How does one tell a co-worker that he has serious body odor problems?

Question

This guy I work with doesn't seem to bathe and it is causing serious problems around the office. How do we tell the guy without hurting his precious feelings?

Answer 1

Buy two sticks of deodorant and a few bars of soap. Put it in a box and wrap up the box in wrapping paper, add a ribbon or bow. Make a computer generated name tag for it so he's sure it's for him, and indicate it should be opened at home/away from the office. Get to work before everyone else, especially The Stinker, and leave it in his chair at his desk. If you know his home address you can have it shipped to his house, instead. Don't worry about his precious feelings. If he were that sensitive he'd have figure out by now that he smells like excrement.

If you feel you can't gift him the tools of proper hygeine or it fails to alter El Stinko's non-bathing behavior, I'd make a visit to Human Resources. Let them know this guy is a foul smelling mess. There has to be an employee manual that indicates employees should wear appropriate clothing and not smell like a rotting corpse. You could also indicate that you are going to have to go home due to your nausea and burning eyes....

In todays society we have to bathe, brush our teeth, and try not to draw attention to our sensitive selves by reeking like a wet dog or a full dumpster. He must be stopped. Can you imagine what he's going to smell like in the summer? Oh dear god.

I worked with a man that went to the gym every day before work. Not only did this guy "not believe in deodorant" but he didn't even bother to shower after his work outs! He smelled like a goat, and we go to enough petting zoos with our kids so I know what goats smell like!!

Best of luck with that. With summer approaching you need to get this under control NOW.

Answer 2

Well unless you are the boss or in Human Resources, it shouldn't be you that's telling him it should be someone higher up. If you are in one of the positions listed above then you should just come right out and say it, something like "There's no easy way to say this but there seems to be a problem that others have noticed regarding your personal hygiene, particularly your body odor. Please make sure you correct it."

An old boss of mine had a problem like that with a co-worker and she tried a more gentle approach. She made it seem like she was the only one that noticed it and wanted to tell the woman before it became a serious problem. And she was like "I just wanted to let you know because I know I'd want someone to tell me if I was having the problem and I just wanted to tell you myself before anyone else noticed." That might work too!

Answer 3

It's going to be uncomfortable either way, so put aside the notions of hurt feelings or embarassment, and have "the talk".

I have had to have "the talk" with a couple of my fellow employees over the years. There's nothing wrong with doing this, and most people who get "the talk" may be slightly embarassed, but appreciative that you've brought it to their attention.

Dont do it publicly, but pull them aside one on one. Tell them that it's been noticed by several people that they seem to have a problem, and that they should take steps to correct it, as it makes others feel uncomfortable. Suggest deodorant, clean work attire, and to make sure they shower every morning and/or before work. Above all, I recommend adding the following line:

"I'm sorry if this talk has embarrased you, or made you feel uncomfortable; but we care about your well being and personal image, and we want to see you succeed."

Many people never realized they have/had a problem. This friendly reminder is a discreet way of letting them know, and working with them to fix it. Remember to always offer helpful solutions to counterbalance the negative problems.
Good Luck!

Answer 4

This brings back such unpleasant memories for me :(

As hard as it may be, I think the only to be done, is to just be brutally honest and tell him that hes stinking up the place. Someone has to tell him....maybe as a group, ya'all could go to his boss and present the situation. There is such a thing as common deceny and one would think personal hygeine would fall under that category!

Are you allowed to burn candles to try to get rid of the stink? There are also candle warmers that you can get for like $5 and then you don't actually have to light the candle you just put it on the candle warmer and it melts the wax and it'll make the place smell better. I use candle warmers all the time, because its much safer with kids and kitties around :)

Good luck!!

Answer 5

Be a true colleague by being honest and let him know. He might not know, believe me, I know a person who has the most terrible feet smell but he doesn't think so. Be honest. If he doesn't do anything to better himself, than it is time for plan B: tell your supervisor or anyone with a bit more of authority, maybe the First Aid Officer or someone with the tactile skills that you need. Good luck.

Answer 6

I had this same problem with a teammate of mine. Our whole team came up with the idea of having a personal hygiene meeting. We would be talking to the whole group, not just singling one person out and embarassing them. We handed out mini deodorants, and some travel body wash, shampoo, conditioner. Encourage the whole group to shower and pay attention to hygiene.
If the problem persists, politely take the person aside and tell him about the issue, I'm sure he'd understand.

Good luck with this smelly situation!

Answer 7

Create a new e-mail account with his name on yahoo or something and send it to his work e-mail address all day with random messages. You could include links about being too smelly, deodorants, referal to a dermatologist (they have medication to treat BO); this may straighten out the problem a bit!

Use the computers at your local library.


If you don't feel comfortable doing that, put soap and deodorant on his desk.

Answer 8

I actually asked someone if they knew how to wash their clothes. He seemed shocked at first, but I said....well you are young, and I was wondering if you knew how to wash your clothes or if your mom had always done this for you...then I went on to explain that you had to use detergent every single time you did a wash.....etc etc etc. I also said that the weather here was so hot that it was also important to make sure you wash yourself with a deodorant soap and use deodorant every morning. I was pretty blunt, but honest....and it did help. I guess some people just need to be told they are stinky.

Answer 9

Gift your co-worker a nice bottle of good perfume without any remarks on it it will help in solving your problem without herting him and I am sure he will gon to be your best friend .
Its True I have tried it on my friend .Now it becomes a habbit of him to use De-odourants either he have Bathed or not which is quite good for every body!!!!!!!!!

Answer 10

I worked many years with a woman who had the worst smell to her. Everyone said she had a bunch of animals that lived in her house, etc.. I have learned not too long ago, that some people have a bad smell coming from them naturally even if they are clean freaks.
We never said anything to her.