My colleague has a case of ‘builder’s bum’ — should I speak to HR about it?
APPRENTICE star and West Ham United vice-chair Karren Brady answers your careers questions.
Here she gives advice to a reader who wants advice on how to deal with a very sensitive situation in the workplace.
Q: I work in business support and we’ve just merged with another of our offices, so we are all working on the same floor now.
One of my new colleagues has an unfortunate case of “builder’s bum” whenever he stands up around our bank of desks.
I’ve noticed some colleagues laughing about it among themselves, but I don’t think anyone has ever mentioned it to the person concerned, and I find the whole thing a bit uncomfortable.
Do you have any advice about how I should approach sensitive and potentially embarrassing situations like this?
Is it a case of going straight to the HR department, or should I speak to the person myself first?
Tammy, via email
Oh dear, nobody wants to see that anywhere, never mind every day at work!
How you handle this situation will make a huge difference to how the message is perceived.
In the first instance, I would suggest approaching your colleague discreetly.
Don’t make a big deal of it, but do go over to him when he’s stood up from his desk to make a cup of tea or walk to the printer, as if you’ve just noticed and you’re giving him a quiet heads-up so he’s aware.
Smile, be polite and light-hearted about it.
Give him another chance, and do the same thing again if it happens a second time.
If he doesn’t care enough to do anything about it, your next step is to ask someone in HR to address it with him.
Explain that you feel it’s unprofessional and that it makes you uncomfortable.
It’s absolutely not appropriate for a workplace and someone needs to tell him to be more considerate to others if he doesn’t care enough himself.
- Got a careers question for Karren? Email bossingit@fabulousmag.co.uk.