Body odor issues with member of staff

Tiddlywinks

joannaspanner wrote: »

Is the role client facing as if so you could maybe say a visitor or something mentioned it rather than the person she sits next too?

OP, as a manager, you need to 'own' the problem and the feedback. Don't attribute the observation to anyone else, just sit the person down and tell them what YOU believe the issue to be.

If you take the coward's way out and say someone else has come to you to complain then that will make the individual feel much worse as they will know they have been the subject of some embarrassing converstations.

You can smell the problem - so you need to feed that fact back.

puddy wrote: »

do you ever find yourself on your own with the person, like over the water machine or in the kitchen or something?

if so, you could question them as to whether theyve been jogging before work or at lunch or something and say, oh just between me and you you've worked up a sweat, or something like that? i know its the cowards way out

No - this is wrong.... don't bushwack the person in a public space; who knows when someone else will just appear. The lack of private space will make the person feel vulnerable and worried about others hearing or seeing what is going on.

Also, what if they get upset? You'll have created a very public spectacle this way, won't you?

Take the person to a private space, be matter of fact and offer to talk things through. Even admitting that you must both find the situation embarrassing will help.

If you really can't find it in yourself, do you have an Occ Health professional that could do it for you? But it must be on your behalf and not refer back to colleagues discussing the problem.

Good luck.

puddy

Tiddlywinks wrote: »

OP, as a manager, you need to 'own' the problem and the feedback. Don't attribute the observation to anyone else, just sit the person down and tell them what YOU believe the issue to be.

If you take the coward's way out and say someone else has come to you to complain then that will make the individual feel much worse as they will know they have been the subject of some embarrassing converstations.

You can smell the problem - so you need to feed that fact back.



No - this is wrong.... don't bushwack the person in a public space; who knows when someone else will just appear. The lack of private space will make the person feel vulnerable and worried about others hearing or seeing what is going on.

Also, what if they get upset? You'll have created a very public spectacle this way, won't you?

Take the person to a private space, be matter of fact and offer to talk things through. Even admitting that you must both find the situation embarrassing will help.

If you really can't find it in yourself, do you have an Occ Health professional that could do it for you? But it must be on your behalf and not refer back to colleagues discussing the problem.

Good luck.

hold on, i didnt say raise it in the public space, i was asking because if the manager is never alone in a small space with the staff, then its unlikely that the story would wash (no pun intended), of course you would talk in private

Tiddlywinks

puddy wrote: »

do you ever find yourself on your own with the person, like over the water machine or in the kitchen or something?

if so, you could question them as to whether theyve been jogging before work or at lunch or something and say, oh just between me and you you've worked up a sweat, or something like that? i know its the cowards way out

puddy wrote: »

hold on, i didnt say raise it in the public space, i was asking because if the manager is never alone in a small space with the staff, then its unlikely that the story would wash (no pun intended), of course you would talk in private

But your post suggested that the OP use the 'worked up a sweat' comment when they were alone at a water cooler or in the kitchen - those are public spaces.

puddy

no, i asked if there were times the manager was alone with the member of staff, giving her an opportunity to say that she had noticed these things when they were together, not at that point

vax2002

I dont think you can insist that someone applies chemicals to themselves (deodorants) to hide what is a natural body function, all you can do is ask them to wash before or even at work if required and make sure you provide facilities for them to do so.
you could fall under Disability discrimination here if you are not careful if the person has any kind of issue that makes them sweat.
.
Does the complainant smell like a pox doctors clerk at a free perfume testing session by any chance ?

cleggie

I would say tread carefully.
The person may either be well aware of the fact that they have a BO problem, or onj the flip side, they may be totally unaware.

I have been on some medication that has a nasty side effect of excess sweating, to the point that i can start to smell of BO literally within 10 mins of getting out of the shower Needless to say i am in the process of switching medication, as it was making me too self conscious!

mikey72

I think the first thing to do is to find out why, rather than asking if they've been jogging or worked up a sweat. There are quite a few medical reasons that will cause it.

puddy

vax2002 wrote: »

I dont think you can insist that someone applies chemicals to themselves (deodorants) to hide what is a natural body function, all you can do is ask them to wash before or even at work if required and make sure you provide facilities for them to do so.
you could fall under Disability discrimination here if you are not careful if the person has any kind of issue that makes them sweat.
.
Does the complainant smell like a pox doctors clerk at a free perfume testing session by any chance ?

we all sweat though and without washing some will smell worse than others

its a good point though about what expectations we have about how others should present themselves.

DUKE

You could hand out a memo on personal hygiene to everyone in the office so the person with the hygiene problem didn't feel quite so bad. But then you could risk upsetting everyone by doing this. Personally I'd just take them to one side & tell them.

charlieann

Can I just add that you should maybe approach the subject at the end of the working day. If it was something that was mentioned to me I would be embarassed to then have to return to a small office and sit there working, wondering if others could notice but not being able to do anything about it.