This would make us feel quite body conscious. A new survey of Irish workers has revealed that poor personal hygiene was found to be the most irritating characteristic between colleagues.

The survey conducted by office supplier Viking, discovered that 64 percent of the workers found smelly colleagues irritating, followed closely by those who spoke loudly on the phone (60 percent) and those who used foul language (30 percent).

Other personal gripes included people eating smelly foods and those who had untidy desks.

Interestingly the same characteristics do not irritate women and men alike; untidy desks and borrowing stationery irritate men in particular while inappropriate clothing and smelly foods scored higher for women.

However, only 3 out of 10 people surveyed said that they would actually approach their colleague about the issue in question and that public sector workers were far more direct when it came to solving tensions in the office.

60 percent of public sector workers would go directly to the employee to resolve the issue compared to private sector employees where it was as low as 30 percent.

“Tension in the office can result in a major loss of productivity for employers leading to a loss of income” said Michael Walby, Director of Viking in Ireland.

“Employers need to encourage employees not to allow tensions to grow in the office environment and to implement guidelines on issues if they are becoming a problem.”