Need advice on sensitive (but urgent) issue

jobbingmusician

lloydy84 wrote: »

If it was a medical issue then the person involved would be aware of this at his age.

You mean people don't develop illnesses such as diabetes, they are born with them? Whilst I agree there are some genetic diseases which cause BO, there are plenty of illnesses which can onset in later life with similar effects. And, of course, the problem may be that he has lost his sense of smell. Mine is certainly affected by whatever sodding little bug took the hearing in my left ear away.

lloydy84

jobbingmusician wrote: »

You mean people don't develop illnesses such as diabetes, they are born with them? Whilst I agree there are some genetic diseases which cause BO, there are plenty of illnesses which can onset in later life with similar effects. And, of course, the problem may be that he has lost his sense of smell. Mine is certainly affected by whatever sodding little bug took the hearing in my left ear away.

Okay. I do not believe this is the case. On his interview he did not smell bad, neither did he on his trial date. It was only after he started the job, on his second day, did anyone notice.

I believe it is a hygiene issue rather than a health issue.

Example, he recently wore a novelty t-shirt for work. It is a warm environment that involves heavy lifting, and a level of perspiration. After work I am aware I smell a bit and immediately shower.

He wore this t-shirt for three days..

comeandgo

Do you get health and safety talks at your work? One talk could be on health and hygiene. A discussion involving all employees may be better than targeting one employee.

lloydy84

comeandgo wrote: »

Do you get health and safety talks at your work? One talk could be on health and hygiene. A discussion involving all employees may be better than targeting one employee.

We dont. One suggestion though was a letter sent to all employers 'reminding' them about hygene at work, but this was rejected by management.

Alot of these replies are veering towards getting the person to understand they smell, but after many hints (such as one person leaving the door open 'due to the smell of BO' even in -2 temperatures), and being told directly that he has an issue with odour, he still refuses to acknowledge it.

In my opinion it is down to management to control the situation, to tell him he must change or face disciplinaries, but they are refusing to deal with the situation, as it does not effect them directly.

Therefore I am needing a solution on what to do next

(write an email to the regional manager maybe?)

getmore4less

Therefore I am needing a solution on what to do next

Make it a management problem.at the moment they just have a few moaning people and can ignore, you need something that means they have to get involved

Reduced production should attract their attention.

IT needs the whole team to go on the offensive, more comfort breaks add in fresh air breaks, call management into the area for every little thing.

be unavailable to work extra(work to rule but do not say you are doing this).

The extreme will be a walk out even a temp one like all return from lunch late.

They have the option sort out one person or have to deal with everyone.

If they are busy they can't suspend everyone.

bugslet

Tabbytabitha wrote: »

The classic approach is to leave some deodorant on his workstation or desk.

gardner1 wrote: »

Just tell him to his face........you stink get a wash.use deodorant and clean clothes.......never mind all the hurt his feelings and the wishy washy approach
If that's to harsh leave a bag with soap and deorderant on his desk

Neither of those.

I've had to do this. We double man our vehicles and we had a driver whose personal hygiene was not great and other drivers were unhappy.

Ultimately it's for your manager to deal with and like anything once you grasp the nettle, it's not as bad as you imagine, particularly if it's handled sensitively.

Havin had exactly that conversation, I could do it again and if your manager is not stepping up as they should do, I'd say something. Take them out of earshot of everyone else and just say something along the lines of, 'there's been quite a few comments about your personal hygiene, maybe you aren't aware that your breath/sweating is very noticeable. Sorry, don't want to embarrass you'.

And yes, there are illnesses that can cause some smells and the person involved may not be aware.

Someone's gotta (wo)man up and say it!

NeilCr

bugslet wrote: »

Neither of those.

I've had to do this. We double man our vehicles and we had a driver whose personal hygiene was not great and other drivers were unhappy.

Ultimately it's for your manager to deal with and like anything once you grasp the nettle, it's not as bad as you imagine, particularly if it's handled sensitively.

Havin had exactly that conversation, I could do it again and if your manager is not stepping up as they should do, I'd say something. Take them out of earshot of everyone else and just say something along the lines of, 'there's been quite a few comments about your personal hygiene, maybe you aren't aware that your breath/sweating is very noticeable. Sorry, don't want to embarrass you'.

And yes, there are illnesses that can cause some smells and the person involved may not be aware.

Someone's gotta (wo)man up and say it!

This.

We had very much the same situation and, in the end, one of the guys who knew the bloke a bit better than the rest of us took him to one side and did exactly what bugslet describes. You can carry on writing emails etc but, given the lack of apparent response from management, it may be quickest and most effective to try the direct approach. And, yes, I do realise it shouldn't be down to you

As an aside there seems to be an undue sharing of information about this from your manager to the rest of you.

ETA.

It turned out that the person involved had just gone through a traumatic relationship breakdown and had let himself go. He didn't realise how bad it was and was mortified.

bugslet

My chap went a bit overboard with everything afterwards, deoderant, aftershave, mouthwash, but it was a big improvement!

Manxman_in_exile

We had a similar problem about 30 years ago when I started working in the NHS


It was an open plan payroll dept with 20 to 30 people in. There was one chap with a really bad BO problem who never changed his clothes. I subsequently learned from colleagues that his was a sad story - he was young widower and had simply let himself go over time. He was also a really nice bloke (we subsequently became good friends) and he was rather good technically at his job - he rarely made errors.


Eventually several of the women working in his vicinity complained to management and, after some prevarication, HR suspended him and told him to go and clean himself up. It was quite sad as people did like him, but they'd had enough.


I can't remember how long he was away (a couple of weeks?) but he did return and it looked as if he'd made some sort of effort, but I understand he was still a bit "niffy", but nowhere near as bad as before. (EDIT: So it was partially resolved - but not really. Can you sack someone for BO? This was in the NHS 30 years ago so I guess it was never going to happen).


Like I said, he was a nice bloke and I really liked him (I've got a really bad sense of smell) because we had some interests in common.

Manxman_in_exile

bugslet wrote: »

Neither of those.

I've had to do this. We double man our vehicles and we had a driver whose personal hygiene was not great and other drivers were unhappy.

Ultimately it's for your manager to deal with and like anything once you grasp the nettle, it's not as bad as you imagine, particularly if it's handled sensitively.

Havin had exactly that conversation, I could do it again and if your manager is not stepping up as they should do, I'd say something. Take them out of earshot of everyone else and just say something along the lines of, 'there's been quite a few comments about your personal hygiene, maybe you aren't aware that your breath/sweating is very noticeable. Sorry, don't want to embarrass you'.

And yes, there are illnesses that can cause some smells and the person involved may not be aware.

Someone's gotta (wo)man up and say it![/QUOTE]


I think that is really good advice, normally. The problem in the example I related is that he knew his personal hygiene/clothing was a problem but he was simply incapable of acting on this knowledge until he was suspended. As I said, I was subsequently told that he was a widower and I think he'd just given up - although he was more than competent at his job. He was also a heavy smoker and heavy drinker, which I suspect contributed to his death at an early age. Very sad story.