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Bad smells at work: causes, impact and solutions

Writer: Anne-Marie Spencer
Anne-Marie Spencer
Apr 20
7 min read

Updated: 5 days ago

In short: a bad smell in professional premises instantly damages a company's image, with clients and teams alike, because smell acts on emotions before reasoning. The solution is not to mask it: first find and treat the cause, neutralise what remains, and only then diffuse a healthy, discreet scent.


Diffuseur de parfum éco-responsable Eco. French. Lab neutralisant les mauvaises odeurs

You have invested in fitting out your offices, your hotel reception or your gym equipment. The lighting is perfect, the furniture carefully chosen, the customer journey designed down to the last detail. And yet, when a client or a candidate walks through the door, something bothers them. It is not the decor or the welcome. It is the smell: damp, drains, reheated lunches, a poorly ventilated meeting room. The visitor may not be able to say why, but they will leave with a simple feeling: "I don't have a good feeling about this place."


At Eco French Lab, we regularly deal with this often taboo subject. Here is how to understand the impact of bad smells and fix them for good.


Why does a bad smell weigh so heavily on your image?

Odour molecules reach the olfactory bulb, a structure with very direct connections to the amygdala, involved in emotions, and the hippocampus, involved in memory. A smell therefore triggers a fast emotional reaction, often before we have consciously analysed what we see. A review by Maria Larsson and colleagues, published in 2014 in Frontiers in Psychology, concludes that most studies find an emotional advantage for memories evoked by a smell, although not all of them agree.


In a professional setting, this has very concrete consequences:


  • A customer cuts their visit to the shop short without being able to explain why.

  • A prospect associates your brand with a lack of care or rigour, despite a flawless sales pitch.

  • An employee feels uncomfortable or irritated all day long, without always identifying the cause.


What employees say

This is no trivial matter. In the 2015 Actineo / CSA barometer on quality of life at the office, 38% of employees surveyed felt that their company did not give enough importance to the air they breathe at their workplace. How premises smell is therefore part of what people expect from quality of life at work.


Where do bad smells in professional premises come from?

Before any solution, you need a diagnosis. Here are the most common sources we come across and the first action to consider.


Source

Examples

First action

Damp

Rising damp, stockrooms, basements, spas

Check waterproofing and ventilation, dry out

Drains

Odours in the lobbies or toilets of old buildings

Have traps and drains checked by a plumber

Kitchen and meals

Restaurant smells, food reheated in the open-plan office

Separate the eating area, improve extraction

Stale air

Poorly ventilated meeting rooms, changing rooms, stale tobacco

Improve air renewal, review cleaning

New materials

Plastic, glue, solvents in a new shop or refurbished offices

Ventilate generously in the first weeks

Organic odours

Healthcare facilities, care homes, clinics

Appropriate hygiene protocols, then neutralisation


Why aren't standard air fresheners enough?

Faced with a persistent smell, the reflex is often an "ocean breeze" aerosol or a small "lemon fresh" plug-in in a corner. The problem is that these products destroy nothing: they mask. They add a strong smell on top of the bad one, and the resulting mix (sweat and synthetic green apple, for example) is often more unpleasant than the original smell, while immediately coming across as "cheap".


Some of these products may also contain volatile organic compounds (VOCs) that degrade indoor air quality and can bother sensitive people: headaches, irritation. That is the opposite of the intended goal.


Criterion

Consumer air freshener

Professional approach

Principle

Mask the smell

Treat the cause, neutralise, then scent

Olfactory result

Mix of the bad smell and the fragrance

Neutral air, then a chosen signature

Air quality

May add VOCs

IFRA-compliant fragrances, controlled dosage

Image

Generic smell, often seen as low-end

Smell consistent with the brand's identity


How do you get rid of bad smells, step by step?

  1. Identify the source. Where, when and under what conditions does the smell appear? In the morning, after lunch, in damp weather?

  2. Treat the cause. Ventilation, plumbing, cleaning, organisation of the eating area: no olfactory solution replaces these actions.

  3. Neutralise what remains. At Eco French Lab, we use neutralising actives diffused by dry nebulisation, which act on the molecules responsible for bad smells instead of covering them up.

  4. Dress the space. Once the air is neutral again, we diffuse a chosen fragrance or a scent signature created for your brand.

  5. Adjust and monitor. Intensity, time slots, refills: diffusion is adjusted to the way the premises are actually used.


What should you do when the smell comes from a person?

This is the most delicate situation: the colleague whose body odour bothers the team. It can have very different causes: hygiene, a health problem, medical treatment, stress, or simply being unaware of the discomfort caused. In Japan, the phenomenon even has a name, "smell harassment", and is listed among the office nuisances that companies take seriously.


A few principles for responding

  • Never ostracise the person: mockery and exclusion make things worse.

  • Do not let things go unsaid, which poisons the overall atmosphere.

  • Favour a kind, one-to-one conversation led by a manager or HR.

  • Bear in mind that a medical cause is possible and calls for discretion.


Alexandre Dubarry's book "Comment dire à un collègue qu'il sent mauvais sous les bras" (How to tell a colleague they have body odour) offers practical ideas for these conversations. A room fragrance is not the answer to this kind of situation, but good ventilation and well-maintained spaces reduce tension.


Which solutions for your sector?

Hospitality

The lobby is your first handshake. We deal with kitchen smells drifting from restaurants and damp or drain smells from spas, before installing a signature that will become the olfactory memory of the stay.


Offices and coworking

No more reheated-lunch smells taking over the open-plan office all afternoon. We design discreet atmospheres, fresher for work areas and more enveloping for break areas. To go further, read our article smelling good at the office.


Retail

Neutralise the smells of new plastic, solvents or a damp stockroom, then install a reassuring fragrance consistent with your brand.


Healthcare and care homes

This is probably the sector where odour treatment matters most: for residents' dignity, families' comfort and carers' morale. The products chosen must be particularly gentle and suited to vulnerable people.


"For years, we struggled with odours coming up from the drains in our main lobby. Traditional masking sprays gave our receptionists headaches and the smell always came back, creating a sickening mix. Since we brought in Eco French Lab's neutralisation system and bespoke scent signature, the atmosphere has changed radically. Our staff breathe clean air, without heavy chemicals, and our clients regularly compliment us on the warmth of our welcome." Sophie M., Workplace Environment Director

How does a project with Eco French Lab work?

We work with cold-air nebulising diffusers: the fragrance is mechanically broken down into a dry, invisible mist, without heating or burning the molecules. Depending on the device, they cover from a few dozen to around 1,000 m², either standalone on a power socket or connected to the air handling system for large volumes. They work in cycles of diffusion and pause, so the scent stays perceptible without saturating the air.


For a scent signature intended for diffusion, allow 4 to 8 weeks in general: brief, proposals from our perfumers, adjustments, then the final formula. If you then want to extend it to candles, mists or amenities, allow 9 to 12 weeks from brief to delivery. The signature can also change with the seasons: fresher in spring and summer, woodier and spicier in winter.


Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between an air freshener and a professional solution?

An air freshener masks the smell. A professional solution starts by treating the cause, neutralises the remaining malodorous molecules, then diffuses a chosen fragrance at a controlled dose.


Is it safe to diffuse a fragrance all day?

It depends on what is diffused and on the dosage. Our fragrances comply with IFRA (International Fragrance Association) standards, and cycle-based diffusion limits the amount of fragrance in the air. Always provide a way for teams to report discomfort.


Doesn't the nose get used to the scent?

It does; this is olfactory adaptation: after a few minutes, the brain stops perceiving a stable smell. Diffusion and pause cycles make it perceptible again throughout the day.


Does installation require building work?

No. Standalone diffusers plug into a socket. For large volumes, they can be connected to the ventilation system without interrupting your business.


Is it suitable for small businesses?

Yes. Nebulisation adapts to areas of a few dozen square metres, and you can start on a single site before extending. The budget depends on the number of sites, the areas and the level of customisation.


Take back control of how your premises smell

Bad smells are not something you simply have to "live with". They are a sign that it is time to take your environment in hand: treat the cause, clean the air, then give your spaces a smell that reflects who you are. Discover our approach to scent diffusion and our electric fragrance diffusers, or ask for an olfactory diagnosis of your premises. To take the thinking further, also read what does clean smell like? and our article on a corporate scent signature.


Article written by Anne-Marie Spencer, co-founder of Eco French Lab.



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