What do you do about a smelly employee?

A friend has an employee with 'issues'....MAJORLY bad B.O. and breath. What can she do without hurting his feelings (even though he's a schmuck)? She has to share an office with him and it's horrible and unbearable. Any (realistic) ideas?

The only way to get across to someone that they smell badly is to just tell them directly. Subtlety doesn't work. Your friend needs to come up with a gentle, but direct way of telling the person. They may not even realize it themselves. If that doesn't work, then it's time to go the to boss.

Ew. Report him. Im sure that is against company policy.

yeah, drink a lot of beer and eat a bean burrito for dinner one night, then let fly around him all the next day.

Go to HR and make them handle it. That's why they get the big bucks!

She needs to tell her supervisor or HR representative and they will take care of it from there. It's not really her place or responsibility to discuss his lack of personal hygiene.

And to notarycat... most places do not allow candles to be burnt. It's a safety hazard.

I've heard you can go to H.R. and "report" it and someone from the office is supposed to talk to him discreetly. If there's not H.R. then the boss should do it. Ew.

Try burning candles and keeping fresh flowers around. Maybe try keeping several of those airwick things throughout the office. She could also keep a bottle of Febreeze near her desk, so that when he walks away from his, she can spray the area.

As far as saying something, it depends on the person. I would hope that if I stink, someone would politely say something to me in private about it. He may not be aware of his scents.

If he is an employee and not a coworker then she can let him know that he needs to "clean up his act"...however, this can be a very embarrassing situation. She can try the old gift trick, here have a soap basket someone sent it to me and I can't use this kind.

put a bow on a stick of deodorant and leave it on his desk.

i think she should talk ot the manager about it. i had a similar experience and thats what i did. the manager had to break the news and he started smelling better .

Put Lysol on their desk

Talk to HR or a manager

Tough one. Here are a few options for your friend, from least to most drastic:

1) Keep some kind of jar of breath mints on her desk.
2) Leave an anonymous note or send an anonymous email.
3) Speak with HR confidentially and ask them to move the stinker or your friend to another desk/room.

Honestly, directness would probably be the right option, but the delivery is definitely tricky, and I could understand a reluctance to broach the topic.

Yeah get him a basket of stuff like deodorant and mouthwash and wrap it and give it to him discretely and say "sometimes your best friends won't tell you, I'd like to be your friend and tell you. and then give him the hygiene stuff. If you are his boss you can just tell him that personal hygiene is required on the job and that being "malodorous" could be a serious drawback in his career or you might mention that bad breath and bo could be early signs of some pretty serious conditions and he might want to get to a doctor.

Or you could get lots of those automatic air fresheners that release fragrance on schedule and set them on alternate schedules that would keep'em going round the clock. good luck

She needs to have a manager talk to him. I once worked in a situation where my boss was the one with the horrible smell problem--she wouldn't bathe for 2 weeks sometimes, literally. You could smell her down the hall.

I had to talk to her boss. It's a manager's job to take care of these issues.

Not to mention the fact that people KNOW when they smell. There is no way that he is totally oblivious to the fact that he smells like a rotten garbage onion. He is just too lazy and inconsiderate of other people to care. She should not feel guilty for having management discuss his hygiene with him. It is not her responsibility to worry about his feelings.

Give him a gift set that comprises of deodorant, shower gel, talcum powder, perfume et cetera. Tell him it's a belated birthday gift from the office.

That happened at the place I used to work and other people complained of a guy that had issues in that regard as well, he actually got spoken to in the office, they had to be careful how it was handled, not sure what was said, and to be honest things did not really change, there are so many employee rights now these days, and as gross and *smelly* as it is, all the supervisor/person can do is try to pull the person aside and somehow say there has been complaints or maybe even refer to the employee handbook if your place of employment has that and try to find a violation you can use to discuss with that person. Good luck.

First of all, people that dont bathe or brush know they stink. They are lazy and selfish. This individual doesn't give a crap about you or your co-worker. So let's not get to concerned about his feelings. If his feelings do get hurt maybe he will wake up and clean up his act.
I would not have a problem telling a peer or subordinate that they need to use some deodorant and wash there hair and brush their teeth. If you dont want to do it ask the manager to handle it. A good manager will know how to handle this . If the problem continues make a complaint in writing to the manager and Cc Human Resources.
I have sent people home for poor hygiene on more than one occassion. One guy was even a repeat offender. My hope was that they would be embarrassed and quit.

Talk to your immediate manager or supervisor and let him/her deal with it. You have a right to work in a clean environment. If his/her odor is causing a work issue then they will deal with it. If you say it then he/she may cause problems. Deal with it in the right manner.