I have a work colleague that has really bad body odour. I need to address this with her and am just after some tips/advice how to approach this sensitively.
We work around food so hygiene is really important plus other co-workers have expressed to me their concerns also. I don't want to offend her or upset her... TIA
Body odour problem
Body odour problem
Posted in:
Self Care
4 Replies
I am guessing you’re the boss?
Could you write up a check list (refresher) kind of thing on personal hygiene and add things like hair tidy or pulled back, hands and nails clean/no polish AND wear appropriate roll on/deodorants to mask body odour. You could hand it out to everyone, as there might be somethings that others can improve on too?
Other wise, I’m not sure that you could go about it any other way then to just say “I have noticed a bit of bodily odour (down play and say it was just once) and that you thought you’d let her know because you’d like to know if it were you kind of thing
It’s a hard one
Ooh.. This is tough.
It will be awkward but I think just try and be empathetic and obviously make sure it's a private conversation.
My partner had a similar situation at work (2 certain people were coming to work with their personal hygiene rather lacking). Rather than singling these 2 out, everyone received a letter with the company's expectations expectations regarding hygiene and personal grooming:
They then had a staff meeting to discuss it further where the manager made it clear that showering before work, wearing deodorant, making sure hair is neat, uniforms are clean and ironed etc is essential.
Is this something you may be able to do? Perhaps addressing everyone about it will avoid her feeling singled out. If there's no improvement after that, you may just need to talk to her directly about it.
Tread carefully. My mum suffers body odour due bowel issues. She can go a month without passing a bowel movement and the toxins are released through her pours causing the smell. She showers twice daily and is very hygienic. Some medications also result in bad body odour.
In saying all that, if i was ever stinky, I'd hope someoe would tell me.
Yep, you can give off odour without being unhygienic.
Unfortunately I'm one of 'those' people. I'm allergic to the aluminium that's in most effective deodorants. Plus my sense of smell isn't great - double whammy! I shower every day, wash my hands all the time, etc. - nothing unhygienic about me. I use alternative deodorants that are only really effective in winter (e.g. body crystals). In the warmer months they are less effective, and every now and then I get a whiff of it not working. Lovely stuff. How to tackle it? I don't know; but what I do know is that I'd appreciate people telling me 1-on-1 that maybe I need to try again with my choice of alternative deodorant - lol!
Be gentle with that lady. You never know what's going on.