New offices all unisex toilets

[Ottobeak]

I have to find new offices and the best ones I've found so far are in a block where each floor has an accessible toilet and a "block" of unisex toilets.

The block is a room off the corridor with individual floor to ceiling cubicles, with a sink in each.

At a staff meeting today I presented the option and explained about the toilets, to gauge what objections there might be.

There were none, at all, in fact people seemed perplexed that I might think there would be.

This wouldn't be an issue for me.

Plenty of loos like this in small offices, cafes that I've been to.

One of the advantages for employers in having these kind of toilets, is that female employees can't form relationships or bond in the privacy of the women's toilets. Some of my most important conversations, crucial moments of support and best work friendships were made in the Ladies loos.

My grannie, who worked for years as a cleaner in a council office block, always said the same thing.

I've never had this in a workplace, but I do know that the shared toilets in a couple of restaurant chains (Wagamama I think) are always dirty. Piss on the floor and the seat. It's disgusting.

I cleaned toilets as a student to top up my finances. I can assure you that this was NOT my experience. Some times san pro bins might be overflowing but that's because they're not emptied frequently enough.

The men's stank of urine. Some men seem utterly incapable of hitting the target whether it be a toilet or a urinal.

Can't have women talking can we! ?

I've read your posts OP and I'm still unclear.

What is your question/opinion about the loos if all your staff are happy?

I bet £100 if you sent out an anonymous survey, you would have responses from people saying that it is a problem. You shouldn’t have asked the question in an environment where the only way to respond is publicly.

What your colleagues think is actually irrelevant. There's a law about this and you need to obey it, regardless of what anyone's opinion is. Your colleagues cannot waive their workplace rights.

Whether these loos are compliant with The Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992 (that's the law I linked to) will depend on whether the cubicles are "separate rooms". If they are made of laminated chipboard, probably not.

I would get legal advice in your position.

Grannie agreed about the urine in the men's, but that was easily mopped up. Whereas the ladies loos were simply dirtier, with more rubbish strewn around.

So the san pro bins weren't emptied frequently enough?

Did she speak to her employer about that?

Pee all over the seats. So not my cup of tea.

I'd hate it
I couldn't wee with my boss in the next cubicle.
If there was mirror, sink and sanitary bin in cubicle then that's loads better.

I don't see the benefit personally

I wouldn't know, she retired over 30 years ago and died soon after. But she wasn't the type to make up something like that. It's only because I was surprised by what she said that I even remember it.

Also echoing what others have said about the chilling effect that being asked in public has. No one wants to be seen as "that person", especially when being "that person" comes with a suspicion of wrongthink and the risk of the dreaded "transphobia" label as well as being perceived as blocking the move to a new office.

I am very surprised no one raised an issue. Men's toilets are generally disgusting - they often stink with pee all over the floor and seat,- and I would not want to share a toilet with men for this reason alone.

@MissScarletInTheBallroom Agree with this. An anonymous survey would have enabled your staff to feel able to speak more freely. Over the last few years people have been called transphobic for arguing against mixed sex toilets, so you can imagine doing this in a work environment, would be intimidating.

What if your boss was a woman?

That was meant for @Thewindybaby

Sounds like you do work with some "dicks" as "it's a very male heavy industry and as females in this industry we have to be loud". "any slight hint of sexism is stamped on".

So even with you women HAVING TO BE LOUD you still come across sexism. Pity the poor more non-loud women.

Wouldn’t concern me at all.

I didn't say she made anything up.

San pro bins not being emptied frequently enough is a problem, which might explain the extra mess in women's loos.

Same here. We have unisex individual fully enclosed cubicles as described by the Op at work. I have no issue from a "sharing facilities" pov as they are so enclosed I don't feel like I'm sharing facilities.

Apart from the piss on the floor! I don't want my long trousers trailing in piss. There are some womens only (and mens only) on the ground floor and I go down and use them - funnily enough never any piss on the floor.

@Ottobeak the key thing for me would be Health and Safety. On another thread a poster has eloquently set this out.

Cubicles with gaps under and over allow you to spot if someone has collapsed e.g. fainted, epileptic fit, heart attack etc.

They also allow you to spot if more than one person is in a cubicle e.g. sex attack. This is more relevant in nightclubs and bars, but you never know.

As a woman who wears trousers I find “wet” floors in toilets be they single sex, unisex or disabled gruesome. Cleanliness is everyone’s responsibility and having toilets regularly checked by cleaners is high on my priority list.

And there is also the women who miscarry on the toilet.

Many of working age.

You used to be able to call for help and in a women's toilet you could be reasonably sure that it would be another female who would be the first person you would encounter.

Unisex toilets this is not the case.

The men whose interests unsex toilets serve couldn't care less.