As the weather improves it’s that time of year when we start to get calls about how to deal with smelly employees.
Statistically, 1 in every 200 employees are likely to smell.
There are some obvious causes
- Not washing/showering often enough. Shockingly 20% of Britons wash just four times a week or less.
- Not changing clothes often enough.
- Going for a lunch time run and not showering afterwards.
- Eating too much spicy food
Some of the less obvious causes of smelly employees
- Stress
- Gender (men sweat more than women)
- Hormonal changes
- Certain health conditions
How to tell someone they smell
Telling someone they smell is challenging for most people. We’ve put together an 11 step process to help you deal with smelly employees .
What do you do if smelly employees don’t improve their hygiene?
We would hope that talking to smelly employees to make them aware of the problem and what you expect them to do would sort the issue out. If it doesn’t, the last case scenario is potentially one of dismissing the employee. If you get to this point get in touch with us. It’s not what you do but how you do it that will be judged. If you want some pointers, check out this article .
What to do next?
If you want to talk about how you deal with smelly employees, contact us and we’ll hep you work out your options.
Metis HR is a professional HR Consultancy based in the North West of England supporting clients across the country. We specialise in providing outsourced HR services to small and medium-sized businesses. Call us now on 01706 565 332 to discuss how we may help you.
