Lookism in the workplace—discrimination or a fact of life? asks Helen Crossland
It is a commonly held belief that there is now a culture of “lookism” in most workplaces in that staff are recruited, promoted and retained either on an arbitrary view of their attractiveness or on the basis of how their appearance best matches the image their employer wishes to present. While such a culture is unlikely to be acknowledged openly in the majority of workplaces, case law shows that job applicants and employees are being discriminated against on the basis of how they look.
There is strong statistical evidence that women who wear make-up in business get better jobs and are promoted more quickly. More surprising were the results of a recent survey by Personnel Today in which 81% thought it was acceptable to make fun of people’s ginger hair while more than 70% considered blonde hair, regional accents, baldness and shortness to be acceptable topics of banter.
The issue of lookism in the workplace has been highlighted by the much publicised employment tribunal case of Riam Dean v Abercrombie
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