personnel, for example), need to follow traditional business dress codes. This means that strict, schoolwide policies may not be necessary.
If you do decide to permit piercings or tattoos for your staff and faculty (or at least for certain groups), you may want to set some limits as to what this includes. Your policy needs to define what is permitted and what is considered against school policy. For example, you can prohibit tattoos of a sexual nature or those that display violence. You can also limit the number of visible tattoos and piercings.
Once you have a policy defining your school's practices regarding body art, it is critical that, under all circumstances, you enforce it consistently.
Talk with your staff and faculty members before making changes to your employee dress code. If you decide to change your current policy, input from those impacted will make the transition easier.
Today, more than ever before, traditional dress codes are being challenged. No policy is going to please everyone. However, your policy must match your school's mission and culture.
Additional ISM Resources:
The Source for Business and Operations Vol. 16 No. 10 Three Places to Evaluate Your School’s HR Practices
The Source for Business and Operations Vol. 16 No. 6 Five Steps to Minimize Your School’s HR Risks
Additional ISM resources for Gold members:
I&P Vol. 39 No. 13 Human Resource Concerns and Proper Legal Counsel
