week of July 5th-Body Piercing in the workplace

[andream]

Good Day all, today's sound off is a scenario for you to comment on. Put your self in this place and let's hear what you think about a situation that's occurring more and more often in today's workplaces:

You're hiring new help as the office manager of a law firm.  You have pared the applicants down to just a few.  The position you're hiring in is not hugely client facing but does have some potential for external client contact and of course there's the internal client contact as well. It's an old well respected firm.

None of the applicants overly excite you, but the final one arrives and after another glance at her qualifications you've decided she's a real contender.

She arrives appropriately dressed with a professional demeanour...except she's got a little gold ring in her nose. You mention it briefly and she quickly comments that she views it as a method of expression and no different than that lipstick you happen to be wearing, or a pair of earrings.  Her tone of voice and body language lead you to make the assumption that she's fought this battle before and she's letting you know where she stands.  This bit of expression is important to her and in her view superfluous to her job skills.

You don't make an issue of it, instead deciding to see if your company policy addresses body piercing (it doesn't).

Your Boss is conservative, very strongly so and yet aside from the glinting nose jewelery this girl has every skill set he requires for the position, and is a cut above the other candidates. However, you know him like a book and he'll rule her out based on the nose ring alone. He'll never see beyond it.

IS the nose ring something that should be considered? IS your feeling that she's not going to give it up something that should be communicated? And Should employers allow for this type of expression the same way they allow you to wear earrings? And should your allowance or refusal of the nose ring be governed by the type of business or by the fact that this type of body piercing is considered to be a form of artistic expression? If it's Not okay to have a nose ring in a law firm should it be NOT okay to have one in a marketing firm?

Remember that we are many from many different types of workplaces in many different locations, be kind to each other when expressing your views, but let's hear what you really think.

Do tell...
Andrea

[Jackie G]

Personally I dislike piercings although I have seen some lovely nose piercings in particular.  I have my ears pierced just the once and that was enough!

I have never faced the situation.

One of my clients runs a restaurant.  His policy is if someone turns up for an interview with piercings in, and he hires them, then he accepts they wear the piercings for work.  However, if they turn up for work with a piercing in that they did not wear at the interview, they are asked to remove it and is in the company policy.

Interestingly, the first time I met his manager off duty, I discovered she had loads of piercings - nose, eyebrow, several ear piercings etc, and she has very attractive jewellery she wears in these piercings.  But she would never think of wearing them at work.

My view having re-read your dilemma, is that I would probably hire this girl but make it clear that any bigger piercings in the nose will not be tolerated - ie that what she had in at interview was ok, but anything else was not.

Jackie
www.iqps.org

[gee4]

I temped with a really nice girl who wore a nose stud - it was very pretty but she informed me she did not wear it to her interview, which I think is the correct way in which to deal with this.

I would not wear jeans or dye my hair pink for an interview so based on the facts I would not hire this person as she did not appear appropriately at her interview.

On another note the finance manager in my company has a belly piercing which I think is tacky to be seen with this at work.  The only reason I did, was because she was wearing a top so short that her belly was on show!  Our company is relaxed dress wise altho 50% wear suits (shirts and ties for the men).  I cannot believe a finance manager would dress like this in work for all her bits to be on show.  I have no problem with body piercings but there is a time and a place for them to be seen - the workplace is not it!

G

[uberpa]

While I agree with her right to self expression I think she shouldn't have worn it to the interview.  Even if you are interviewing at a company that is noted for it's casual dress and manor you should always dress as corporate as possible to an interview.  It's one of those unwritten rules that potential bosses look for.  It means you are serious about the interview and the position.  It really isn't the place for any self expression.  

IMHO if you haven't figured this out by now then you'll never get very far in the interview process or the job ladder.  It's unfortunate but true.

Her attitude also states that she is unwilling to compromise and although principles are nice to have they will work against you in the job situation.  Especially if you are taking a hard-core unmoveable stance before you've even been offered the job.  That to me shows someone who is unflexible and possibly not very intuitive about other peoples perception.  

It would be nice to say, well if they don't hire me based on something as trivial as a nose ring then it wasn't the company for me.  I think she will have a hard slog finding someone to hire her with a nose ring unless they are really desperate.

If it were me I wouldn't wear it to the interview.  I would then study the written dress policy and look for a loophole or start the battle for the right to wear one after I had started work.

I hate conformity as much as the next person but sometimes you have to play the game to get ahead.

[gee4]

Here here uber.

G

[raindance]

I work for a professional organisation and am always interested (or should that be "horrified"? ) to see the garments and adorments that some people consider appropriate for an organisation such as ours!  

That said, I would probably hire this person and learn to live with her nose ring.  I would then make jolly sure that we had a dress code in place which set the limits of "self expression".  

Raindance

[JessW]

No, sorry.  I cannot do it.

As has already been said self expression is well and good but if you go to an interview and/or take up a job with a corporation and the like then you are (or will be) representing the corporation NOT your own individuality.  and I cannot think of a single company et al that has a public image of piercings of any variety (someone let me know otherwise, please).  Personal adornments are not IMHO bad per se but definitely to be kept personal and out of corporate life.

Just my thoughts, so please nobody take offense (sp?)

Jess

[movinonup]

We have no written policy on body piercings.  However, we never used to have a problem with it.  It was all very tastefully done--ears only.

Then our controller brought his two teenaged sons in on a part-time basis.  They both wore rings in their ears and their noses, and sometimes in their tongues.  They had all of us as internal customers, since they helped with the computers.  People hated this, but luckily, the worst offender went off to college full-time, and the one who remained discontinued the practice.  

We're back to normal for the moment.  I'm so grateful.  I wish they'd add it to the casual wear section of our manual, along with--get this--thongs.  Yes, a gal at work wore these a few weeks back.  It was so awful.  Things you'd think wouldn't have to be mentioned have to be written down somewhere now. "Don't wear hip-hugger pants with thongs."

As to the direct question, I would bring it up again at the end of the interview, explaining that her prospective boss is conservative and would balk at hiring her on that basis alone, even though she was the perfect candidate otherwise.    And it wouldn't matter to me what type of firm I was hiring for.  I would just tell her to consider herself warned of this ahead of the final interview.



Movinonup

[gee4]

Further to the "thong" subject, I seen a very off-putting sight in work last week - am sure a few guys got an eyeful - why don't women check how they look from behind in a mirror (fully clothed) before they leave the house in the mornings?  I know I do!

G

[countrigal]

I must be a minority in my thinking.  I think that if it is tasteful and not glaring, that body jewelry should not be an issue any more than earrings are.  If you are to write a policy addressing body jewelry, then it should also address earrings.  I would think that if the person most qualified has something that simple in, then it is no worse than wearing little gold studs in your ears and I would hire her.  Remember that while our hiring group is getting younger, with the accompanying style changes, so our our customers.  She might just bring in a different age or group of customers too.  Knowing what is appropriate and acceptable in body jewelry should be no different than knowing what is appropriate in earrings or rings, and should be considered part of the whole package.  The fact that they have them or don't should not be the issue, but whether they wear them appropriately for the position they're applying for.

Personally, I have had my tongue pierced for almost 5 years, and have gone to interviews during that time with it.  When I got it pierced, I thought long and hard on how it would affect my career and how others view me and therefore got it pierced far enough back that it did not show or click on my teeth every time I smiled or talked.  In fact, most folks never knew I had it unless I told them or laughed really hard.  If I thought that it might be an issue, I had a flesh-colored top disk to go on it, but this cut the roof of my mouth if worn too long so I didn't wear it except when needed.  I miss it now, as I had to have it out when I had my baby and by the time I could put it back the hole had closed, but I enjoyed it while I had it.  Just something different and fun, and another way for me to show my crazier side, but only when appropriate.  A nose ring would be harder to hide daily, but keeping a discreet gold ring in would be less glaring and still give her the benefit of going crazier off-duty, and not really affect her ability to do the job.  As for internal customer's views of it... like most things, the more we are exposed to it, the more we stop noticing and judging and just accept it.  If a co-worker has a lisp, you notice it for a while but soon no longer focus on the lisp as it is just a part of that person.  Same thing here.

All of this is IMHO, of course.

CountriGal
Peer Moderator