To make a formal complaint about colleague?

[orangeju1ce]

I have a colleague whose hygiene is absolutely atrocious. The same clothes are worn for up to three weeks at a time and the smell is horrendous. To make matters worse he has been wearing a coat(!!!) to walk to work in this heatwave which is only making things worse.

He has been like this for as long as I can remember but with the current weather it's becoming unbearable. His chair is stained black where he doesn't wash his clothes and his mouse and keyboard are covered with some kind of residue (dead skin I would assume).

It's not just me who has noticed- our manager has spoken to him several times however hasn't dealt with it directly and just said things like "are you taking care of yourself", so no improvement is ever made.

I am now at the point where I am considering making a formal complaint, myself and others are having to keep moving desks as it's unbearable- and I don't see it ever being dealt with informally.

Any advice please???

what medical condition makes you incapable of washing your clothes?
A mental health one, April? That said, yes, perhaps only a complaint will get him the help he needs.

Carefully

Couldn’t agree more.

I'd put in a formal complaint, to force the issue. However, I would phrase it in a supportive way, stating that although your main issue is the effect it is having on your working environment and it's affecting your ability to work, you are genuinely concerned for his well being and want him to receive some support.

Horrid situation. My sympathies.

He presumably has no understanding how bad it is/what he needs to do to improve.

I remember working with a senior manager in public service. He would be in a room for a few minutes at 9am and you could still smell the overwhelming stench at 3pm.

His clothes always looked clean... The poor bloke had some sort of health issue. He did have surgery to sort it. Apparently it dramatically improved. I had left by then.

Another guy was more straightforward... Sadly he was the It expert... So would lean over you... He stank. His clothes looked filthy. His hair was lank and greasy... He was 30+. He'd been warned numerous times by different bosses. He thought it was an affront to his rights... He would look better for a couple of weeks... Then would return to usual look and stench. He was eventually sacked.

Does he have Aspergers by any chance? Personal hygiene can be an issue with people on the spectrum.

YANBU It needs to be addressed as it is unhealthy for everyone. He may have mental health problems so hopefully it will be dealt with in as sensitive a way as possible. Does he smoke or smell of alcohol?

I used to work in retail whilst at university and one of my colleagues would wear the same shirt and trousers everyday (which is odd as we didn’t have a uniform, just generally fashionable), and he had probably worn the same pair of trainers everyday for a few years - they smelt awful. Standing next to him, you could intensely smell his worn out shoes. Even being about 5 tills apart, you could still smell him/his feet. It was that bad that customers would comment on the smell when they got to the tills. When we were extremely busy with till queues and annoyed customers, his bad odour just made everything that much worse. You really need a manager to deal with this

I would say that poor mental health is probably the cause of this, does he keep to himself/stay quiet? I say this because I went through the same thing a long time ago. I had severe health anxiety and refused to shower because when I did I would inspect every inch of my body for rashes, marks, signs of illness and it was literally torture, I think I was showering maybe once a fortnight and I was sweating like hell because of the anxiety itself so that only made matters worse, I was wearing clean clothes each day but it didn't help much anyway. My superior in work at the time did speak to me privately about it and I ended up resigning from embarrassment, I was already taking a lot of time off because of the severe anxiety and constant doctors appointments thinking I was ill anyway. This lasted for a period of about 1 year and through cbt I was able to overcome this side of things (still suffer with anxiety but not to the same extent) and I now shower/bath every day like everyone else. So my advice would be, try to be kind but yes ask your boss to change tactic and speak to him directly about it.

No he doesn't smoke nor drink to my knowledge.

There is some speculation that he may be on the spectrum but nothing confirmed for sure.

@YaLoVeras that is nasty, I would never treat another person like that.

He is in denial to some degree, a colleague advised him he needs to clean his mouse as the build up could break it and he exclaimed that "it wasn't that bad"

Horrible situation for all of his colleagues. Sounds like this man has some MH issues to me.

As a line manager, it's not ever a comfortable conversation to have. However it's necessary so disappointing that the man's hygiene is getting worse

My son has Aspergers and, despite being mid-twenties, needs to be reminded every day to take a shower. He works in an office, when he first started there was an issue with hygiene, the office manager spoke to me and I spoke to him! ( The office are aware of his Aspergers). You wouldn't know he has Aspergers ( he can communicate well, has a sense of humour -even if a little strange!- and tries hard to fit in. He just doesn't understand about personal hygiene and never has! Your colleague may well be similar.

Whatever his issues are the situation needs dealing with. You can’t have colleagues suffering working in these conditions even if it is a medical condition and however sympathetic you are. If he does not change his ways formal disciplinary action should start, leading to dismissal if it continues. Your manager should be sorting this out.

This kind of thing is what line managers should take responsibility to sort out. If they don't resolve it, take it to their manager or HR.

I would personally refuse to work in the same office and ask for an alternative location to be provided if they are refusing to address the issue. Both your physical and mental health is a risk due to this other person.

Your manager also has a responsibility to your colleague with the issue. There may be mental health issues or outside influences affecting their wellbeing. He is a health risk to himself and this is a type of self harming.

Support is needed for all parties here

You need to complain and the management have to raise it with him.
I had a colleague who was partially paralysed. He lived on his own though and was well able to drive to work and sort out his grass cutting etc. but he always used his disability as a reason for just about everything.
He just had poor hygiene, that's it. He'd be coming to work stinking of yesterday's booze with spills on his clothes, his hair was covered with grease and even on sober days the BO was awful.
He also had a horrendous habit of putting his hand into his crotch and then smell it.
One day I had enough and I went to my manager. I got another desk and the colleague had a chat with the manager. Things improved dramatically. He started taking showers, cleaned his nails which were dirty and even bought new clothes. It was from hell to almost paradise.
We didn't do any nasty passive aggressive stuff though instead.

It’s completely unacceptable to have to work with this filthy individual causing such an unpleasant environment. If the drains were causing a smell then management would act. It’s always a subject that no boss wants to bring up, certainly not for a second time but this person needs an action plan and time frame to improve.

Most work contracts have some sort of clause about appearance and appropriate levels of smartness etc. He is in breach and it has to be addressed. Complain and encourage others to do the same. Be absolutely factual.

It needs to go to HR.

Most places have some kind of dress code (particularly if the work is client-facing) but if even if there's nothing written down, it's not unreasonable for there to be an expectation for everyone to dress in a certain way (I worked somewhere once that actually specified clothes had to to be ironed).

If he isn't washing, that could be a sign of 1) lack of life skills or 2) depression. If he does have poor mental health, that needs to be supported and it's HR who can have those conversations with him about reasonable adjustments.

Report it as a concern, not a complaint. Then leave it to HR to deal.

Have an update.

Our managers' manager (head of dept) spoke with him this morning and said under no uncertain terms he is to wash and wear clean clothes every day. His response was he didn't realise he needed to?!?!

Our manager has been told to send him home on occasions where this isn't done. We will see I suppose.

That doesn't sound like he handled it very sensitively at all.

Does he have Aspergers by any chance? Personal hygiene can be an issue with people on the spectrum.

I was waiting for that to come up. People on the spectrum are just as likely to go the other way and wash daily to avoid social faux pas. My ex with Asperger's showered at least once daily, and my 11 year old showers or washes every day and always wears deodorant. My Dad's best friend has never smelt anything but pleasant, nor a friend's husband. I know a few women on the spectrum who are also extremely clean - it can be a form of social mimicry so that they feel they fit in to society better (that's how one lady I know explained it to me). It's not fair to generalise. I know one poster has corroborated this theory, but I wanted to offer my experience to balance that.

Glad it's being dealt with OP.

@orangeju1ce, It wasn't me who siad it, but I laughed.

I notice Asperger's trotted out again. [sigh] my son has an ASD and he loves the shower. His clothes are rags but he loves the shower.

yes yes @tittyfahlaetcetera, my son washes every day, he's been known to have two showers a day even when he didn't leave the house.

OP has he been sent home today?

Tomorrow is forecast to be about 34c, depending on your location of course. So if he isn't going home today to launder his clothes, there could be issues tomorrow.

I think it's right that a complaint was made. if he wants to live that way in his home, not your business, but in a workplace it's everyone's business.

I guess if he has worked there a long time the managerial staff will have an idea if a sensitive approach would work or if he was someone who needed to be told things in a no nonsense and blunt way. Sounds like the blunt 'this is what needs to happen' approach is the one they have chosen to take. Sounds like it was the right one if he actually had no idea that washing and changing clothes daily was the social norm.

Yes he is single

^

Well blow me down with a feather