How can you address an employee who may not be keeping themselves up to standards? Pretend you need to have that conversation with an employee who has had a fellow employee report to you that they observed him or her not washing their hands after using the rest room at work.

In a few sentences, talk as if you were initiating this conversation with your employee, as long as you are sensitive to the person while still enforcing your standards, and basic sanitation rules.

Things to keep in mind when speaking to an employee about personal hygiene:

1. Focus on the problem and not the person.
2. Refer to the business policies and sanitation rules for backup. Explain why their actions/issues are a threat to good sanitation or a problem for the business.
3. Offer one or more solutions to the problem.
4. Sometimes there may disciplinary action if the employee is directly disregarding a policy or sanitation issue.
5. Always start the conversation directly addressing the problem.
6. End the conversation on a good note, reinforcing what you spoke about, and your expectations for future behavior.
7. You may offer praises for good work at the end of the conversation, but do not start off with them.