Globe and Mail: Wacky workplace rules: No beards. No gossip. No deodorant!

From the article:

But if you think getting the boot for gossiping sounds extreme, what about banning facial hair, microwave popcorn or – heaven forbid – wearing deodorant? Plenty of employers have implemented, or at least considered, other wacky workplace bans.

Earlier this year, the Japanese city of Isesaki ordered its male staff to maintain a clean shave, lest their facial hair offend the public. According to Kyoto News, the municipality is not the only Japanese employer to ban beards. Seven-Eleven Japan Co., the Yomiuri Giants baseball club, and Oriental Land Co., which operates Tokyo’s Disney resort, also demand their workers have hair-free faces.

Also tackling employees’ grooming habits, the city of Detroit famously banned its workers from wearing perfumes, scented deodorants and other fragrances this year, after a U.S. District Court sided with an employee’s claim to the right to a scent-free workplace.

But while some scents might be deemed offensive, the smell of a burning midday snack can actually hinder productivity, the city of Seattle discovered.

In 2007, Seattle threatened to ban microwave popcorn in its municipal offices, after singed popcorn forced the city hall’s 300 staff members to clear the building eight times in three years, The Seattle Times reports. Each building evacuation cost at least half an hour of work time.

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Posted by: gisela on 2010-07-13 13:01:53

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