I understand that in the hand book given to all employees says that you have to have conservative hair color! What they really mean is bland, boring, and conformitive.
This needs to stop! We live in a new age, where no matter what store you go to, you are going to see someone with colored hair.
Why is it an issue at all?
What does the color of your hair have to do with how you perform your job?
It doesn't stop you from serving customers, it doesn't stop you from doing your job at all!
What it does do, is show that you are unique, and have a personality.
It would seem to me that companies like Kroger don't care about employees having their own individuality. It is almost like they are saying you have to conform to our way, you can't think for yourself, you can't be an individual, you have to be a cog in the wheel of the company!
I for one don't want to be just another employee! I don't want to be boring, and I sure as hell don't want conformity! I am unique in my own way, and want to express that through my hair.
People who get tattoos, are expressing their uniqueness, and individuality through the art on their skin. Hair is the same thing!
Now I understand that jewlery, peircings, may and can cause problems, or harm. Should a peircing get caught in a machine, it could cause harm to the person, or damage the machine. This has been proven!
Prove to me that hair color is damaging, or harmful to anyone encluding the employees!
I have never heard of someone saying, my colored hair caused me to be harmed on the job.
I can understand someone being asked to cover up an offensive tattoo! But colored hair? That's like saying the color of your shirt is offensive. It's a color! Color is EVERYWHERE! Get over it!
This policy is stupid, and should be changed!
If employees can't have colored hair, then Kroger should not allow Customers into the store with colored hair, it is unfair to employees!
First of all, to be blunt, I personally don't like tattoos, or "wildly" colored hair. I think it looks just plain ridiculous........... some tattoos look like the person's child wrote some idiotic graffiti on them while they were sleeping off a drunk, or they held their neck down to the curb and someone on a bike rode over them leaving weird tire tracks. Or they were in a car wreck and permanent unsightly bruising on their legs has left it's mark on them forever.
And some colored hair looks SOOOO unnatural. If you are here 10 or 20 years from now, you will probably look at "old pictures" of yourself and wonder what kind of weird phase you were going through.
BUT..........THANK GOD we live in a country where FREEDOM is still in vogue (well, for the most part, although our freedoms are slowly being eroded on every hand, especially by hard-left liberals and others) .
But, I don't hold it against anybody to color their hair any color they want, as long as they do a good job and try their best. As long as their attitude is positive and they want to do a good days work and earn their money, that's the main thing.
At our Kroger (Louisville KY metro area) we have had employees with variously colored hair for at least the last 3 years, probably more. Various shades of green, blue, pink, red, purple, maroon, aqua, all have been seen at one time or other. Not a whisper of any rule has ever been mentioned, I am not aware of any kind of disapproval or reprimand for unusually colored hair at this store.
If you don't like the rules, you are free to find another job.
I agree with above poster. I do not want tattoos on my body, earrings or to color my hair(yet). But, Coworkers are free to do as they choose with their bodies.
We have one lead that colors her hair unnatural colors and it looks very nice on her.
For the rules for your store, ask your store manager what is acceptable to them.
If black people cannot even wear their god- given hair without being sent home (afro or dreadlocks) from workplaces and school then why should anyone get freedom of expression?
If black people cannot even wear their god- given hair without being sent home (afro or dreadlocks) from workplaces and school then why should anyone get freedom of expression?
Where are you working at? We have black guys with afros (not extremely huge like they looked in 1972, but still definitely a medium afro, sort of standing more straight up instead of out) and a black guy with dreadlocks, dyed partially blond. Must be an individual store manager thing?
But anyway, Chill out, dude, this country guarantees your freedom, but the truth is that each company can make it's own rules, to some extent, (unless the rule can be proven to be against a state or federal law) because you are not being forced to work for them, you can go somewhere else since this is still a free country (so far).
Kroger does try to be somewhat more conservative in some respects. The whole idea behind this is NOT that hey are being "mean" to you or cramping your style, but they want to avoid the "implication" that "possibly dangerous" "boys from da hood" are working there......(face it, a lot of boys from the ghetto (not all, but a lot) do enjoy acting tough and wearing certain hair styles, even when they are perfectly nice, decent people).
Kroger might think this because (they think) it might cut down on business from a few of those people who are afraid of black guys with crazy hair styles........it's all about the bottom line, Kroger wants to make money, and if they scare away some small percentage of their customers, they know that the business is going somewhere else instead, to their competition...........Walmart, or Meijer, or Save-a-lot, or Aldis, or whatever.
I have some tats on my arms & legs that I got when I was younger, but I like to keep them covered while at work. I think it looks more professional. My Kroger is pretty relaxed though, as I have a very long beard & the only thing they've ever asked me to do was keep it clean & combed...which is a no brainer. I don't work with food obviously.
Every employer decides how they would like to be represented to the public & instructs it's employs to dress, behave, & perform to certain guidelines. Our individuality comes into play when we decide for ourselves whether we want to conform to such guidelines in order to receive a paycheck.
-- Edited by montmn on Wednesday 19th of April 2017 10:11:20 PM
I get where Kroger is coming from to some extent about keeping employees' appearance clean and approachable. So that it won't cause particular customers to shy away from coming to the store. However, from the responses I think each store is a little bit different on how they do things in regards to their employees' hair choices. As I know at my store they aren't real fond of dye jobs that aren't natural and you have to cover it up. But they will say nothing to the 20 somethings that have dreadlocks or their tattoos on their arms on display.
Personally speaking though, I wish I could express myself a bit more with my hair. I mean at most I just curl it and bobby pin it back(my hair is kind of in that in between short and long-ish phase of growing out from a pixie cut I had over the summer. And just at collar length. So not long enough to bun up like everybody else or put into a decent pony tail without looking like weird nub on the back of my head). But yea, sometimes I just want to tie one of my scarves around my head and keep it moving(hair nets are definitely big enough to cover it) if I don't want to use my bobby pins. But I doubt they would be okay with that as the scarves aren't for a religious purpose and someone might think it's affiliated with a gang or something, which I'm not a part of.
And yet, the older and some of the younger employees only put the hair net over enough hair in the back to cover their buns. But leave their bangs out all the time around the food. So definitely something fishy with that in my opinion. And think if they allow for that and that the tats don't have to be covered. They should allow for different colors too at times. As long as it's not like super neon bright or something, if only for particular events. Like we just had St. Patty's day, why not a little green streak here or there for fun since they wanted folks in all green(especially from head to toe in the words of my DH).
It doesn't even matter in our store-we have had employees with green and purple highlights working there and our new manager has a tattoo sleeve up his left arm
I agree 100% I mean they say to keep it Natural shades, but I don't see the big deal if it looks nice.
I mean I have seen some craptastic highlights from my higher ups.
Blonde, Brown and Burgundy chunky streaks can look just as unappealing as Aqua hair can look gorgeous. Also if we want to bring up the customers. I know more alternative people that shop at Kroger's then not.
So I would want to shop somewhere my individuality seems welcomed. That is just me though.
