Dress Code

One of the greatest challenge in overseeing the professional image of your animal shelter is administering a dress code.  For many years, simply stating that the dress code is business casual seemed to be understood by everyone.  Now, you have to deal with female employees wanting to wear leggings and everyone seems to be accessorized with tattoos and piercings.

In the “old days,” the issues seemed to center around hair length, both on the head and face.  Now days, employees want the liberty to sculpt their bodies with art.  Each organization has to decide as to how these sculptures impact the image of the organization.   There seems to be a movement toward having the appearance that people have spent time in the “big house,” receiving prison tattoos.  It makes me believe that anyone can be a tattoo artist, no skill is required.

As with all things, moderations should reign in the decision as to present our public image, but we live in times in which restraint is rarely exercised.  I have witnessed some beautiful tattoos, but they have been infrequent.  I have come from a generation in which the best tattoos are the ones that are hidden from view.  If you can’t hide your tattoos, you might consider the fact that you have applied them excessively.