While I was reading an article

While I was reading an article regarding the new law Joy Alukkas the managing director of Joy Alukkas group has imposed on his staff around the world to remove/shave their mustache, I came across World Beard and Moustache Championships , and found out that Beard and Moustache are been Categorized and their many clubs/associations around the world except the middle east.

Hair Ultimatum
Monday, 22 August 2005

A leading jeweller is demanding that hundreds of its male employees in the UAE shave off their facial hair. Fearing job losses, about 100 employees working at Alukkas Jewellery - mainly from Kerala, in south India - have already abandoned their moustaches.

Hundreds more are debating whether to comply with the company - part of the Joy Alukkas group which employs around 2,500 workers across the GCC. When contacted, Joy Alukkas, Group MD would not comment on the issue, though he is understood to have shaved off his moustache to set an example.

But senior management sources said the move to ask employees to shave was on a trial basis before the group extended it to other divisions of the company. No clear reason for the decision was forthcoming.

“All 400 employees of Alukkas Jewellery are asked to remove their beard as early as possible. Apparently it is part of the top management decision but we don’t know the rationale of such a utopian idea,” said one employee who added that he values his moustache as a symbol of personal taste and dignity.

Staff say they were told of the new policy by fax. “It is my privilege to grow a beard or moustache. Forcing me to remove that for the sake of the company’s policy is unacceptable,” said another who insisted that he would not accept the decision at any cost.

“Even the general managers and marketing chiefs are not spared from the decision,” added an employee. Alukkas Jewellery has around 38 outlets spread across the Gulf - including in Dubai’s Gold Souk in Deira - in the Middle East and Kerala in India. The Group says it is the world's leading “22 karat jewellery retailer”.