As One of the Few Women at Work, I Pick My Battles. But My New Male Colleagues Are Driving Me Up a Wall.

Good Job It’s a complete distraction. Photo illustration by Slate. Photo by Oleg Breslavtsev/Adobe Stock and kues1/Adobe Stock. Sign up for the Slatest to get the most insightful analysis, criticism, and advice out there, delivered to your inbox daily. Good Job is Slate’s advice column on work. Have a workplace problem big or small? Send it to Laura Helmuth and Doree Shafrir here. (It’s anonymous!) Dear Good Job, I work in a large, open office with about 250 people. The recent hiring push has been great for workload and morale. But it also means there are tons of co-workers I don’t know, and even entirely new teams of people I don’t know. I’m one of a handful of women in this otherwise mostly male job, so I try to save my political capital for only important stuff. But I’m being driven up the wall by smells! A couple of the new guys wear a lot of strong cologne, and the smell is uncomfortable to the point of distraction for me. We don’t have a fragrance policy, and I don’t have a medical reason like an allergy. I just have a sensitive nose. I haven’t mentioned it to anyone, so I’m not sure if other people also find it overpowering. The office is all hot desks, so I never know if I’ll be close to a cologne cloud. It’s so bad I left to work from home yesterday. How do I handle this? —Incensed by Scents (she/her) Dear Incensed by Scents, Pee-yew! Any large, open office with about 250 people should have a fragrance policy. With so many people breathing the same air, there are bound to be problems with allergies, headaches, or just annoyance at the musky miasma. Tell your human resources department that some of your colleagues have been wearing strong scents, and it’s interfering with other employees’ ability to concentrate on their work. Ask HR to adopt a fragrance-free or minimal-fragrance policy or at least circulate guidance asking staff to put a cork in their cologne bottles. The persistence of other people’s perfume and cologne is also an indication that your office space needs better ventilation, especially if your company has hired up quickly and more people are breathing on one another. Ask your office or building manager if they’ve looked into upgrading the HVAC system or adding air purifiers. After you explain how the smells are interfering with your workday, your company might let you expense a desktop air purifier or assign you a permanent desk in a more ventilated area. Better air quality can improve productivity and reduce the spread of respiratory diseases, as well as waft away unpleasant scents from Pepé Le Pew in the next cubicle. —Laura More Advice From Slate I have worked in the nonprofit world since graduating from college 15 years ago. I’ve worked my way to a decently paid position with great benefits, but there isn’t any more room at my current organization to move up (nor am I particularly interested in becoming a manager) and I’m starting to feel burnt out in my current role… Advice Workplace Jobs