Fellow Colleagues Personal Hygiene?

Question

I work with a young lady whom my colleagues and I feel has a serious problem with her persoanal hygiene. Granted the kind of work we do is very strenuous and the job and working environment does make you perspire. But this girl in question 'smells' before the working day has begun! This has been highlighted to her by the management on a couple of occasions, but the penny does not seem to have dropped with her! Are we being unreasonable? How would you approach this?

Answer 1

HELL NO YOU ARE BEING TOTALLY RESONABLE. I WORK WITH A REAL STINK BAG TOO. WE HAVE REPORTED IT TO MANAGEMENT MANY TIMES AND NOTHING GETS DONE. SOMETIMES YOU NEED TO TAKE MATTERS INTO YOUR OWN HANDS. YOU AND YOUR COWORKERS SHOULD GET INTO A CONVERSATION ABOUT PET PEEVES, YOU TALK ABOUT HOW YOU CANNOT STAND PEOPLE THAT DON'T SHOWER AND WASH PROPERLY. IF THAT DOESN'T WORK, START LEAVING BARS OF SOAP AROUND FOR YOUR STINKY COWORKER. THAT DOESN'T WORK, TELL THE PERSON OUT RIGHT THEY STINK. I KNOW YOUR PAIN, MY COWORKER NOT ONLY STINKS, BUT SHE FARTS CONSTANTLY. GOOD LUCK.

Answer 2

A lifetime ago when I was in Marine boot camp this same issue came up. The individual in question was escorted into the head in the early hours of the morning and given a scrub down by about a dozen recruits, he got the message. No, you are not being unreasonable, no one wants to work with someone who smells like a pig. I'd be upfront and tell her to clean up her act before coming to work.

Answer 3

No, you're not being unreasonable. I found myself in the same situation in one of my previous jobs. I worked in a small office and a co-worker had TERRIBLE body odor. He apparently would not wear deodorant some days, and it would get quite warm in the office. The whole office would smell like dirty armpits, and sometimes they would have the fan on and the smell would just waft through the room. No kidding.

You need to talk to management and let them know that this is a serious problem. She apparently needs to be spoken to again, until she starts smelling better. Management does need to handle this as it is their responsibility to handle office problems. I would not get involved in trying to speak to her yourself. Just continue to be very persistent in telling management how this is interfering with your own work. Complain to them until they do something.

Answer 4

Get two female colleagues to corner her and tell her you all like her a lot but her body odour is bothering all of you and could she do something about it.
If you are too embarrassed to do that send her an email from all of you. If that doesn't work then you should approach management to get her fired.

Answer 5

Keep bugging management. Follow the chain of command to a tee. Get all of the employees to speak to management with one voice. This should not be tolerated.

In the mean time - will they allow a scented candle to be lit?

Answer 6

This is a job for the HR Director. I would let HR know of this problem (if they don't already). If they are aware, perhaps they need to be made aware that the situation has not been resolved. Good luck.

Answer 7

You are not being unreasonable at all! I had this same problem. I had a quick conversation with the employee and he picked it up right away and we saw improvements. When somebody gets told this it has a great impact on them and they want to change right away. hope this helps.

Answer 8

Get management to talk to her or get her transferred to a job where she is the only one there so that her odor won't offend anyone. Everyone give her a gift of antiperspirant to last her for years.

Answer 9

Tear all her clothes off and burn them in front of her. Then give her a wash with an industrial steam cleaner. She'll probably get the message then

Answer 10

Get everybody else to put a clothes peg on their nose to give this person a hint.