How to manage an employee who has a personal hygiene issue

Author: Lynda Macdonald

Summary

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• Resist the temptation to ignore a problem of lack of personal hygiene.
• Use honest, open, two-way communication to tackle the problem.
• Bear in mind that a problem of body odour or bad breath may be health related.
• Keep any discussions with the employee strictly private and confidential.
• Talk to the employee about the problem factually using plain language.
• Reassure the employee that the aim of the discussion is to help them solve a problem.
• Avoid telling the employee that other people have commented on the problem.
• Stress the importance of improvement while remaining sympathetic.