Question

1. A co-worker has come to you with a problem. He has tattoo “sleeves” on both arms that extend to the wrists. Even in a long-sleeved shirt, they are difficult to cover. He’s upset because he learned that someone else got the promotion he had been hoping for. Everyone respects his high performance, diligence, and loyalty to the company. But it’s also common knowledge that the boss “doesn’t like tattoos.” What advice can you give to your colleague about handling the current situation regarding the lost promotion? What advice, if any, can you offer about having both a career and tattoos?

2. As the new head of retail merchandising at a local department store, you are disappointed to find that the sales associates are evaluated on a graphic rating scale that uses a simple list of traits to gauge their performance. You believe that better alternatives are available, ones that will not only meet the employer’s needs but also be helpful to the sales associates themselves. After raising this issue with your boss, she says “Fine, I hear you. Give me a good proposal and I’ll take it to the store manager for approval.” What will you propose, and how will you justify it as being good for both the sales associates and the boss?

3.  There’s a drive to organize the faculty of your institution and have them represented by a union. The student leaders on campus are holding a forum to gather opinions on the pros and cons of a unionized faculty. Because you represent a popular student organization in your college, you are asked to participate in the forum. You are expected to speak for about 3 minutes in front of the other student leaders. So, are you for or against faculty unionization? What will you say at the forum, and why?

Answer 1

1. A co-worker has come to you with a problem. He has tattoo “sleeves” on both arms that extend to the wrists. Even in a long-sleeved shirt, they are difficult to cover. He’s upset because he learned that someone else got the promotion he had been hoping for. Everyone respects his high performance, diligence, and loyalty to the company. But it’s also common knowledge that the boss “doesn’t like tattoos.” What advice can you give to your colleague about handling the current situation regarding the lost promotion? What advice, if any, can you offer about having both a career and tattoos?

Answer –

I understand if the co-worker has come to me with a problem then I am a close acquaintance or a friend. Providing a sound and sensible advice in this situation is must.

Some years ago, having a tattoo was a sign of a gang member but today its more of a personal choice and doesn’t represent any gang or groups. Yet, there exist industries and employers who do not welcome tattoos, inking and body piercings in their dress code and tend to discriminate because of tattooing. Laws regarding body art and ink have expanded in the last decades, but employers still reserve the right to require that some workers in certain positions hide their artwork. But like in my co-workers case what if the tattoo is in an impossible-to-hide location?

Since the popularity of tattoos employers have been challenged to accept them too as part of the dynamic society. But businesses do worry about workplace code of conduct and fear that customers or clients would find them offensive.

Advice on Lost Promotion –

Focus on Employer’s Rights & Discrimination

Research and polling have established that the number of employment-aged people with tattoos is increasing, which means businesses will be faced with choosing between adhering to a dress code and attracting the most qualified employees to fill positions.

If your company refuses to offer you a promotion because you're a woman, that's discrimination. If a company fails to hire you simply because of your ethnicity, race, religion or sexual proclivity, you have a discrimination case. However, with a tattoo and body piercing discrimination it isn't illegal. Employers are protected from most tattoo-related termination discriminatory cases. The employer has a right to establish a dress code for his organization. If you have body piercings, they can request you to remove them at work and cover the tattoo while you're working. Courts have established that employers have the right to create an appropriate dress code for their daily business operations. Body art and tattoos fall into the same category as shoes, shirts, or jewellery. In cases of tattoos preventing upward mobility, the employer has the right not to promote employees into higher level management jobs that fit their ascribed dress code for the new position.

My co-worker did get the job with his body tattoo but now is finding it difficult to advance up the ladder. Most of the middle and upper management don’t have tattoos. If you have a tattoo that doesn't show, you are in luck. In most cases, the employer isn't against body art, he simply doesn't want it to reflect on his business.

My co-worker here cannot raise a case against discrimination. But being a high performer, diligent and loyal employee he definitely deserves more.

Advice on having a Career & Tattoo both –

Type of Job Chosen

It is clear that my co-worker is a hard-working and loyal employee an employer can have. But the industry or the job chosen by him may not suit his tattoo lifestyle. The chosen occupation makes a difference whether you can show your tattoos or piercings. For example, working in a factory requires one to remove pierced jewelry for safety reasons, but a tattoo is fine. But if your job entails managing others or working with the public, covering the tattoo becomes a mandate by employers. Some people still find tattoos and piercings offensive. I would rather advice my co-worker to look up for opportunities, job and employers that are willing to hire ink-friendly people.

While visible tattoos may have been a definite no-no in the past, many employers don't really mind them nowadays. There exists many Tattoo-Friendly Companies. In 2016, Skinfo compiled some surprising statistics about tattoos in the workplace. They listed a number of employers as the most tattoo-friendly companies in the U.S.

A thorough evaluation of self, his interests and strengths and matching it with the right job / industry / employer will help my co-worker to go ahead with his tattoo and also have a good progressive career path.

References –

Workplace Discrimination on Tattoos & Piercings by Jay P. Whickson

https://smallbusiness.chron.com/workplace-discrimination-tattoos-piercings-16708.html

Not All Tattoos are Created Equally: Workers' Rights and Body Art

Law Office of Cohen & Jaffe, LLP | July 29, 2016 | Employment Law

https://www.cohenjaffe.com/blog/not-tattoos-created-equally-workers-rights-body-art/

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 

https://fairygodboss.com/career-topics/tattoos-in-the-workplace-industries

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2. As the new head of retail merchandising at a local department store, you are disappointed to find that the sales associates are evaluated on a graphic rating scale that uses a simple list of traits to gauge their performance. You believe that better alternatives are available, ones that will not only meet the employer’s needs but also be helpful to the sales associates themselves. After raising this issue with your boss, she says “Fine, I hear you. Give me a good proposal and I’ll take it to the store manager for approval.” What will you propose, and how will you justify it as being good for both the sales associates and the boss?

Answer –

Performance Management – A method to Improve Employee Performance and Enhance Sales

To create an impact on its sales revenue and manage competition and deal with large numbers of full-time and part-time employees, retail businesses should focus on systematic performance management process to achieve business goals and sustain for long run in the market. To achieve organizational objectives and goals many retailers are establishing ‘Performance Culture’ incorporated with strategies to develop individuals.

Establishing a Performance Management System will help this department store to evaluate, reward and retain its sales workforce in an organized manner.

Graphic rating method focuses only on traits or behaviours that are important for effective performance. Only rating the behaviours displayed by its employees is not enough here.

The method should have the following too –

SMART Goals & 360 degree

According to a Gallup report, retailers can increase store performance in four ways:

1. Clearly defining the employee’s role –

Clarity on performance goals, responsibilities and priorities give employees a definition of success, and increase their productivity. For instance, if a sales person in the retail store spends majority of his work hours in filling out reports and complying with procedures, he gets less time to spend on customer concerns. But if the priorities are set right (good customer experience being one of his goals), he could possibly get more time each day to work with customers rather than completing store operations.

Setting up of SMART goals, tracking and reviewing goal progress periodically goes a long way in evaluating employee performance accurately.

2. Optimizing Employee Performance –

Facing real-time challenges in identifying performance is another issue. Absence of data and reports on employee performance and behavior leads to multiple issues. Employees’ performance gaps remain unrecognized. Root cause of overall low business performance remains unidentified. With a well-structured performance evaluation process, managers can document yearly performance of employees and help them take corrective actions quickly.

3. Developing Skills –

Identify employees’ areas of improvement and develop their skills continually by providing training and skill development opportunities. Investing in employee development is as important as having the right talent onboard. This can be a driving factor for employees’ career growth.

4. Maximizing Employee Strengths –

Retail Managers often make sales as a major parameter for employee performance evaluation, and customer experience remains underestimated. An ideal performance review process must have multiple parameters for evaluation, including employee skills, behavior, strengths, weaknesses and more.

Allow multiple stakeholders (peers, customers, supervisors and other people involved in immediate work circle) to provide feedback on an employees’ performance, behavior and skills. A well-rounded view on employees’ performance helps in making informed decisions during their evaluations and promotions.

Hence a 360 Appraisal will prove effective in this case.

This is one of the most effective evaluations of employee performance, since the employee is assessed by everyone he or she interacts with. This includes typical performance measurements by managers and peers, but it also includes evaluations from customers and other people the employee interacts with on a regular basis. This is one of the most comprehensive and accurate ways to measure performance especially in a retail store.

Reference –

Performance Management In Retail Industry – Ways To Improve Employee Performance

https://empxtrack.com/blog/performance-management-for-retail-industry/

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3.  There’s a drive to organize the faculty of your institution and have them represented by a union. The student leaders on campus are holding a forum to gather opinions on the pros and cons of a unionized faculty. Because you represent a popular student organization in your college, you are asked to participate in the forum. You are expected to speak for about 3 minutes in front of the other student leaders. So, are you for or against faculty unionization? What will you say at the forum, and why?

Answer –

FACULTY UNIONIZATION

The 3 minute speech –

As a representative ABC student organization in our college, I stand with the faculty unionization drive.

When a faculty is unionized, the union becomes the faculty’s exclusive representative on issues that are subjects of bargaining. These consist of all issues related to wages, hours and terms and conditions of employment. Consequently, in a unionized setting the administration can no longer directly address employment issues with faculty members, either individually or through shared governance.

Of course, unionization in higher education has long been controversial within and outside academia. When unionization was first introduced to college campuses in the 1960s, faculty argued that joining a union would undermine professional identity, create a divisive force on campus, reduce the role of faculty senates, and weaken the campus culture of collegiality and consensus.

Faced with rising tuition, increased living costs, and stagnant pay, graduate student workers at various other colleges and universities have also voted to unionize.

We should care deeply, because the unionization of adjunct faculty is one of the most important recent developments shaping higher education today. It is critical for all those who work in higher education to understand the significance and relevance of adjunct faculty unions in the context of today’s gig economy.

The poor working conditions of adjunct faculty affect the entire professoriate. The increasing reliance on low-paid, part-time instructors has eroded the availability of tenure-track positions at many institutions. Moreover, the same desire for cost savings that has motivated colleges and universities to rely heavily on gig adjunct faculty has led to worsening working conditions for tenure-track faculty in the form of growing teaching loads, a lack of administrative support, and diminishing funds for research on many campuses.

Anyone who cares about the quality of education in higher education should care about this issue. The students who are applying to colleges and universities should care. The parents and other family members who will help pay their children's tuition should care. Tenure track faculty at every institution should care enough to begin planning ways to make their academic departments more supportive of adjunct faculty, and they should openly support the unionization of their adjunct colleagues once a union drive begins on campus. College and University administrators who espouse a social justice mission on the website and claim to prioritize the quality of their students' learning should not oppose the unionization of adjunct faculty and graduate students, and they should bargain with their employees in good faith.

It is essential to prevent colleges and universities from slipping into a corporate culture in which they forget their historic purpose and focus primarily on the bottom line.

The purpose of higher education has been to provide the most empowering education to students, one that promotes analytical and creative thinking and a capacity for problem solving. Colleges and universities have always sought to develop thoughtful citizens fully capable of contributing in meaningful ways to our democratic society. But these aims will never be realized with a professoriate composed largely of underpaid instructors who often work without job security or benefits and no real hope of finding a full-time position or earning a living wage.

Faculty Unionization – what does a teachers union do?

Protect the Rights and Jobs of Teachers

Collective Bargaining

Indirectly Aid in Student Achievement

Provide Career and Professional Development Resources

Keep Teachers and Students Safe

Promote and Influence Education Reform

Provide Liability Insurance and Legal Advice

Aid Advocacy Efforts

Educate and Inform

Fight Against Privatization of Public Schools

Offer Additional Union-Related Perks

References –

Journal of Collective Bargaining in the Academy ISSN 1941-8043 Vol. 6, December, 2014 © 2014 National Center for the Study of Collective Bargaining in Higher Education

https://thekeep.eiu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1314&context=jcba

http://www.washington.edu/informedchoice/faculty-unionization-the-basics/

http://www.washington.edu/informedchoice/an-important-message-about-faculty-unionization/

https://www.press.jhu.edu/news/blog/why-we-all-should-care-about-unionization-adjunct-faculty-higher-ed

http://tobecomeateacher.org/the-importance-of-teachers-supporting-their-unions/