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Unwashed person in office

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    #62
    annascott
    Registered Users Posts: 1,271 ✭✭✭annascott


    Update: This week, there are new trousers, and the smell isn't nearly as bad as it was last week. Not saying he smells good, but at the moment it is bearable. (also, I let him home a couple of hours early on both days..)

    Thanks guys for the feedback..


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    #63
    Mrs OBumble
    Registered Users Posts: 25,969 ✭✭✭✭Mrs OBumble


    Maybe he's reading this thread!


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    #64
    KenjiOdo
    Registered Users Posts: 223 ✭✭KenjiOdo


    Tell him his appearance reflects badly on the company.. present himself clean or not at all!


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    #65
    Wanderer78
    Registered Users Posts: 29,514 ✭✭✭✭Wanderer78


    im just wondering are you dealing with somebody that may have mental health issues?


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    #66
    dr.fuzzenstein
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 16,620 ✭✭✭✭dr.fuzzenstein


    draiochtanois wrote: »
    Place I worked previously had it in a policy.

    Mind you they lots of odd policies like not being allowed to cook a fried breakfast at work.

    :)

    I'm pretty sure there is a policy about fish in the microwave in my workplace since the smoked mackerel incident...


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    #67
    bobbysands81
    Registered Users Posts: 7,211 ✭✭✭bobbysands81


    Icepick wrote: »
    That's not tactful. As his manager, you have to make clear that it's a problem for you as you have duty of care to everybody in the office.

    Correct, and that duty of care also extends to the individual with the personal hygiene issues.

    There could be valid health reasons as to why this individual has personal hygiene issues, sacking him could cause you a lot of problems too.

    You should consider having the difficult conversation with him. Have a look here for some tips on how you might approach the conversation

    Personal Hygiene Issues Guidelines for Managers - http://cseas.per.gov.ie/files/2015/06/Personal-Hygiene-Issues-RPC005163_EN_WB_L_1.pdf


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    #68
    John_Rambo
    Registered Users Posts: 9,695 ✭✭✭John_Rambo


    I had this problem. Lovely fella from the country, great work ethic, just a bit lax in the hygiene dept.

    I worked on a project beside him for a day and told him if he insists on going to the gym every morning he's going to have wash his gym gear and shower after the workout as the smell of his dirty gym gear was residual on his body.

    He didn't go to the gym. But it's a tactful way of excusing him on a one to one chat. He was mortified and "admitted" he didn't wash his gym gear.

    All sorted.


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    #69
    monkeysnapper
    Registered Users Posts: 2,576 ✭✭✭monkeysnapper


    This is what I would do .

    And I'm usually right.... :) send a letter out to all staff in that area that personal hygiene has to be at the highest level at all times due to the nature of working so close .

    Then pull him aside and say you have to send this letter out to all staff (which you have) not just him and everybody's expected to be clean and washed . mmmmmm. Mmmmm.

    There shouldn't be a problem . if there is pull him in for a chat .


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    #70
    sassyj
    Registered Users Posts: 735 ✭✭✭sassyj


    monkeysnapper wrote: »
    This is what I would do .

    And I'm usually right.... :) send a letter out to all staff in that area that personal hygiene has to be at the highest level at all times due to the nature of working so close .

    Then pull him aside and say you have to send this letter out to all staff (which you have) not just him and everybody's expected to be clean and washed . mmmmmm. Mmmmm.

    There shouldn't be a problem . if there is pull him in for a chat .

    I find that tour of approach a bit passive aggressive.

    I've had to do this, and I just bit the bullet and did it. Others in work were beginning to notice and talk, you have to think of his dignity. You can approach sensitively. As others have said, you'd want you be told yourself (and you could say that to him). Nip in the bud. It's part and parcel of being a manager.


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    #71
    John_Rambo
    Registered Users Posts: 9,695 ✭✭✭John_Rambo


    monkeysnapper wrote: »
    This is what I would do .

    And I'm usually right.... :) send a letter out to all staff in that area that personal hygiene has to be at the highest level at all times due to the nature of working so close .

    Then pull him aside and say you have to send this letter out to all staff (which you have) not just him and everybody's expected to be clean and washed . mmmmmm. Mmmmm.

    There shouldn't be a problem . if there is pull him in for a chat .

    "mmmmm. Mmmmm." That's a bit nasty and wrong, you're making it known to him/her that you had to send a letter to everyone but it was directed at him/her only. If you made it that obvious he/she would assume you pulled everyone else aside and had a quick nod to say it wasn't aimed at them, but the one person it was aimed at.

    I'm sure you'll expand on your post and add and correct in the thread, but what you've said you'd do is wrong.

    A quiet tactful word in his/her ear would have been more appropriate.


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    #72
    El_Duderino 09
    Registered Users Posts: 20,311 ✭✭✭✭El_Duderino 09


    monkeysnapper wrote:
    And I'm usually right.... send a letter out to all staff in that area that personal hygiene has to be at the highest level at all times due to the nature of working so close .

    This is going all around the houses and making sure everyone knows you spoke to him about it. This is the opposite of tactful.

    If he messed up an assignment and you sent an email to all staff, specifically about the mistake on his assignment and how to correct the problem, that would just include people who don't need to be included.
    John_Rambo wrote:
    I worked on a project beside him for a day and told him if he insists on going to the gym every morning he's going to have wash his gym gear and shower after the workout as the smell of his dirty gym gear was residual on his body.

    In this case the direct approach is most tactful. No need to tell all the staff that you're dealing with it, just deal with it. Fair play.


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    #73
    Armchair Andy
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,847 ✭✭✭Armchair Andy


    Not having a dig OP but if my employer approached me about anything concerning my hygiene, competency or otherwise through a third party(as in the other man), I'd view that as a lack of respect tbh. Why couldn't you say it to myself face to face?

    Should I put in for my holidays or call in sick through this guy too?

    That's all unless the third party guy is actually a team manager or in a higher position of power than me.

    Maybe it's just me, but I'd resent that action.


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    #74
    Ann22
    Registered Users Posts: 8,004 ✭✭✭Ann22


    I worked with a fella before who people were always complaining about. It was from his feet seemingly. Was a sweetish, cloying smell. He had poorly controlled diabetes too and sweated a lot.

    I grew accustomed to it but loads of people were complaining. During his employment review, the superviser went on about him being a great and reliable worker etc but at the end, she gently said "but there's a small thing, you've a personal hygiene problem".

    He came straight back over to the line beside me and looked me straight in the face and told me what she said and asked me if it was true. I felt he suspected me for reporting it. I was honest. I just said ' not all the time but if you put your feet up on the chair I sometimes get a whiff'..to which he replied 'feck sake I'm going have to wash every week now!'

    Things did improve a lot and we remained happy work pals.


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    #75
    TheDoc
    Registered Users Posts: 23,137 ✭✭✭✭TheDoc


    Neyite wrote: »
    The OP was "shocked" that the girlfriend "let him out like that"
    I doubt the OP would have said that if the new guy flat shared with male friends or his brother or his dad. It sounds clear to me that its implied that the girlfriend should police his hygiene and attire before "letting" him leave the house. Maybe she has told him he stinks and he doesn't care. She signed up to look after the hygiene and attire of their child as a parent but never agreed to do it for a Man-Child I'm sure. Why should she?

    If it were my partner, yeah, I'd tell him he is whiffy. But if he continues on into work in a smelly shirt, its not my problem or my responsibility. It's his. So his employer could be "shocked" all they like that I'd "let" him out of the house like that.

    To me, saying the sentence is actually insulting for both genders - to women because its implied Wife-work, and to men because the vast majority of men that I know have very good standards of personal hygiene and neat attire.

    Clearly the post was indicating the employee lives with family, who are typically the best avenues for this sort of thing. It's a statement of the scenario, specifically.

    If I got pulled up in work over hygiene, the FIRST person I'd speak with and ask if they noticed is my GF, since we live together.

    So you can halt the crusade there, the female gender has been eviscerated in the post.

    As for the OP, glad to hear there has been improvement. But I would have echoed the other posts that advised a private one to one meeting, where you praised and complimented his good work, then broached the subject. From experience in some of this scenarios I've found them to not nearly be as awkward as they initially appear, and actually there been some either appreciated feedback, or a genuine excuse. "****, really, sorry I didn't even notice I'll sort it out" or "Yeah, **** I was hoping no one noticed. Our washing machine is broke and we can't afford to have it replaced".

    I've never come across the situation or heard of someone replying "Yeah...and what about it?".


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