Between Story and Stereotype

Is it OK to show tattoos in the workplace? It depends on the workplace culture or brand and perceptions about tattoos, according to recent findings by Rice and University of Houston researchers — and observations by Rice leaders.

Enrica N. Ruggs ’11, an associate professor of management in the C. T. Bauer College of Business at the University of Houston, and Mikki Hebl, the Martha and Henry Malcolm Lovett Chair of Psychology and professor of management at Rice’s Jones School of Business, recently studied the shifting perceptions of tattoos in the workplace and published their findings in the Journal of Organizational Behavior.

Ruggs and Hebl write that the practice of tattooing “has become popular across a wide swath of the American population.” A 2019 survey found that 30% of U.S. respondents indicated having at least one tattoo, up from 16% in a 2003 survey. While tattoos are increasingly common and visible, research about how people perceive tattoos in the workplace reflects mixed attitudes.

Their research dives into the role stereotypes play in perceptions of tattoos in workplace contexts. This is important, they say, because past studies have associated some negative stereotypes — being impulsive or lacking in judgment — with tattoos. Simultaneously, tattooed individuals may also be the beneficiaries of positive stereotypes — being creative, imaginative and artistic. “Our findings show that people often have both negative and positive stereotypes about tattooed individuals,” Ruggs says, “and these stereotypes influence customers’ attitudes about tattooed employees to varying degrees.”

How do these findings square with the experiences of campus leaders and their attitudes about their own or others’ tattoos in the workplace?

As executive director of the Doerr Institute for New Leaders, Lillie Besozzi ’16 has some practical advice for students and young alumni. A U.S. Army veteran who earned an MBA from the Jones School, Besozzi advises job seekers to “read the room” before exposing tattoos in an interview or networking event. “It could call your judgment into question — not for getting a tattoo, but for not being able to discern the times and places when you need to elevate your attire to project professionalism,” she says.

Twenty-five years ago, Matthew Taylor ’92 started work as dean of Campus Life at Pomona College while also pursuing a serious side hustle as a drummer in Los Angeles. He didn’t think about tattoos as “a workplace issue” — until his boss made them one. “She and I would meet with a different group of freshmen every week, where she would say, ‘Do you believe the dean’s got tattoos?’ At a small college of 1,800 students, it was my job to be someone they could trust. I think that helped a little bit.”

Taylor’s Rice experience runs deep — he’s been an R.A., earned a Ph.D. in history and served as a faculty member before joining the administration. As associate provost, he is front and center on major academic and institutional projects. Today, he’s a “coat-and-tie guy” who prefers to keep his tattoos less visible. “A lot of folks make decisions about displaying them in the workplace that I wouldn’t, but again, I think that may be both age and the circles I [run in] at Rice.”

For Brad Blunt, who works as the director for academic processes in the Office of the Provost, tattoos are stories. In his various roles at Rice — as admissions director at the Shepherd School of Music, an academic adviser and, memorably, an R.A. at McMurtry College, tattoos were often a way to engage with students. “I have a tattoo of the McMurtry crest right here,” he says, pushing up his right sleeve for the reveal of the purple lion rampant on the Scottish crest. Long story short: Getting the tattoo was a result of a Beer Bike fundraiser. Like Taylor, he maintains an awareness of potential negative connotations in professional settings. “I certainly don’t want to do anything that’s going to potentially make a bad impression on myself or the office.”

While these administrators don’t recall a time when tattoos impacted the hiring process, Nicole van den Heuvel ’81, executive director of the Center for Career Development, would caution job applicants to “do the research” before displaying tattoos. She says that visible tattoos might be a disadvantage when applying to industries like investment banking or the oil and gas industry, but in creative industries — as Ruggs and Hebl found — “tattoos would be much less of an issue — if any at all.”  

— Lynn Gosnell and Amy McCaig

Read more at Rice News and Rice Business.