Personal Hygiene in the Workplace

Many times we talk to students about personal hygiene but we don’t talk about personal hygiene in the workplace. This isn’t something that they learn instinctively and have to be taught about this. Students will be working with or around other people so they need to be aware of their personal hygiene.

Here are some topics that need to be addressed:

Wash every day. Make sure your body is clean and doesn’t smell. Body odor is very offensive. Be careful about putting on perfumes or colognes because others around you may be allergic to scents.

Have clean and tidy hair (head and facial). You don’t want your hair to get in your face and cause you to lose the ability to see what you are doing. This could cause mistakes or even accidents. If you are in the food industry, you may be required to wear hair nets over your head or beard and mustache.

Wear clean clothes. If you wear a uniform, make sure it is clean when you go to work. No one wants to work around someone who is wearing dirty and smelly clothes. If you are in the food industry, not wearing clean clothes could cause you to lose your job. This would be a health violation.

Have clean hands including nails. People notice other people’s hands. You don’t want to have dirty hands when you are working with a product because this could cause them to be stained or scratched which would cause the company to lose money. Again, if this happens often, you could lose your job.

Brush your teeth and use mouthwash if possible. Nothing is worse than talking to someone with bad breath! If you are in customer service and dealing with the public, you want to put your best foot forward. This means not offending them with bad breath. By taking care of your teeth, you can keep bad odors away. Sometimes bad breath comes from not taking care of your teeth so daily brushing and mouthwash help.

Check with your employer to see what the dress code is concerning jewelry. Some employers do not allow you to wear jewelry because it could cause an injury. When my husband worked on computers, he was not allowed to wear rings in case they caught on something. This could hurt him and the object he was working on.

Keep a clean workspace. Keeping your workspace clean helps to keep you clean also. Your workspace says a lot about you. If your workspace is clean and organized, others will see you that way too. If you take pride in your workspace, people will know that you take pride in yourself too.

What other advice would you give about personal hygiene in the workplace? Please share.

Photo by Nathan Dumlao on Unsplash