To not know how or relish telling a 21yr old she has Body Odour

[HeffalumpsnWoozles]

We work in an environment that gets very hot during the warmer months, not unusual to reach the high 90's. A young girl works for us & a few of the staff complained amongst themselves that she had terrible body odour, which was made all the more noticeable & unbearable as they work in close proximity to each other.

Nobody said anything to me or our Assistant Manager at the time & it only came to light the following winter as she smelt just as much as she had in the summer. Tactfully gave her extra uniform in the hope she would change clothing more frequently, no idea if she did change daily or not as clothes looked the same so no way of telling?

Anyway I mentioned it to HR in the hope of getting some tips on how not to crush the poor girl, and was told just to tell her she smells & needs to wash/change/use deodorant more frequently. I know that's what needs to happen but she will be so upset she may not be able to face her colleagues again.

I've seen her Twitter & she sometimes posts about lovely relaxing baths so it's not as though she never washes. She is often tired as she likes to party hard at weekends so maybe doesn't get up in time to shower on a weekday? Sometimes doesn't brush her hair or bother with make up but when off out scrubs up like any 21yr old.

Any suggestions? I know I have to do it but don't want to knock her confidence.

Be straight with her, but kind about it.

Don't make the chat last ages by trying to make it fluffy.

HowCan - smells, pleasant and otherwise are part of life.

We are rural and every summer the stench from the fields has to be smelled to be believed just one of those things! I don't specially care for some smells of course - for me it's the garlicky pore smell coming from people that isn't great but I can hardly order anyone in my immediate vicinity to never eat garlic unless it's DH . At the moment in doing a diet which involves cutting out carbs and a politely called metallic smell (actually it smells like dog food!) is part of this. I'm doing my best with toothpaste and the like - and not standing too near people! - but really I can't guarantee I'm not going to ever offend someone with a scent secreting from my body, bowels or mouth.

The mass repulsion ordinary, if unpleasant, smells are met with on here is disproportionate and at times, silly.

OP where do you live and work ? Is working in 90 degrees legal ?

Well, we'll have to agree to disagree. That's fine. I don't think your view is silly just because it differs from mine. It's just a different view. Which is ok. I think strong, horrible smells are repulsive and if there's a way to avoid it, I would always choose to. If I had no choice, then fair enough, I'd put up with it. If I had choices, my choice would not be to inhale deeply from the stinkywell

Is it fake tan? It can smell even when washed off or maybe she is topping it up in morning before work hence no make up etc?

SASASI BO and fake tan smell very different...

Well she definitely doesn't use fake tan, admits freely to not brushing her hair for a day or two but seems to be getting better at that recently.

Out of the 20+ staff we employ only 2 have a problem with odour even at the height of summer. It is a problem as there is no way to escape the smell, if staff could just walk away I don't think anyone would be so bothered. After 8 hours with no respite I can understand how awful it must be for them.

I'll definitely keep the conversation brief with no fluff, quite matter of fact.

We have a young woman in our team who absolutely reeks. I've never smelled anything like it. Doesn't make any difference what time of day or day of the week, she stinks. I can't understand why nobody has done anything about it and not only that, nobody has ever mentioned it or appears to have noticed. I sit next to her when I'm in the office and I worry that other colleagues will think it's me .

I'd hate to be in your position OP, but for the sake of your team members, something does need to change. Can't you insist that HR deal with it as it's a personal rather than work matter as such?