Properly into its second century, UPS Inc. (NYSE:UPS) has gone avant-garde, no less than for its requirements.
The Atlanta-based transport and logistics big has eased up on its legendarily strict insurance policies concerning worker look, together with guidelines which have lengthy ruled staff with customer-facing jobs reminiscent of supply drivers. Gone are the restrictions on beards and what the corporate, in a previous period, would have thought of unacceptable hairstyles. In are Afros, braids, tattoos and facial piercings. Additionally gone are the corporate’s so-called gender-specific guidelines.
The notoriously buttoned-down firm hasn’t thrown all warning to the wind, nevertheless. Piercings ought to look businesslike and be restricted to earrings and small facial ornaments, UPS mentioned in an inner memo first reported in The Wall Road Journal. Facial hair mustn’t look unkempt and never current a security hazard, the corporate mentioned. Tattoos ought to be lined, in response to the memo.
UPS wouldn’t share the memo’s contents. Nevertheless, an organization spokesman confirmed the Journal’s story. On Wednesday, UPS issued an announcement saying, “We’ve up to date our uniform and look tips” to “replicate our values and need to have all UPS staff really feel comfy, real and genuine whereas offering service to our prospects and interacting with most people.”
Within the assertion, the corporate mentioned it’s “decided to proceed to make UPS an awesome place to work for all of our greater than 500,000 staff all over the world” and to make them extra more likely to suggest UPS as an employer of selection. The memo implied that the coverage change got here from Carol Tome’, UPS’ new CEO, who has spent a lot of her first six months on the job listening to staff about a variety of points.
For workers at many firms these days, the unfettered freedom to fashion one’s hair, pores and skin and face may look like no huge deal. However with regards to an worker’s bodily look, UPS is in contrast to most firms. Since its founding in 1907, UPS has been a stickler for spit and polish. Founder Jim Casey believed a clean-cut, virtually paramilitary-like look spoke extremely of the corporate’s professionalism.
To at the present time, UPS has demanded that its staff, significantly its van drivers who work together day by day with prospects and are thought of the proverbial “face” of the corporate, look a sure approach. Different hairstyles, facial piercings and tattoos have been unacceptable. A driver’s brown shorts have been reduce to a selected size. Moustaches have been frowned upon, and even at company headquarters, staff’ moustaches couldn’t prolong past a sure size.
Firm veterans — lots of whom at the moment are retired — recall the inner brouhaha that ensued when it was proposed that males might prolong their sideburns under a selected level on their faces. For a few years, male staff could be required to placed on their jackets to stroll from their workplaces to the restrooms. It was unprecedented for males to take espresso breaks, go to lunch or converse in hallways with coworkers with out their swimsuit coats on.
Lately, lots of these guidelines have been relaxed. Staff have beforehand petitioned to overturn the corporate’s ban on beards. In December 2018, UPS paid $4.9 million to settle a spiritual discrimination lawsuit filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Alternative Fee over the corporate’s guidelines on beards and hair size. UPS employees have been allowed to have a beard in the event that they obtained a medical or non secular exemption.
