What change prompted the rise of full beards in the professional environment? Materials about professional dress and grooming still note that facial hair should be shaved off and question even wearing mustaches, but the modern workforce seem unaffected by this advice. The days of five o'clock shadow and the close-cropped beards now extends to full beards Three reasons primarily cover the shift: the changing perspective of employers from a focus primarily on outward appearance to success metrics, the proliferation of grooming information available, and easy access to grooming tools.
The primary change comes as a by-product of numerous groups lobbying for equal treatment and pay for their membership. Companies forced to re-evaluate gender roles, stereotypes, and other assumptions soon faced a question from their male workforce who wondered why a beard made a difference. After all, Joe without a beard remains the same person with one. Add in the rise of several notable actors and public figures sporting full beards and many companies began allowing them. Over time, many companies saw the professionals' key metrics remain productive enough to warrant reduce their assumption that the facial hair negatively impacted performance. Taken together, companies increasingly allow full beards, even if some grooming standard exists.
As with many knowledge areas, the internet provides a simple tool for professionals to learn about beard grooming. While the style of beard varies tremendously, a few minutes searching reveals resource articles, videos, and forums with suggestions and best practices for almost any style beard. Putting this knowledge into practice positions employees to show up with a well-groomed beard capable of revealing a bit about the individual's style and personality while remaining within company grooming standards.
Learning beard grooming helps, but access to the necessary tools and hair products makes wearing a beard professionally possible. Specialized stores turn their brick and mortar locations into platforms for distributing product around the world by creating online presences. The newly bearded man can have the necessary materials delivered directly to their home saving both time and effort to locate these materials locally.
Full beards in the professional workplace once marked the retiree but not today.
Companies realize the impact to their bottom line comes more from their workforce being themselves than mandating a smooth chin. The case for facial hair gets tremendous help from the easy access to information about keeping beards well-groomed and the ability to order the tools and products necessary to keep a professional image online and have them delivered directly to the home. Of course, another reason comes from men realizing they can express themselves in a way historically most wouldn't consider if they worked in a professional environment. After all, who wanted to be called a long-haired hippy?