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Paul is a hardworking guy. You know he holds a second job
in the evenings and extra time in the day is hard for him to find. A
couple of his co-workers have asked to be reassigned. When pressed, they
admit it is because Paul occasionally doesn’t smell too good. In fact, as the
week progresses, he really begins to stink! You’ve noticed it, but you figured
it would get better.
No one likes to deal with someone else’s hygiene issues. When
it comes to body odor, the situation is embarrassing and especially
difficult to confront and remedy. As the supervisor, you have an obligation
to make the workplace comfortable for all. How can you make this awkward
confrontation as easy as possible?
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Keep it short and to the
point. Schedule the meeting at the end of the
day. The employee will likely be deeply embarrassed and not want to
continue working. This will enable him/her to leave immediately
following the meeting.
Make the meeting private and as brief as possible. You’ll
only increase everyone’s level of discomfort by beating around the bush.
State the problem and give your expectations for correcting it.
Don’t sugarcoat the situation, as you want the employee to understand
the severity. Also, make sure a time limit is set to correct the
problem.
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Respect your employee’s
privacy. You should never discuss the matter
with other employees. Hopefully the situation will remedy itself in
short order and all will be satisfied.
By the same token, you must respect the privacy of the co-workers who’ve
complained. In fact, if you have personally noticed the odor, explaining
to the employee that you have concerns about his body odor eliminates
the potential for him to question which co-worker ratted him out.
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Follow normal
disciplinary procedures if the problem is not
corrected by the deadline that was set. Contact your Employee Relations
consultant to discuss. |
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Connie Reckowsky
Employee Relations
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