The Tourism Employment Association of Maldives (TEAM) has submitted a petition to the Ministry of Economic Affairs to end the practice of forcing resort employees to shave and smooth their beards when they go to work every day.

TEAM submitted the petition to Economic Minister Fayyaz Ismail on Saturday.

Having to shave their beards every day for work, is a concern raised by resort employees for a long time. They have been using social media platforms to bring an end to this custom.

Secretary General of TEAM, Mauroof Zakir disclosed that the petition was signed by 1,500 male resort employees. He said that work is ongoing at 10 more resorts to collect more signatures for the petition.

The petition asks for the introduction of a grooming standard similar to that of the most famous foreign hotel chains such as Marriott. They urged to introduce a standard that allows them to keep their beards decently without having to shave and smooth it every day. The petition asks that Maldivian resort employees be given the same opportunity as employees of foreign hotel chains to keep their beards.

Mauroof noted that a survey conducted among resort employees in Maldives has shown that 97 percent of resort employees want to keep their beards. He highlighted that 7,000 people took part in the survey.

Mauroof went on to say that almost all tourism employees want to be able to keep their beards.

Additionally, Mauroof said that the meeting with Minister Fayyaz was very successful. As such, he said that the minister's remarks were very positive and it is expected that the government will establish a standard after discussions with the Maldives Association of Tourism Industry (MATI).

Mauroof said that the Economic Minister assured that the administration would strive to address the concerns of resort employees.