New cleaning rota at work feels sexist

[Kayleigh1234]

The company I work for has a fairly small office space within a bigger complex. We were told last week that as there’s lower office attendance due to WFH/hybrid, our company is no longer paying for the site cleaning service and we will be responsible for cleaning our small kitchen space and bathroom ourselves.

Fwiw, I believe the real reason is because of cost cutting and the price of that service increased in April which I’d heard the bosses moan about previously.

Anyway, our (male) manager emailed round the cleaning rota today and the first 7 slots are ALL females (every female on the team is named consecutively). 4 male colleagues are then named, before it reverts.

The manager and his usual step up/deputy, are not named despite them being in the office as much as the rest of us. His deputy is the same job level as me and a couple of others, and when he was asked why he isn’t on the rota, he said ‘he hasn’t got time for that sort of thing’.

Am I wrong to feel like this is all a bit off?

There is no way I would be cleaning the toilet that my male colleagues have used. Unless it was part of my contract.

Exactly...its not that it's sexist it's the fact that you were not employed as a cleaner, if it's not part of your job don't do it. They can't sack you for not cleaning a toilet.

It’s probably better the men do their turn consecutively as it will be more obvious if they don’t pull their weight

IMO this never works.

In 2 places I worked in, with male & female changing rooms - the women were responsible for their own changing rooms.
MGMT can 'try' implement a rota app they want, noone will stick to it.
In first place, I would clean changing rooms but they would quickly become FILTHY. And other departments would never clean it.
Same in 2nd place, one department excellent at keeping it clean, different department refusing to clean it.
I would complain to my direct manager but this was hospitality.... noone in MGMT gave a shit.

I also worked in an company where a cleaner would come in but on a day to day basis, we would have to tidy kitchen ourselves after making our lunches etc (absolutely fair).
The amount of men that would just dump coffee cups, plates etc & never clean up.
This was a company with 60+ men & approx 5 women.

OP, It's going to lead to a ton of resentment in the office if some people aren't pulling their weight.

Also cleaning a toilet after colleagues is disgusting.
Once our sanitary bin was full & staff just started pulling USED ITEMS on top of the bin.
It just piled up & piled up.
I don't know who they were expecting to clean up.
And men are just as bad with how they leave toilet bowls 🤢

Actually this link is quite helpful: https://legalservice.which.co.uk/insight-and-articles/can-your-employer-change-your-job-role/

Check your contract. All of mine always had a clause about "duties can be changed to adapt to business needs", it's fairly standard, but it's worth checking to be sure.

When will you all undergo the relevant training eg COSHH? Do they have the appropriate insurance? Will you undergo risk assessments? Will they provide PPE?

You can't just go squirting bleach about in workplaces. There are various rules and regulations they have to follow.

It is sexism of which they would deny

in my office we have a team meeting where we bring drinks and snacks. The company is about 80% male.
For a while after the meeting all but about 2 men just walked out and left the room for the women to clean up. The women talked about it and said we should have all just walked out and left too but we couldn't because we can’t just leave the room in a tip. We have raised it recently and it has got better since but there is a bias in a lot of men that women do the cleaning up at home and they can’t switch that off in a work environment. Many women do the cleaning at home so they also struggle to switch that off in a work environment.

that said - I am not employed as a cleaner at my company and there is no way I’d be doing that. It is completely insulting to be told you have to clean your office as it isn’t your job. It is also insulting to the professional cleaners who do this for a living.

I would say I am employed to perform the role that my contract states . I am not a professional cleaner . In an office space of multiple people professional cleaners should be paid to maintain the communal areas . I would not be happy cleaning up after my colleagues and neither am I paid to do so .

I'd rather be on the rota cleaning after a woman had done it the previous day than a man tbh (so I'm being sexist!) but that would be for the kitchen only. No way would I be cleaning the toilets.

@Missgemini you don't clean your own bathrooms at home. Get a grip.

kitchen yes, toilet no!

This is a good legal insight for you and your colleagues @Kayleigh1234

I think it is actually more beneficial than every other mfmf, it'll be more obvious if the guys don't pull their weight.

If male and female are all on the rota does it matter who cleans first?

it’s weird for all the women to go first- how would that have come about unless someone listed the women and men separately and in a work environment that shouldn’t happen. They could have done it alphabetically for instance (assuming they didn’t do that already and it was happenstance all the women were top of the alphabet) .

I wouldn't be doing any cleaning of toilets and honestly OP, I think I'd be looking for another job because this behaviour raises all sorts of red flags about the management of the business of which sexism is just the tip of the iceberg.
If they genuinely can't afford a cleaner then the business isn't viable
If they can afford it but refuse to pay, then they are cheapskates and this may be the case in other areas of the business.
They have little regard for their staff, except the ones who are 'too busy'.
They haven't thought this through and are almost certainly not legally compliant in terms of providing training/equipment/meeting health and safety regs.
This suggests poor leadership and lack of care for their employees in general.

OPs just making an issue for the sake of it or to call out what she thinks is sexism. They all have to clean and they are all on the rota so will all be doing it. The order doesn’t matter, if she’s really that bothered why doesn’t she ask one of the males to swap days with her to mix it up.

Well I’d be annoyed with it myself and I’d be telling them I’m not doing it anyway.

You raise a very good point @Hufflemuff .

I remember when, in my early twenties, I worked for a small company that started to get staff to do stuff that was outside of our job description to cut costs. To cut a long story short I was injured and instead of submitting workcover (I’m in Aus) I was terminated based on it not being financially viable to keep my position. A few months later the company closed down.

I would start looking for a better job on the quiet @Kayleigh1234 And no, do not agree to this cleaning roster. Lot’s of good suggestions on OHS, PPE, training, employment contract etc. Also, some people choose jobs that involve no manual labour for very good reasons.

Unpaid? Fuck. That.

What health and safety training are they providing. What PPE.

I‘m on my break, the issue was raised at our daily 9am meeting by a colleague as it was the first opportunity after the emailing landing yesterday.

Basically, the directors of the company have checked and there are other businesses within the premises taking care of their own cleaning and they ‘just get on with it’ using ‘common sense’. They said there are already gloves available in the kitchen area for us to use.

Hoovering, they said it will just need doing weekly and someone can quickly ‘whiz round’.

Another colleague asked in a light hearted way if there’s a reason the females are the first on the list. The manager just said ‘we thought you ladies would show the men how it should be properly done so they can have no excuses’.

I am going to read back through the replies with a view to putting an email together as it felt like a fob off earlier.

@Kayleigh1234 what on earth? Do you work in an office the 1950s?

His deputy is the same job level as me and a couple of others, and when he was asked why he isn’t on the rota, he said ‘he hasn’t got time for that sort of thing’.

This is the bit that is really wrong - I would fight this. Either the deputy goes on the rota, or you get taken off it.