ST LOUIS (KMOX) - They used to be frowned upon at the office: visible tattoos, bright hair color or jeans and tennis shoes, but that's changing.
Accountemps did a survey of 2,800 senior managers at companies of 20 workers or more in 28 U.S. cities and asked what they thought was acceptable.
Visible tattoos (35% of managers surveyed says it's O.K.), casual attire (34%) and non-traditional hair color (34%) or piercings (33%) were the top issues managers thought were acceptable now, but used to be problematic.
They also thought using emojis in email (30%) was ok.
So what's not OK?
-Cursing (54% of managers surveyed says it's not O.K.)
-Bringing Pets (51%)
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Thoughts from the author:
So, arm tattoo = OK
Arm tattoo of a politician's face = NOT OK
Why the evolution? It used to be everyone at KMOX wore ties and jackets. Well, the men did. Women wore blazers and skirts with heels. Now you look around and it's jeans and tennis shoes. Well, not everyone (Click here to see our hosts).
Makes sense, we're radio. You can't see what someone is wearing, but it sets a tone. Plus, you never know who might be in the building.
KMOX has some big names come through on a daily basis. It's important to be professional. Not to offend. Not to make others feel uncomfortable.
Thus - no kitties at your desk.
Respondents of the study in Florida (Miami and Tampa) said the tech culture's influence is their number one impetus of change in the office.
If we all wore tennis shoes and still worked just as hard, I'm fine with that.