BAD HABITS SMELLING UP THE WORKPLACE
It’s an age-old problem, coworkers who appear oblivious to common courtesy when it comes to personal hygiene issues.
I bring this topic up because a recent reader wrote in and asked, “I know that this is not a new issue, but I’m just not sure how to handle it without offending a coworker. She smells. Not in a good way, like from too much perfume, where I could just ask her to cut down on the dosage, but from bad breath and body odor. We’ve talked about leaving breath mints and deodorant on her desk, but is there a better way?”
According to Black Enterprise, poor hygiene has a very real impact on the morale and performance of coworkers mainly because they spend time talking about the problem instead of focusing on their work. However, it can be very difficult to broach the subject with someone.
The best method for dealing with the issue of personal hygiene is to bring it to the attention of the individual’s manager and ask them to handle it or seek out the assistance of human resources.
However, hygiene issues are not always limited to body odor.
A friend recently complained to me abut the lack of hand washing he had noted at his place of business. In fact, Psychology Today recently found that men are less likely than women to wash their hands after doing their business conceivably because women are more susceptible to the social pressure of having another person in the restroom with them or because they tend to stick more closely to social norms.
Whatever the reasons behind poor personal hygiene, it is incumbent on each of us as individuals to consider how we maintain ourselves and each of us as managers to remind our team of the importance of their own personal care. We don’t want anyone’s bad habits smelling up the workplace.
Explore posts in the same categories: Company Culture, Employee Relations
I remember early on in my human resources career when I had to let an employee know she was more “fragrant” than her coworkers could bear. Turns out she was taking a new medication. She thanked me profusely for letting her know.