Ever have a coworker with bad body odor?

Question

How do you gently tell someone they stink? Working with someone that seems to have never discovered soap or deoderant is troublesome. Am I alone here? Anyone else have this issue?

Answer 1

Anything you do is going to be somewhat offensive. The best solution, is to discreetly pull them off to the side and with empathy tell them that they have body odor.
It will probably benefit you better if it happens during the end of the day. That way the person has less time to be embarrassed if they are.

The other side of the coins is, most companies have policies that state appearance and hygiene are part of the job. A simple training exercises suggestion covering basic company policies in including appearance. This would get the subject out in the open and maybe the person would be more approachable.

Answer 2

Tell them you have a sensitivity to the current deodorant they are using and ask them to switch to a different brand. If they have half a brain, they will figure it out.

We had a person like this in the office. This approach worked.

Answer 3

Yeah, several of the men in my platoon. Unfortunately for them, it was indeed my platoon - I commanded it. And I did not tolerate my grunts going without showers. If you were one of MY co-workers, you'd have been intimately familiar with soap and water - count on it!

Answer 4

Let HR handle it...And yes they do handle B.O. If you feel like it's offensive and it henders your work performance...tell HR. They get paid to make people follow policy and procedure.

A girl at one of my old jobs had an issue and constantly smelled of urine, it was disgusting. HR had to address it.

Answer 5

just tell them who cares what they feel they stink and dont care anout you and offinding you so just tell them