Employee Hygiene

Let's be frank: talking to employees about their personal hygiene is a pretty ticklish assignment. But it's got to be done. Those f/s operators and managers who put it off or skip it altogether because they feel funny about broaching the topic are not only doing the business and the employee a disservice, they can actually be placing their customers in danger.

"If you look at the statistics on the causes of food-borne illness in the country—either at home or in a restaurant—personal hygiene and handwashing ranks about No. 3," notes Steve Grover, dir. of technical services, public health and safety for the National Restaurant Association (NRA) in Washington, DC. "And the top five account for about 80% of all the food-borne illnesses out there."

When a health professional says personal hygiene, of course, he's including a wide range of activities, from handwashing (perhaps the most critical component) to grooming, hair restraints, clean clothes and aprons, open sores and overall health.

To be sure, there are important distinctions to be made. "When we're talking personal hygiene we're not really talking about whether the employee takes a shower on a regular basis," says Grover. "We're talking about those impacts or those things that are part of the work place, not so much what is part and parcel of the home. We're not concerned whether they used deodorant today or not."

Squeamish: Getting over one's personal squeamishness is "part of the responsibility of the manager of the establishment to take a good look at his employees," says Grover. "In fact, it's one of the duties outlined in many of the state health codes. Not only is it the employee's responsibility, but it's the mgr.'s responsibility to make sure that the employees are following some very basic steps. And it's not that difficult. This is actually fairly simple stuff—it's just a matter of getting someone to do it."

Chris Foutis, sr. dist. mgr. with f/s contractor Whitsons Food Service in Huntington Station, NY, concedes that this is a subject that many are uncomfortable with. When it comes to managers who can take the bull by the horn, he says, "you've got to have the right person. You have to make it a little bit fun at the same time when you're training them."

That can be done through interaction. "You try and do some role playing with the group. You do some fun things, basically." One approach is to have employees wash their hands thoroughly, then apply a chemical that, under an ultra-violet lamp, will show them how many germs remained.

Group thought: "You do that in the class and get everybody active," says Foutis. "You do it to everybody—you don't single anybody out—but you make it fun and it gets everybody thinking about it. It's just a fun technique; you get some laughs out of it at the same time."

Grover likens the manager's role to more that of a teacher, "and you're hitting on one of the basic duties of a mgr: If you see things that are not good hygiene, clearly it's the manager's responsibility to get them corrected, and counseling is one of the more effective ways."

The NRA recommends a two-pronged approach: training and counseling. "You do the training, and then counseling on the backside," says Grover. "Our first step, of course, is the training. Our ServSafe program goes into great detail on this personal hygiene."

According to health inspectors, this is one of the areas they take special care to check out during visits. Adds Grover: "It's actually one of the critical items." Then why are more and more employees having to learn the basics of good personal hygiene on the job? The problem is compounded when dealing with employees who have emigrated from countries where hygienic standards are not as high.

Where to begin: "Basically, what we do when we hire any new team members, or open a new location, is go through a two-hour ServSafe training class for the hourly," says Foutis.

The hardest topics to address, he says, are things like hair and body odor. "That's usually the toughest when you're dealing with people because it is so personal."

Another sticky issue is convincing employees not to come to work on days when they are under the weather, even though it means they won't be paid. Says Foutis, "What you have to do is explain to them how it can get everybody sick, number one. That's why Whitsons has benefits like sick pay." To free employees up, Whitsons cross-trains early on in their employment, so that if an employee calls in sick someone else can assume their duties.

One-on-one: As for employees who continue to show poor hygienic habits, says Foutis, "the mgr. at some point is going to have to sit that employee down and go through a counseling session with them—a one-on-one session, basically. They have to know how to deal with people. Basically, we're in the business of managing people."