Personnel Today
  • OHW+
  • Resources
    • Clinical governance
    • Disability
    • Ergonomics
    • Health surveillance
    • OH employment law
    • OH service delivery
    • Research
    • Return to work and rehabilitation
    • Sickness absence management
    • Wellbeing and health promotion
  • Conditions
    • Mental health
    • Musculoskeletal disorders
    • Blood pressure
    • Cancer
    • Cardiac
    • Dementia
    • Diabetes
    • Respiratory
    • Stroke
  • CPD
  • Webinars
  • Jobs
  • Personnel Today

Register
Log in
Personnel Today
  • OHW+
  • Resources
    • Clinical governance
    • Disability
    • Ergonomics
    • Health surveillance
    • OH employment law
    • OH service delivery
    • Research
    • Return to work and rehabilitation
    • Sickness absence management
    • Wellbeing and health promotion
  • Conditions
    • Mental health
    • Musculoskeletal disorders
    • Blood pressure
    • Cancer
    • Cardiac
    • Dementia
    • Diabetes
    • Respiratory
    • Stroke
  • CPD
  • Webinars
  • Jobs
  • Personnel Today

OfficesCoronavirusDisabilityReturn to work and rehabilitationOccupational Health

Rethink office kitchens to support staff with smell loss

by Ashleigh Webber 24 Aug 2021
by Ashleigh Webber 24 Aug 2021 Shutterstock
Shutterstock

Employers should rethink the food preparation spaces they offer in workplaces to consider the mental health and wellbeing of staff affected by smell loss.

More than 3.85 million people in the UK are currently affected by smell loss, according to charity AbScent, including those who may have experienced a loss or change in their sense of taste or smell due to Covid-19.

The charity said smell loss primarily manifests in two forms: anosmia, the inability to smell or taste to varying degrees of severity; and parosmia which distorts sense of smell so that some scents may smell foul.

Some people may also experience hyposmia (partial loss of smell) and phantosmia (phantom smells).

People affected by parosmia in particular find certain common office smells unpleasant. They often report that coffee smells like sewage, for example.

“We’ve all worked in offices where we smell people heating lunches in the microwave, or strong vats of wafting coffee. For the millions of people with parosmia this is going to be unbearable and nauseating,” said AbScent founder Chrissi Kelly.

Long Covid

Long Covid may need to be treated as a disability, lawyer warns

More than two million in England could have long Covid

“Hot drinks, hot food, and snacks prepared in a microwave may well smell like rotting meat, urine, or faeces to someone with parosmia. This is a distortion of olfactory perception and can be unbearable to the person experiencing it.

“For those experiencing smell problems, there can be disastrous repercussions for mental health, happiness, and relationships.”

Sign up to our weekly round-up of HR news and guidance

Receive the Personnel Today Direct e-newsletter every Wednesday

OptOut
This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

The charity advised organisations to consider how their workplaces were configured to support employees who had lost their sense of smell.

It recommended that organisations:

  • establish “coffee free spaces” where no hot coffee is brewed or consumed. Some people with smell loss can tolerate the smell of cold coffee
  • move microwaves into kitchens or enclosed rooms and seat people with parosmia far away from these areas
  • establish an open dialogue with people who experience smell loss, involving HR, to show employees that they will be supported
  • identify and support people in jobs that require the sense of smell, including plumbers, carers, chefs, and fire service workers
  • consider offering “smell training”, which retrains the brain to smell by stimulating the olfactory nerve, to people who have lost their sense of smell.
Ashleigh Webber

Ashleigh is a former editor of OHW+ and former HR and wellbeing editor at Personnel Today. Ashleigh's areas of interest include employee health and wellbeing, equality and inclusion and skills development. She has hosted many webinars for Personnel Today, on topics including employee retention, financial wellbeing and menopause support.

previous post
Pharmacies in England to offer blood pressure checks
next post
More than half of employees working unpaid hours daily

You may also like

Uncertainty over law hampering legal use of medical...

20 May 2025

Employers ‘worryingly’ ignorant about stress risk assessments

20 May 2025

Awareness weeks fuel spike in demand for mental...

19 May 2025

Healthcare workers prioritise mental health support in new...

12 May 2025

Two-thirds of school leaders suffering mental ill health

6 May 2025

‘Healthy work’ about much more than access to...

28 Apr 2025

Tool developed for employers to calculate cost of...

28 Apr 2025

Why employers must do more to support all...

24 Apr 2025

How to help employees quit vaping before new...

22 Apr 2025

NHS urging people to check for cancer warning...

22 Apr 2025

  • 2025 Employee Communications Report PROMOTED | HR and leadership...Read more
  • The Majority of Employees Have Their Eyes on Their Next Move PROMOTED | A staggering 65%...Read more
  • Prioritising performance management: Strategies for success (webinar) WEBINAR | In today’s fast-paced...Read more
  • Self-Leadership: The Key to Successful Organisations PROMOTED | Eletive is helping businesses...Read more
  • Retaining Female Talent: Four Ways to Reduce Workplace Drop Out PROMOTED | International Women’s Day...Read more

PERSONNEL TODAY

About us
Contact us
Browse all HR topics
Email newsletters
Content feeds
Cookies policy
Privacy policy
Terms and conditions

JOBS

Personnel Today Jobs
Post a job
Why advertise with us?

EVENTS & PRODUCTS

The Personnel Today Awards
The RAD Awards
Employee Benefits
Forum for Expatriate Management
OHW+
Whatmedia

ADVERTISING & PR

Advertising opportunities
Features list 2025

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Linkedin


© 2011 - 2025 DVV Media International Ltd

Personnel Today
  • OHW+
  • Resources
    • Clinical governance
    • Disability
    • Ergonomics
    • Health surveillance
    • OH employment law
    • OH service delivery
    • Research
    • Return to work and rehabilitation
    • Sickness absence management
    • Wellbeing and health promotion
  • Conditions
    • Mental health
    • Musculoskeletal disorders
    • Blood pressure
    • Cancer
    • Cardiac
    • Dementia
    • Diabetes
    • Respiratory
    • Stroke
  • CPD
  • Webinars
  • Jobs
  • Personnel Today