Co-worker smells...how do I tell them?
 

Ok...Since I'm the supervisor, a lot of my employees have been complaining about the smell of one of their co-workers. Should I secretly put air fresheners around their desk or should I tell the person they smell and that they should take more baths and wear deodorant? Any other suggestions?

My dad had to deal with this before. He just took the person aside and told him straight to his face that he needs to come to work smelling clean in a professional atmosphere. Might as well be direct, but try to be as respectful as you can be.

You should tell them. I've had the same experience twice, working with someone with bad BO. I mean, bad enough to be bothersome, not the usual BO we all experience once in a while.

The difficult part is to handle this diplomatically and in private. Leaving cleaning products or air fresheners lying around could be construed as being mean or even harrassment.

It's not an easy. Just take them aside and say something like "Listen mate, you're gonna have to change your deodorant..." or something like that. Don't imply that they do not wash, but that they product they're using is not good enough.

Well, that's just one suggestion.

Try to make it friendly and unthreatening. And don't make them even more embarrassed by telling them everyone was complaining. Make it look like you're just helping him/her out...

Mr Mephisto

I've had this problem before...a lady I sat near.
The lady I guess was from a country that didn't have a cultural "belief" in deodorant or maybe even bathing frequently.
Who knows?
Whatever, but it was difficult to focus on my work.

However, I found it was necessary to tell Human Resources.
This is the "official" department for telling your "delicate" complaints.
Personal, Upper Managment Issues, Pay, Health, etc.
This way it's anonymous and a non-biased dept. can intercede for you.
They have both men or women that can discretely communicate to the person the issue
without letting know who they offended.

Good to see that you're trying to figure out how to tell him.

Where I work there is a guy that has horrible hygiene and smells all the time but management is scared of offending him so they don't say anything.

I'm sure it's a tough spot to be in so I don't envy your task. Just be sure to follow Mr Mephisto's advice about keeping a nonthreatening tone.

I've had to have this talk with a couple of employees over the last couple of years. It's not fun, but it has to be done. HR didn't want to handle it, so it fell to me. Just be truthful, but not hurtful when you speak to the employee. The first person I had to have this talk with was actually happy that I did, not knowing that they had a problem, and took care of it right away.

You are responsible for talking to your coworker unless your coworker is of the opposite sex, at which point you now have to worry about a sexual harassment lawsuit. if that's the case, find someone up the chain of command who IS the same sex as your coworker, and have them tell the coworker.

been there and done that...do it in private and confidentially.

if you can get HR to do it, it's much better because then it's not coming from the supervisor which may make them think something is wrong with work performance too.

Coworker with breath problem - different but similar:
I wasn't trying to give him a clue at all but here's what happened one day:

I kept breath mints around.
One day I offered him one.
He said, you're not tryin to tell me something are you?
I said - "I use 'em for myself - I'm self conscious, too, ya know - aren't we all?"

So we had a silent moment and then he started bummin' mine that day and next day he brought his own and used em regular from then on...

Since that worked (inadvertently) once for me - my suggestion would be to bring some deodorant and put it on my desk and sort of get things steered to the same interchange and expect the hint would take.

Not that I'm not confortable with confrontation or truth-telling - I am. It's just that I sort of stumbled on this one so I'll pass it on. Some people aren't able to be as forthright as would be necessary for direct communication on this. Just an alternative approach...

This is great advice. I would be hesitant to leave it up to HR because the person is going to know it came from someone in his department anyway. There's no easy way to deal with this.
Is this smoker BO because if so, there's not much that can be done with that. Stale smoke smell that lingers on clothes can produce a pretty nasty odor when mixed with dry cleaning fluid especially and unless the person quits smoking, it's a lost cause.

Just be poliet and make sure you adress this in privite

Hold off until Christmas and give him some Febreze as a secret santa?

Seriously though, definitely go to HR, thats what they're paid for. This also keeps complete anonymity and will prevent any awkwardness between you, the employee, and his coworkers.

I believe you can send them an anonmynous email to tell them about your problem. That way you do not have to approach them and tell it to their face. It is up to them to take the hint.

The infamous smelly co-worker.

Give them a sample of your favorite cologne/perfume/body spray. Tell them that you think they would like it.

Sneak some Glade Stickups onto their desk/cubicle/back.

If he smells all the time, he knows that he smells. For the respect of others, tell him to shower and come all nice and fresh. He should be able to respect that request. Right?

People that work at garbage dumps will get "immune" to the smell after a while. If the smell has grown, ie, smelling worse over time, there could be a possibility that the person is not aware of how awful he/she smell.

Wear a surgical mask. He will get the point. :-D

I have given a couple of friends some advice when it comes to deoderant. I myself had some B.O. insecurities before I found this certain deoderant that I love-- Arm & Hammer.

It works exceptionally well. Anyhew, with a close friend I was able to leave a bar of deoderant with a note on her bed... just basically "Noticed the brand of deoderant you were using. That was the strongest stuff I could find before I found this, and I like the way this works way better. Give it a try if you want."

It worked. She was happy. Not offended either. She has passed on the little tip to others.

Ohhhh for the love of god- you really have to tell the guy he smells. For the sake of the other employees. I am very sensitive to smells, and the smell of someones b.o is literally enough to make me nearly throw up, and pass out. Help the poor employees out.......

noooooo dont do that! nothing worse than BO covered with cologne. Although it does indicate the person is aware of the situation and is trying to do something about it which is a start...

I think being direct is it. I would use the deoderant thing. Tell them that others have complained in other departments while they interact. Not to point to the people whom they sit right next to. I had a friend like that...I had to say SOMETHING. I kept getting this whiff of something gross..I thought it was me. I took off to the washroom, checked everywhere..was not me. Went back to work, and then he rolled his chair right next to me– when I was hit by a wall of stench. I had to tell him. He made the change and has not stunk since. (this happened on several separate occasions of the smell happening and I thinking it was me checked, not to find anything. It was a relief to know that was not me steeeenkin' like that!)

The pussy way out would be to send them an anonymous note via email or real mail telling them about their problem. This site used to do it for you but it looks like they've discontinued operations. You get the idea though.

Yes, I'd recommend being polite as possible. Tell them that they're doing a good job at work, but that some of the other workers are concerned about the odor.

Do you know why this person smells? It is something they can do something abt? There are a lot of reason someone may not smell good and not all of them can be controlled. If it is something that can be controlled then say something to them, but find out first. If it is something they can not control you will only make that person feel worse than they already do and will not fix your problem.

Yes, do it in private, be very sensitive about it, and don't imply that anybody else has noticed. Make it about your own personal observation (smellservation? What's the appropriate word?), otherwise the person will walk around wondering who thinks less of them.

Have the same problem - 3 cubes in one office, tight quarters. Ironic thing is he complains when i use cleaning supplies when straightening my area saying he's "sensitive."

IT's easier said than done - I can't bring myself to tell him. Being in the medical field, i'm amazed one of his patients hasn't said anything before. The occasional meeting, and i keep my distance (which frequently isn't enough), but he really has to get up close and personal with his patients.

I beat ALL of you. My roommate smells like ass. He hardly showers and it is the worst thing to deal with. I tried everything to be suddle and nice about it. But he didn't catch on... Dormmates would spray airfreshener while he slept or accidently spill dirt or something else. We got very creative. But nothing worked I had to be direct and just tell him. I recommend starting out with a compliment, it softens the blow. This is what I would say "Your a really nice guy and a hard worker, but some of the workers have been compliaining of a smell. I don't know what it is, but you need to be professional and make sure you take care of your hygiene. You may not be able to smell it, but just make sure you are showering everyday and using deoderant. I'm not doing this to be mean, but I have to think of everyone." I changed it a little for you, but that is about how I did it. I feel for you all I know how bad it is to deal with. And just so everyone knows that still did little good for me, I'm moving in with some buddies next semester.... Some people were just never raised properly.

Just do it all at once, like ripping off a band-aid. Don't prolong it...

Start with a series of anonymous post-it notes. If that doesnt work, graduate to the little tree car fresheners. If that still doesnt work, leave gift baskets of soap and deoderant. If still no results, run the bastard out of there on a rail 1800s style.

Be like a ninja and quickly hang air fresheners off of the person.

this dude at work stinks...he came into a meeting, and someone goes, "whoa, do you smell somethin?" then he lifted up his own arm and sniffed his armpit, and says, "well, it's not me!". i laughed. my other co-workers were sitting there, mouths agape with a confused WTF look on their face.

You know that the right thing to do is take the advise as listed above with the one on one approach, but the fun thing would be to wait until he comes up and say Whoa, I'm glad that I didn't have to ride in the elevator with who ever just did that, did someone forget the BeanO at lunch time.

Hahahaha!!!!!:lol:

Actually gave me some good visuals there.

Please, let HR do the work they are supposed to do. They do it anonomously, discreetly, and directly. The problem with doing it yourself is the person can take serious offense to it and turn it against your organization. Claiming they work under duress, harassment, etc....are all sorts of ideas that can creep into this stinky bastard's mind.

So your the supervisor. Is it not your duty to tell this person in private that they have a problem.
Come on your staff have turned to you for help, its all part of being in charge.
Your staff will respect you for it, cos they did'nt have the balls to say anything.

Just read my quote below.