Unisex toilets in new office - dread going into work

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The company I work for moved to a new office a few weeks ago. It is brand new and shared 50/50 with another company. We have our own side of the floor, key card protected so completely separate.

However, the toilets are in the middle of the block so are shared with the other company. These are unisex - several cubicles with shared area for sinks/dryers etc.

The other company is a sales one (they run a call centre there) and the demographic of their workforce is mainly young men in their 20’s.

There have been several instances of inappropriate comments made to staff in the toilets. Crass stuff like ‘give that cubicle 5 minutes’ to cruder comments directed at or about women - the men will often be talking about their own colleagues in a derogatory way in front of us.

The final straw for me was this afternoon when I walked out of a cubicle and a spotty young lad said he will ‘join me next time’ 😷

Our company are aware of our concerns but said there’s nothing they can do, as the toilets are designed to be ‘inclusive’ and similar to the other modern office blocks they viewed.

I don’t really know what I’m looking for by posting this to be honest, just wanted to know if anyone else finds this sort of set up completely ridiculous?

If the cubicles are separate and lockable from the inside, then unisex toilets are legal.

My offices provide separate, lockable cubicles with a small handbasin and solid floor to ceiling doors on each cubicle. There are also shared basins. I have never had any problematic comments from male users. Everyone treats it as a normal part of the daily routine.

Rapists and assaulters exist in every environemnt. I would find the underused starways more risky.

You’re being sexually harassed in the toilets. Your company is obliged to act and allowing you to work from home is the absolute least they can do while they sort it out.

Forcing them to do this however is another matter as you’d have to take them to court. But you could work from home on the grounds of sexual harassment and see what they do. Risky but they couldn’t possibly fire you for it, you’d be able to make a massive claim.

Most serious sexual assaults are in a private space because the perpetrator doesn’t want witnesses or to be stopped. That private space can be as big as a house or small as a toilet cubicle or room. It’s the privacy.

I have many examples of women and children being raped in completely private toilets within very public places.

It’s similar to a medical emergency - you need to be seen to be safe. It’s the same risk on a hillside with no one for miles or a completely private toilet in a busy area.

Exactly this. Stationery cupboards, underground car parks, empty corridors... There are plenty of deserted places around offices that seem far more dangerous to me than a probably frequently visited works toilet.

So now it a 1+n countdown on location.

The issue is the people, not the toilets? If you had a shared kitchen then presumably these men would still be foul. It obviously wants resolving but isn't a toilets issue per se. How can there be this many gross people in one company? I would expect my company to be approaching theirs with evidence.

Sad to hear that unisex toilets don't have to include the sink in the cubicle as I love them at work for that reason. They work so much better for mooncups.

Workplace toilets are either single use (a self contained cubicle) or single sex.
Regulations 20 and 21 cover toilets and washing facilities;

(2) Without prejudice to the generality of paragraph (1), washing facilities shall not be suitable unless –

(a) they are provided in the immediate vicinity of every sanitary convenience, whether or not provided elsewhere as well;

(h) separate rooms containing conveniences are provided for men and women except where and so far as each convenience is in a separate room the door of which is capable of being secured from inside.

www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/priced/l24.pdf

One of my more senior colleagues has tried escalating things. The owners of the building are adamant the toilets are compliant and any concerns over conduct of employees is for the tenant companies to ‘police’ and nothing to do with them. So they’ve washed their hands of things.

I think next steps is for our company to contact the management of the neighbouring one and ask they address the concerns with their staff.

Those saying go to HR - pointless because the men don’t work for our company.

It's not pointless because irrespective of whether they work for a different company YOUR company has a duty to protect YOU from sexual harassment.

That has been put to them but the response was the toilets are not in our rented space and are the responsibility of the landlord. Plus those responsible for the behaviour are outside of the companies remit.

The company isn’t huge, HR matters are dealt with by one or two people. So it’s possible they are wrong.

'The company isn’t huge, HR matters are dealt with by one or two people. So it’s possible they are wrong.'

They are, yes.

Please stop 'putting it to them' and raise a grievance under the written policies of your employer.

So you'd never see these people around the office? How do you know they're not making these comments at their desks?

that would make the company have obtaindd inadequate facilities. It’s still completely totally on them to rectify.

Carparks and corridors can be fitted with CCTV to reduce the risk. Women also mitigate their risk by avoiding these places or not going alone. Are Women supposed to avoid going to the toilet or go with a friend just so men can be allowed to use the same facilities? Why is it so important to you that men and women use shared bathrooms, that you are putting forward these arguments?

It's not important to me that there are shared facilities but I can see that it can be a perfectly reasonable provision. I think the problem for OP is the inappropriate behaviour of some men and the fact that her employers seem unwilling to tackle it.

OP the toilets are not in your rented space? So your rented space has to include toilets then and have a provision that they are responsible for. I would be asking the senior person to contact the health and safety executive and ACAS immediately to get a definitive decision on the law. I would also put in a complaint of sexual harassment in the mixed toilets.

It’s not a perfectly reasonable provision when the law states that single sex toilets have to be available in the workplace. We can’t start accepting lower and lower standards especially when it takes away from women’s rights to use spaces separate from males.

Absolutely the problem is the men's behaviour. And addressing it as sexual harassment rather than a unisex toilet issue is certainly going to be the most effective, due to the tightened legislation around SH. However, the discussion has predictably moved on to whether unisex toilets are a problem. I can understand why people feel they are. What I struggle with is the investment some posters have on arguing they're not. There isn't any benefit to women of unisex toilets that I can see, so I'm curious as to why people want to defend them.

“Person known to them” does not just mean partner or ex-partner. The remaining 1 in 2 will include male relatives, friends, neighbours etc. so the actual statistic is much higher than 1 in 2. The actual figure is over 90%. www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-43128350.amp

One benefit could be that it avoids the massive queues you sometimes get for the Ladies - though providing more women's loos than men's could solve that. I also think that shared facilities might encourage better behaviour though that doesn't seem to be the case here.

The employer has to have toilets?
Funny but BS

If management are saying they do not have toilets get that in writing.

If they choose to buy space ans no toilets they are breaking the law.

If they bought toilets the space needs to meet the employers obligations.

So any verbal /physical harrassment or bullying or sexual harrassment in the toilet space takes place within the workplace

Are the loos by a stairwell? Could this be solved by designating th e loos on one floor ‘male’ and on the next floor ‘female’ and so on? Or are they completely within office space so not accessible by workers from other floors?

Nope. They have to be either fully contained, with sink, floor to ceiling doors - or single sex cubicles with sinks outside.

Find the relevant regulations, show your boss, point out the comments, and then say you will return to the office when the toilet issue is fixed.

Look for another job. Join a union or get legal insurance immediately, for the inevitable fall out and possible ET for constructive dismissal.

people like you make me regret spending so much time fighting for women's rights in the workplace.

Unless there's a seperate women's toilet and the unisex one is additional (which would be great, but isn't the case here) it actually increases waiting times. Not only do you have the same number of women needing to use cubicles, but a bunch of men who would previously have used urinals will need to occupy them too. If they're the design that includes the sink in the cubicle, occupancy lasts longer, for obvious reasons.
There isn't any evidence that sharing with the opposite sex makes people of either sex keep toilets cleaner, is there?