We’ve all experienced that co-worker who gets overzealous with their application of cologne, but what about the co-worker who stinks not from cologne but body odor?
Supervisors and Human Resources personnel get tasked with the uncomfortable situation of dealing with an employee’s hygiene issues. Some may want to avoid the issue altogether or approach it in a roundabout manner by leaving subtle hints like a stick of deodorant or a bar of soap on an offending employee’s desk. However, that approach rarely gets to the heart of the problem, and those “personal” hygiene issues can interfere with the work of other employees.
Fragrance-free policies that discourage people from wearing scented products to work are becoming more common around the country. But can employers also include ‘you must bathe daily’ to those policies?
Hygiene Policy in Murfreesboro, Tennessee
The City Council in Murfreesboro, Tennessee did just that. This policy stemmed from an employee of the City who had problems with body odor for years despite repeated counseling. The City’s policy states:
"No employee shall have an odor generally offensive to others when reporting to work. An offensive body odor may result from a lack of good hygiene, from an excessive application of a fragrant aftershave or cologne or from other cause."
Employees who violate the policy risk disciplinary actions that range from reprimands to one-day suspensions. However, when challenged about how they would know when the new rule has been violated, one City Councilperson answered, "We’ll know it when we smell it."
Not All Noses Are Created Equal
Dr. Alan Hirsch, founder and neurological director of the Smell and Taste Treatment and Research Foundation of Chicago, says we derive our sense of smell from several different factors, but the indoor smoking bans have also contributed.
“People are no longer being inundated by smoke. They’re aware of the ambient aromas around them and they’re also more sensitized to them.”
Hirsch goes on to say that a person’s interpretation of a smell will also change depending on its origin - people may like a smell if it is coming from someone or something they like, but dislike the same smell if it is coming from someone or something they don’t like.
“You can clear a room with a bad smell and give people all kinds of headaches. But you can put that same smell on a Disney ride and no one will complain.”
Good Grooming
Peter Post of the Emily Post Institute points out that although adopting a minimal-scent policy is a good idea, we still need to respect the rights of others:
“We all have to get along in this world somehow and share this space, and at what point do you make your allergies somebody else’s problem? If people have severe allergies, they have to figure out a way to interact with others without making that person change their life completely, too.”
Here are a few tips from Emily Post on good grooming.
For more information on fragrance issues in the workplace, see our other blogs:
What’s That Smell? Fragrance-Free Policies in the Workplace
Is Your Workplace Poisoning You?
