My friend works with a co worker who smells.....what is the best way to address this issue?

Answer 1

There is no "best "way to deal with it. No matter what happens, the smelly person is either going to be embarassed or angry.

The best thing to do is to let human resources deal with it. They are trained to handle these types of problems. If several of the staff complain, it's their job to speak directly to the offending person.

If your friend is fairly close to this person, they should take them aside and speak to them directly. There is no way to break that kind of news to someone gently. I would say something like "____, I really like you and I love working with you but lately I've noticed you've been having some strong body odor problems. I'm concerned that you might have a health problem. Is there anything I can do? "
Saying it this way gives the person an opportunity to blame it on an illness and retain some dignity (even if it's not true). It also sets the tone as one of concern rather than criticism.
I would avoid saying anything like "a lot have people have noticed" or "the odor is really getting bad". That kind of comment will make them really self conscience and feel like everyone dislikes them. And that's no good either.

I teach grade 7 and at that age, kids really stink. There is no nice way to put it. What I do is take them aside privately and ask them if they ate anything smelly the night before or if they forgot their deoderant. I let them know that they smell a little "strong" today and remind them to shower, wash their uniforms and put deoderant on tomorrow. In about 99% of the cases, it works and I only have do have that conversation once. If I have to remind them more than twice, then I get more direct. I tell them "hey, remember when we talked about body odor last week? Well, you're stinky again today. What did you forget? But the conversation is always in private to avoid more embarassment.

Good luck to your friend. That's a hard situation.

Answer 2

They had this problem at my Dad's office once. Somebody put a deodorant on the desk of the culprit and it was no longer a problem after that! That's kind of mean though. Maybe a supervisor or higher up could make a general announcement about the importance of personal hygiene? Other than that, I think your friend may be stuck with this person and their odor.

Answer 3

1. Tell the co-worker.

2. Put an air freshner between the two.

3. Put a small fan blowing "toward" the stinker.

4. Ask the boss to let you move farther from the smeller.

Pops

Answer 4

Maybe your co-worker doesn't realize he or she smells. That's a tough one. I've never been in your situation, but I would probably leave an anonymous note and try to word it as gently as possible that the person needs to tend to their personal hygiene a little more carefully.

Answer 5

Do you know why they smell...are they taking some medicine,,,some make your skin smell funny....if it is just lack of cleanliness, perhaps you could have someone come in and speak to the office on hygiene..

I don't think there is a way to do this without embarrassment or hurt feelings...on a one to one talk.

Answer 6

If talking to the supervisor doesn't help she can get a small personal air purifier for her desk, and also get some kind of plug-in air freshener for her work area. Maybe she could casually bring up something like, "I just bought this new deodorant and it works great, works all day"

Answer 7

Write an Anonymous note, make sure the person does not know your or others handwriting. Mention that this Bothers the rest of the Crew, but they afraid he/she may take offense to it. Mention that they still care for this person, and making these changes to their personal hygiene would mean a lot to all.

Answer 8

We had this problem at our store. I did not want to approach the person one-on-one, so I thought I would try the group approach. At our monthly meeting, I told everyone to remember how warm it is in the summer and to please bathe daily and wash their uniforms daily. That really helped! If that had not worked I would have had to go the one-on-one route.

Answer 9

She or he needs to address the issue with their superior and let them deal with the problem. That's what he gets paid the big bucks for and hopefully he'll handle it discretely and with respect for his feelings and most importantly, not mention any names.

Answer 10

just tell them....nothing worse than B O peeeeeeewwwww it may embarrass them a bit, but the air should get better