I think this is a touchy topic when an employer takes a leap and limits the products employees can or should use, but it is not impossible. My current office is a "fragrance free workplace" which is pretty great. I remember first interviewing at the company when I moved here, and in the email confirmation it said, "this is a fragrance free workplace, so when you come to your interview, please abide by our companywide policies." I thought it was interesting as I'd never worked at a place with that policy before, but it wasn't an issue for me and honestly, I never thought about it again. While it is a company policy, some people still do use very fragrant perfumes, colognes, hair products, lotions and so on, and they don't get spoken to about it, so while it's a rule, it's certainly not "enforced". I think it's difficult when you're really putting personal restrictions on employees like that.
If I was in charge of implementing policies related to this, which I would do if I had the power to do so, I'd start with open and honest communication. Tell the employees about allergies, asthma and toxins, not to scare them but to inform them, because I think many people simply do not know how our environment is affecting their health. A policy like this would need to go beyond just telling employees that they can't wear perfumes or colognes, but other fragrances as well. Soaps, air fresheners and cleaning products used in the office should also be fragrance free and most importantly, management would need to follow the rules as well. I think we've probably all been in situations where we're told not to do something, but our managers do that exact thing, so they would need to serve as role models.
I agree that it is a good idea to 1) have managers model the behavior the policy is trying to enforce, and 2) educate the employees about they why behind the policy instead of commanding them to do something. Behavior change is much more likely if they know how fragrances affect certain people.
ReplyDeleteI like the idea of a fragrance free policy. I know some scents are strong and others are light, but if its not wanted in the workplace that might mean someone might have doused themselves in a very strong scent. Education is key to learning how abide policies in the work place.
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