HR Solution to Employee's Poor Personal Hygiene in Workplace

Whether it’s a corporate office, restaurant, hotel or school, every employee’s personal hygiene affects the rest of the employees in the workplace. That is why personal hygiene is an essential code for every professional space. Just like caring about office cleaning or school cleaning, employees should care about their hygiene as well. But in some rare cases, there might be an employee with poor hygiene in the workplace. How can we approach them and talk about this sensitive topic?

In this article, we will explore how HR managers address an employee’s poor personal hygiene in the workplace.

Importance of Employee’s Personal Hygiene

Employees’ personal hygiene is essential in closed workspaces. Poor hygiene not only negatively affects the company’s brand image but also prevents other employees from focusing on their work. Also, in cases like restaurants and kitchens, poor hygiene puts Food Safety and Health & Safety regulations at risk, which ultimately puts customers’ health at risk.

Employee personal hygiene is extremely important for high-end corporate offices, restaurants, hotels, schools and almost any other professional spaces. Therefore, such cases should be handled quickly and, due to the sensitive nature of the topic, with utmost care.

How HR Confronts Employees With Poor Hygiene

When an employee with poor hygiene is in the workplace, rarely do other employees confront them about the hygiene. They complain to the managers. Since the topic is sensitive and hasty confrontations may cause potential discrimination, the managers ask HR to address it.

This is a wise decision as the potential for discrimination is high if the employee considers the confrontation rude. However, HR managers are trained to address such situations discreetly and with care.

The Employee Handbook is The First Line of Defence

The first line of defence to prevent such issues from happening in the office is the employee handbook. HR managers update the book regularly with a dedicated section about personal hygiene and its benefits for everybody present in the office.

This is a common section in almost all employee handbooks in restaurants, hotels and any other business that directly handles customers. It is also common in corporate office handbooks, but the most effective way for employees to care about personal hygiene is by putting up posters throughout the office space.

Both handbooks and posters are effective ways to raise employees’ awareness regarding hygiene in the workspace.

Read More: Daily Office Cleaning Checklist

Creating Dress & Hygiene Code

Another way to prevent such issues in the workplace is to enforce certain dress and hygiene codes from the start. This is a common practice for professional spaces like large corporate offices, hotels and restaurants.

Most dress & hygiene codes include the following items:

Daily shower to keep the body and hair clean.
Clean-cut or shaved facial hair.
Use of deodorant, especially during warmer seasons.
Wear the uniform and keep it clean all the time, or wear clean clothes every day if the company doesn’t have a certain dress code.
Oran and nail hygiene.

While these tasks are very simple for maintaining personal hygiene, the effects are massive in closed and busy workspaces.

Approach The Employee Discretely

If none of the abovementioned measures worked and employees are still complaining, it’s time for an in-person meeting with the employee. HR managers approach the employee discreetly to chat about his/her personal hygiene at the workspace.

The conversation should be straightforward and tactful at a friendly and empathic level. HR managers inform the employees about their peers and their complaints, and investigate the reason for poor hygiene or unpleasant body odour via discussion.

Let The Employee Talk Too

The HR conversation to address personal hygiene isn’t one-sided. Managers want the employee in question to talk as well. The employee should tell the reasons why their personal hygiene is poor or why their body has an unpleasant odour.

Poor hygiene isn’t always about being too lazy to take a shower or wear deodorant. It might be due to certain health conditions, being allergic to shampoos or deodorants, religious beliefs, diet or medications. When the employee talks about the reasons, the HR manager can easily provide solutions to address this situation.

Offer Solutions & Set Expectations

When the reasons are clearly stated by the employee, the HR manager will offer appropriate solutions. The solution can range from medical treatments or therapies to providing personal accommodation or arranging remote working if the reason is connected to the employee’s beliefs.

The HR manager will communicate the solutions directly towards the end of the meeting and ask the employee to actively follow up on the issue. The HR will set certain expectations and goals to ensure the employee follows up and improves his/her personal hygiene.

Conclusion

Working in closed and busy offices and workspaces means each employee’s personal hygiene affects the rest who are present in the environment. Therefore, high attention should be given to personal hygiene in workspaces. However, despite many tries, there might be employees with poor hygiene. HR managers often address this issue first by updating the handbook, putting up posters about hygiene and defining certain dress and hygiene codes.

If this doesn’t help and employees are complaining about an employee with poor personal hygiene, they will enter a private conversation with the employee in question. This conversation helps the HR manager to understand the reasons why the employee’s hygiene is poor or why their body smells unpleasant. Therefore, they can provide solutions and follow up to ensure the issue is addressed.

The information in this article will help you understand why personal hygiene is important in the workplace. Also, it helps you address such situations without causing discrimination or unpleasant and rude confrontations.

How Does HR Address an Employee’s Poor Personal Hygiene?