Ooooh That Smell
How to deal with a smelly coworker
Lynyrd Skynyrd sang about it and if you have ever spent more then a day in an office, you know what I am referring to. You raise each arm in the air and take a whiff to make sure it’s not you, and eventually, you locate the offending culprit. I’m not referring to violators of a scent-free workplace but rather those with poor hygiene and bad body odor. The smell is real and raw and no mistaking what it is.
When we encounter a smelly coworker, our thoughts usually flow between “Do they not realize how bad they smell!” and “For fuck sake that’s nasty!”. I’m sure there are some other in-between thoughts but you generally get the idea. If you’ve never come across this person in your office its always in your best interests to make sure you’re not the offender that everyone is talking about.
After working in a variety of settings including construction, restaurants, and office environments, my first hand experience tell me it’s often best to leave these sort of odor issues up to those in charge. Telling the crane operator he stinks and needs to take a shower, generally gets you knocked off the steel beam you are walking 40 stories up. Yes, the struggle is real when dealing with a co-worker with questionable hygiene, but seriously don’t try to take this one on yourself.
Certainly, there are creative ways to try to deal with it but leaving a bar of soap on their desk, setting up a diffuser with essential oils, walking around with a clothespin on your nose, or attempting to make a funny joke about the subject does little to solve the problem and the offender is generally still oblivious to the fact that they stink. Worse they may feel offended and disrespected. Most people with personal hygiene issues are unaware that they smell as they get so used to their body odor so they don’t notice that everyone else is feeling ill or nauseous around them. Since body odor and personal hygiene can be embarrassing to talk about its often best left up to those in HR to deal with.
Approaching HR about the issue is the most effective way of dealing with it and you’re just going to have to be frank and honest with them. There is no need to ask them to smell the offender nor will they be able to deal with the matter that second. If you are in HR or management and you have had to deal with a similar issue you know first hand that this requires a delicate conversation with the offender. The conversation should be matter-of-fact, behind closed doors, and because this is an HR issue it needs to be businesslike but discreet. A word of caution though because in the U.S., conversations such as these must be discreet for legal reasons. HIPAA (Health Information Portability and Accountability Act) insists on it so do due diligence and if need be consult your legal department. When you do approach the offender, aside from being down wind find a sympathetic tone but not one overly so, be clear about expectations and avoid hinting. Rather than saying, “Sheila you stink and nobody wants to be around you”, it would be more effective to try, “Sheila, I was walking by and I noticed your body odor. I think we need to address this as it could make it difficult for others to work with you.” There is no need to go into detail about how to shower properly or that they need to find a new toothpaste. Simply make them aware of the issue and ask them how they could resolve the matter. Be aware that the offender may have a medical condition and that they may be doing everything they can to limit or eliminate the odor.
Having a friendly and cooperative work environment is essential to performance as it affects productivity and safety and leaders or managers, must step up and have these difficult conversations. Often many of these challenging conversations go better than you originally thought.
