Things You Need to Know

Business Etiquette

Office Scents

May 14, 2007

Recently, I worked with a group of sales people, facilitating discussions about work styles and personal presentation. During the Q/A part of the program, one salesperson asked, “So what do you do if someone in the office smells?”

Let's start with two premises. First, I’m assuming no one office worker wants to hurt another's feelings. (That means standing up and yelling, "You smell!" is off-limits and out-of-bounds.) Two, I think all of us would want someone else to tell us if we carried an odor . . . or had parsley stuck in our front teeth, or had worn one black and one brown shoe into the office, etc.

With that said, here's a worker's best strategy: One employee may approach another and say, "I feel very awkward about this. What I'm about to say is very difficult for me. But as a friend (supervisor, manager), I thought you should know there's an unusual odor about your body (or breath). Sometimes this is an indication of a medical problem, and I thought you should know about it."

By the way, in terms of good hygiene for the office, following are a couple of tips everyone can follow:

Brush your teeth and tongue daily. Bad breath is often caused by a build-up of dental plaque. Eating foods that increase saliva production can help defeat that plaque. So, stock up on Granny Smith apples, and you may defeat bad breath.
Shower daily . . . or at least every day you come into work or meet with clients. It turns out most of us can't smell our own body odors. Because we're around those odors all the time, we don't notice them. That's why showering daily is absolutely critical.
Wear deodorant. If your feet smell, use a foot powder.