If you have been at your workplace for some time now, it’s very easy to imagine this. Do you have a colleague or a boss commonly known for their poor dress code or bad breathe or even body odor among other poor hygiene indicators? They are so known that some are even nicknamed for their poor hygiene at work.
It is very common at most work places to have a person commonly known for such flaws such as a bad breathe, body odor, or sweaty hands and yet they love shaking hands when greeting.
Patience Nitumwesigye, Director of finance at Rafiki Theatre Limited Company thinks that the way someone presents themselves at work says a lot about them to their fellow workmates and even clients.
“if it’s a boss, the employees will undermine you and if you are an employee then your boss will not take you serious .He will even undermine your potential to do certain things and this can make you lose out on many opportunities.” she says.
Fatuma Mutesi, a health practioner says personal hygiene is the basic concept of cleaning, grooming and caring for our bodies. While it is an important part of our daily lives at home, personal hygiene isn’t just about combed shiny hair and brushed teeth; it’s important for worker health and safety in the workplace.
“Besides making impressions at work, employees who pay attention to personal hygiene can prevent the spread of germs and disease, allergies and skin conditions.” Fatuma says.
She adds that basic hand washing and skin care can prevent work exposures and disease. Good washing and scrubbing with water and soap helps to remove germs and contaminants. She also adds that hygiene begins with things like;
Hand washing.
Workers should periodically wash their hands during day. Hand washing is important before and after using the restroom and before or after certain activities. Workers should wash their hands before, during, and after preparing food and before they take breaks at work to eat, drink or smoke. To control the spread of germs that can cause the flu or common cold, workers should wash their hands whenever they cough, sneeze, or blow their noses, and whenever they are around someone that is sick.
Sweaty hands.
According to Dr. Baitanswa Henry from Iganga hospital, excessive sweating is a condition is various factors like high blood pressure, interactivity of spheroid glands i.e. the produce of very many hormones at once. He adds that sweatiness of the palms in some cases is one way the bodies can uses to help it regulate its temperature to keep everything running smoothly. He advises that workers can use of medicated powders to absorb the sweat.
“They can also wipe their hands for oftenly and also do exercises more regularly at the end of the day’s work in order to release the excess sweaty and reduce on the sweating.” He adds.
Dress code
Fatuma says that it is healthy to wear only clean clothes to work. Reusing clothes for the second or third day can cause you to smell bad, as you continue to sweat throughout the day. Clothes already worn tend to be wrinkly and stained. You want your co-workers to want to be around you and you want to make a good impression on your client or boss.
Body odor.
Keep a spare deodorant stick and hairbrush in your desk or locker. You never know when you will be stuck at the office late or overnight working on a big project. You don’t want your team members thinking you stink. You may also realize one morning that you left the house without doing your hair or putting on deodorant. Then you will be very thankful that you planned ahead.
Bad breathe.
Bad breath is a common problem that is caused by bacteria in most cases and also eating strong flavored foods, such as onions and garlic, can cause your breath to smell unpleasant.
There are other causes of bad breathe like smoking and drinking a lot of alcohol.
However, Fatuma Mulumba advises that good oral hygiene is usually enough to prevent and treat bad breath like brushing every after a meal.
Mints can also be a solution to this and they are very cheap and affordable along the streets and in shops.
