So, I got my ears pierced last October. (Yes, this relates to communication, eventually. Be patient.)

Most young women I know get this done around age 11; I waited considerably longer, being a total wuss when it comes to needles. Although painful, the event itself wasn’t so bad–I was distracted by the red shag carpet on the ceiling of the tattoo/piercing salon–and the acute pain faded within minutes, although I didn’t get a good night’s sleep for the next six weeks. I almost passed out the evening I took out the captive bead rings and put in my own brand new, titanium studs for the first time. (Blomdahl. I recommend them highly.)

A side effect of having this done is that I really notice other people’s piercings now; instead of turning away in disgust, I am interested to see what they’re wearing. I have almost gotten used to the baristas at my local Brew-ha-ha, young women with hair dyed interesting colors and assorted multiple lip, eyebrow, ear, tongue and nose piercings. Having been pierced once, though, and in a relatively benign area, I cannot fathom going through it again on more tender facial parts (and let’s not take the concept any farther south). But I see more and more people–and not just those under age 30–with a lot of bling sticking out of their faces, and arms fully tattooed.

All of which brings me to the communication issue. I’m an avid reader of Ned Lundquist’s Job of the Week newsletter, and the other day while following up on one of its leads I ran across the web site of a company that not only posted a job description and qualifications, but also its dress-code rules that female employees could have no more than two piercings per ear lobe, that male employees could not wear even one earring, and that no one was allowed to show any tattoos while in the office.

I have been wondering about the impression such highly decorated people make on a job interview, so tell me, how do you react to studded and be-dragoned interviewees? Is body art a legit form of communication? If so, what does it say about the one wearing it and to the one observing it? Does it have a place in a modern office environment besides the art department? Are ultra-conservative companies overreacting?

Time to shop for more earrings…

Pat

In a recent article in the San Antonio Express-News, Dave Beck (president of Frost Bank) writes:

“While compensation and benefits are important elements in making an employee feel valued, an attitude of genuine concern and caring can be even more important.”

My knee-jerk reaction was to think, “Yeah, right!” but then I remembered an incident a few years back, when I was only six weeks into a new job, yet I had to ask for several weeks of leave because my husband needed very scary, very urgent surgery. My boss–and her boss–were very generous in granting me the leave I needed to focus on my husband’s health. His surgery had a happy outcome, but an unexpected outcome for me was the warm fuzzy feeling I had from believing that my boss and her boss really cared. When I went back to work, I cared very much about doing a good job for them.

So maybe there’s something to the touchy-feely idea about employers needing to care about their people, and if there is, what should we as communicators be doing about it?

This little piece of news appearing in late 2006 may have escaped your attention but I thought it was worth bringing it up.

A survey conducted by Fortiva based on 100 North American organizations that monitor and review the messages of their employees found that:

* Of the 93 percent of companies that have formal electronic communication retention and review policies, 63% companies reported employee e-mail surveillance has improved their ability to see risks to the company.
* 12 percent of the companies uncovered customer complaints that were not previously escalated or disclosed.
* 14 percent also said copies of employee correspondence were forwarded to a regulatory body or law enforcement agency.
* The increase in visibility has resulted in 26 percent of organizations terminating an employee as a result of information yielded through email surveillance.

www.fortiva.com/news/pr_email_surviellance.html

Now, it’s hard to argue with the fact that a company reviewing its employees’ e-mail may indeed be getting some valuable information. And its important to note that this particular research surveyed North American securities industry companies, which are under some stringent rules when it comes to monitoring information.

But what about the rest of the business world? Just where does this type of surveillance fall when we consider the ethical implications? What are your thoughts on this?

Natasha