OT - Telling staff members about their poor personal hygiene

greg66_tri_v2.0

You follow her around spraying air freshener behind her. When she asks what (the fcuk) you think you're doing, use your management skillz to open a dialogue.

"Spraying air freshener. Give you three guesses as to why."

Holding your nose as you say this might help point her in the right direction. Which would be towards the nearest bar of soap.

ketsbaia

hth

pastey_boy

its not been mentioned but she could have a condition that causes the body odour such as hyperhidrosis, tmau or diabetes , liver and kidney problems can also cause problems. you cite poor personal hygiene so you must know for a fact that she does not wash. be very careful because if she is suffering from a condition she may well be aware of it and as such very depressed and in a fragile state of mind, although if she is just a sweaty unclean haddock pitted individual you could lace her cuppa with febreze and hang magic trees from her ears.

greg66_tri_v2.0

pastey_boy wrote:

its not been mentioned but she could have a condition that causes the body odour such as hyperhidrosis, tmau or diabetes , liver and kidney problems can also cause problems. you cite poor personal hygiene so you must know for a fact that she does not wash. be very careful because if she is suffering from a condition she may well be aware of it and as such very depressed and in a fragile state of mind, although if she is just a sweaty unclean haddock pitted individual you could lace her cuppa with febreze and hang magic trees from her ears.

This is the truth.

DDD, seeing as how you've decided it is poor personal hygiene, are you sure you haven't boffed her?

PS. If I were you (that's you, the Stinky Lady Boffer), I would scour my work hard drive with a Brillo pad until I was certain that there was no trace of this thread on it. HR can get a bit tetchy over public conversations about stuff like this.

Just sayin'.

itboffin

Here's a quick management test for you DDD

Employee turns up at work, clearly shite faced from the night before or perhaps the breakfast livener. Same employee later goes to the pub for an early lunch and drinks 4-5 large glasses of wine, comes back to the office does sweet FA before returning to the pub after "work" and really gets on it. Said person repeats this behaviour 5 times a week.

Do you :-

A. Fire them on the spot? B. Have a quiet word? C. Join them, get shite faced and wake up naked with the person in the office the next morning? D. Ignore them assuming that eventually nature or someone else with handle the situation? E. Change jobs?

itboffin

Greg66 wrote:

This is the truth.

DDD, seeing as how you've decided it is poor personal hygiene, are you sure you haven't boffed her?

Just sayin'.

It disturbs me greatly that I thought the same thing as you, see my previous post.

ddraver

I had the exact same problem with my new office mate - this one was just a BO issue, the guy has clearly never learnt how to look after himself. My manager is a total pu**y and still has not mentioned it to they guy despte me, and the union rep (who was "accidently" involved, not officially) telling him it was his job, I had to tell him about it (a few gentle words, then some choicer ones, then an e-mail to make it offical)

The current state of affairs is that I have to "remind" hinm to shower in the mornings every month ot two...

It really sucks, your staff would be definately appreciate it if you delt with it

greg66_tri_v2.0

itboffin wrote:

Here's a quick management test for you DDD

Employee turns up at work, clearly shite faced from the night before or perhaps the breakfast livener. Same employee later goes to the pub for an early lunch and drinks 4-5 large glasses of wine, comes back to the office does sweet FA before returning to the pub after "work" and really gets on it. Said person repeats this behaviour 5 times a week.

Do you :-

A. Say "Hello ITB" B. Say "Hello ITB" C. Say "Hello ITB" D. Say "Hello ITB" E. Say "Hello ITB"

Fixed.

greg66_tri_v2.0

ddraver wrote:

IThe current state of affairs is that I have to "remind" hinm to shower in the mornings every month ot two...

You should probably tell him to shower a bit more frequently than that.

ddraver

greg - don't get me started dude!! They ban people for excessive swearing here don't they?!

itboffin

Greg66 wrote:

ddraver wrote:

IThe current state of affairs is that I have to "remind" hinm to shower in the mornings every month ot two...

You should probably tell him to shower a bit more frequently than that.

At least add birthdays and Christmas

PBo

Stuey01 wrote:

Do people really think HR's job is to run around dealing with sh1te that line manager's are too much of a pussy to deal with?

Well I've got no effin' idea what the hell else they do, so why not?

Gazzaputt

Shocking that you have chosen to raise the issue on a public internet forum.

If you are employed to be a manager then you should know how to handle the issue or as others have said speak with HR.

Coming to a cycling forum and asking advice is seriously unprofessional.

imo of course.

Kieran_Burns

I had to do this with a Team member some time back.

Booked a private room and started the conversation with:

"You have a personal hygeine issue that is affecting the people you work with"

Go from there. You might find out that there is a medical condition causing or just plain laziness. Whichever it is, you deal with it from a working environment point of view. If it medical you can allow for sick leave to have it dealt with.

If it's personal, do what I did and explain that such behaviour cannot be tolerated as it affects everyone around them.

CdrJake

When you live in close quaters with sailors for six months at a time you soon lose the ability to smell anything beyond the faint smell diesel. BO holds no fear for me, so MTFU

gtvlusso

Il Principe wrote:

gtvlusso wrote:

add it to performance agreement and offer a training course if no improvement seen within 1 month.....

:roll:

LOL! Performance agreements are always utter b*llox (even though they are marketed as a "motivational" process. They serve more purpose building up ammunition against employees that are not "fitting in" and make it easier to fire people.....

I had "Must change into business attire after cycling into work" on one performance agreement - I got lazy and was just blundering about in my kit.....Not really becoming of a manager.

DonDaddyD

Gazzaputt wrote:

Shocking that you have chosen to raise the issue on a public internet forum.

If you are employed to be a manager then you should know how to handle the issue or as others have said speak with HR.

Coming to a cycling forum and asking advice is seriously unprofessional.

imo of course.

Oh get over yourself, the assumptions of some people. Really.

Do you know her name, identity, job title and where she works? Why don't you take this thread for the jovial topic that it is. People talk about anything and everything on here, from First Dates and hurting punai to real humdingers like 'what hybrid'.

And this thread is more about being comical, sharing stories of stinky people and how LiT fired a female colleague because she was fat. I know its my job to tell her, I already explained that its not my management style to leave it up to real people. You don't need training to teach you how to deal with this.

I would say, however, that it is daunting for a manager to approach personal issues (I'm bleeding from my vage - is my favourite) you just don't know how the person is going to react so you need to psyche yourself up.

Anyway, previously another staff member mentioned it to me and explained that her previous manager (now my manager) had already spoke to her about it. The situation improved, then deteriorated so she said something again, improved then deteriorated.

Oh, and its not a HR issue. It might be if there was medical ground but then I would or should have been notified by occupational health. Or I may have already checked that one out.

DonDaddyD

gtv wrote:

LOL! Performance agreements are always utter b*llox (even though they are marketed as a "motivational" process. They serve more purpose building up ammunition against employees that are not "fitting in" and make it easier to fire people.....

AND

gtv wrote:

I had "Must change into business attire after cycling into work" on one performance agreement - I got lazy and was just blundering about in my kit.....Not really becoming of a manager.

Can't see the irony between those two posts no?

lost_in_thought

DDD wrote:

you just don't know how the person is going to react so you need to psyche yourself up

DDD, the way I look at it is would I rather someone told me if I stank out the office? Yes, yes I would. A thousand times yes.

What you don't want to do, as I mentioned, is be too nice about it and say something like 'you have a personal hygiene issue' without also explaining that, basically, she smells. That could be misconstrued, you see.

gtvlusso

DonDaddyD wrote:

gtv wrote:

LOL! Performance agreements are always utter b*llox (even though they are marketed as a "motivational" process. They serve more purpose building up ammunition against employees that are not "fitting in" and make it easier to fire people.....

AND

gtv wrote:

I had "Must change into business attire after cycling into work" on one performance agreement - I got lazy and was just blundering about in my kit.....Not really becoming of a manager.

Can't see the irony between those two posts no?

And thats why I now work somewhere else :-)

DonDaddyD

lost_in_thought wrote:

DDD wrote:

you just don't know how the person is going to react so you need to psyche yourself up

DDD, the way I look at it is would I rather someone told me if I stank out the office? Yes, yes I would. A thousand times yes.

What you don't want to do, as I mentioned, is be too nice about it and say something like 'you have a personal hygiene issue' without also explaining that, basically, she smells. That could be misconstrued, you see.

Oh I agree, in fact I asked a 'trusted' colleague to tell me, if after cycling, I do smell. God, I hope that never happens I'd die of shame. But, I am concious that it's a office full of women (building majority of women) and I might smell distinctly of 'Man', which could be offensive to some.

Thing is though working in and around the mental/social care arena you simply just don't know how people are going to react. Embarassment may be the deciding factor in what turns them from employee to patient.

I have to admit I've never had to deal with a female on this subject before and its that that makes me feel personally uncomfortable...

SamWise72

Ok, well, I AM a management development professional, and I'll give you my view on how I would handle it.

LIT's advice is good; make sure she's absolutely clear what the issue is. You also want to make sure that she knows that:

A) You are not trying to get rid of her
You value her work and contribution
C) What the impact of her smelling bad is

And having made those things clear, ask her a question to draw out why (in case there is indeed a medical issue), and then shut up and listen.

Monkeypump

As already mentioned:

1. Man(ager) the fcuk up
2. Private conversation with The Stinker
3. If you haven't already, do NOT 'boff' her (despite the fact that your famous tips on seduction could be put to the test here)
4. Tell her this is a sensitive issue that is difficult to discuss, but do NOT pass the buck "It doesn't bother me, but someone has mentioned...." etc.
5. Be direct. She smells of BO. Tell her exactly what the problem is, don't assume you know the cause.
6. Ask her if she is/was aware of this (it would seem so, if it's been raised before).
7. Get her to take responsibility for improving the situation.
8. Ask her if (as her manager, not potential lover) there is anything you can do to help, but do not take ownership.
9. Possibly explain that whilst there is no explicit policy on personal hygiene, you (as her manager) do not find the situation acceptable and it must improve.

I agree that it might be wise to run it past HR, incase it all goes horribly wrong...

And definitely keep us posted!

Monkeypump

DonDaddyD wrote:

I might smell distinctly of 'Man', which could be offensive to some.

Wouldn't you just smell of The Power Awesome? (this might be just as offensive, of course).

DonDaddyD

Why do people keep enquiring as to whether I've 'boffed' her and/or trying to seduce her?

I'm happily in a relationship.

Even if I was single I wouldn't sleep with someone from work.

<< Flawed DDD logic >> Also, if you're a prude it's OK to work your way around the office. But if you're into stuff that only 12% of the population is also into then its best to keep that and work seperate... << / flawed DDD logic >>

DonDaddyD

Monkeypump wrote:

DonDaddyD wrote:

I might smell distinctly of 'Man', which could be offensive to some.

Wouldn't you just smell of The Power Awesome? (this might be just as offensive, of course).

I do, but it's too awesome a smell for a normal nostril...

forward_loop

If people may suspect that the stink in your shared office is your cycle kit - moulding itself to he radiator as it dries - then perhaps you have a got a couple of issues here, only one of which is related to your co-worker

the smell of drying sweat on lycra and nylon isnt exactly a male pherenom either.

BikeyMikey1

Years ago I was on a course dealing with communication. The scenario was that a manager had to tell a female employee that she had hygiene issues.

The scene was set, the "manager" was in his "office" and the other candidate pretending to be the employee with the hygiene problem, simulated a knock on the office door to which the "manager" said......"come in.. stinky!".

The class erupted into hysterical laughter and the problem was solved

Monkeypump

DonDaddyD wrote:

<< Flawed DDD logic >> Also, if you're a prude it's OK to work your way around the office. But if you're into stuff that only 12% of the population is also into then its best to keep that and work seperate... << / flawed DDD logic >>

Intriguing...

How about if you find out that one of the "chicks" (your favoured term, I believe) at work is into stuff that only 6% of the population is into, and wants to introduce you to her particular kink?

DonDaddyD

Monkeypump wrote:

DonDaddyD wrote:

<< Flawed DDD logic >> Also, if you're a prude it's OK to work your way around the office. But if you're into stuff that only 12% of the population is also into then its best to keep that and work seperate... << / flawed DDD logic >>

Intriguing...

How about if you find out that one of the "chicks" (your favoured term, I believe) at work is into stuff that only 6% of the population is into, and wants to introduce you to her particular kink?

The kinks I'm unware of are those that were on the Internet when the Internet was new. So you know they were proper kinks, not the watered down kinks we get on the Internet
today.

Those are things I wouldn't do from a moral stand point.