Tattoos in the workplace: dress codes and visible ink

As employers like Virgin Atlantic relax their policies on visible tattoos in the workplace, Nicola Cockerill examines the benefits of redrafting dress codes to make them more ink-friendly and discusses the legal issues that can arise.

The popularity of tattoos in the UK shows no sign of dwindling. In 2015 statistics showed that 30% of 25 to 39-year-olds have at least one tattoo on their body, 21% for those aged between 40-59 and 9% for those aged over 60 years. More recently, a 2018 survey by YouGov found that 40% of people in the UK had at least one tattoo.

Given just how much of the nation’s workforce now have tattoos, is it still morally or ethically right for employers to ask their employees to cover up, or to even outright refuse to employ anyone displaying visible tattoos?

Here we review what impact an employer’s opinions on the matter can have on the recruitment process, and whether or not it is lawful it is to make such decisions purely based on a like, or dislike, of tattoos in the workplace.

To read the full article, click here.