According to USA Today, the UK airline updated its policy to be more open to workers showing off their tattoos and relax its previous restrictions.
Tattoos are still considered taboo in many professions, where employees often have to hide their ink, wearing clothing to cover it up. As stated by laser removal company Removary, tattoos can affect an applicant’s hireability, especially those placed on the hands, neck or face. In the corporate world, these tattoos are usually associated with prison ink or gangs.
However, Virgin Atlantic had a different and perhaps fairer stance on employees and their ink.
“Many people use tattoos to express their unique identities and our customer-facing and uniformed colleagues should not be excluded from doing so if they choose,” Estelle Hollingsworth, chief people officer at Virgin Atlantic, said in the release, according to USA Today.
“That’s why, in line with our focus on inclusion and championing individuality, we’re relaxing our tattoo restrictions for all our people. We’re proud to be the airline that sees the world differently and allows our people to truly be themselves.”
According to an Instagram post by Virgin Atlantic, this post was shared on International Flight Attendants Day, where two employees show off their tattoos in their uniform.
The caption reads: “Today (as on all days) we’re championing the dazzling collection of individuals who are our wonderful cabin crew. We’ve always encouraged our people to bring their whole self to work and to the skies, and take pride in what makes them special. Many people use tattoos to express their unique identities, and that includes our customer-facing teams. That’s why from today, we’re proud to allow visible tattoos.’’
Most of the comments from people across the world showed they were happy to see individuality being expressed and embraced this new step in changing the way people view tattoos within the workplace.