Unisex toilets in new office - dread going into work

[SocialMol]

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?

Why do you assume that? Because office workers are so well-behaved? The men she shares a building with have already proven they are not well-behaved. They have also shown that they see the shared toilets as the perfect excuse for a bit of sexual harassment, and "who cares if you suffer regular sexual harassment while using the loo, as long as you don't get raped" should not be the bar.

'Oh, for goodness’ sake! I assume you are a grown woman? Just deal with it. Tell the oikish twerps to show a bit of respect and get on with your life. The human race somehow managed to survive when whole streets shared outdoor loos. I’m sure sharing cubicle toilets in a modern building won’t kill anyone.'

No, you just used an emphatic dismissal and hyperbole to attempt to shame OP for seeking support with an unreasonable and law breaking employer. And are still doing it.

You don’t ’waste time and energy whingeing on social media’ yet here you are, spending time on this thread castigating OP for her problem.

'I can look after myself, as should every fully functioning adult. I don’t waste time and energy whingeing on social media that childish men are being mean to me in the office loos. And I don’t need to resort to ad hominem insults to make my point.'

Aw clever girl! Why are you referring to sexual harassment as 'being mean'?

The issue isn’t the toilets, it’s the immature misogynistic attitude of the staff. Your hr manager or owner needs to be lodging an official complaint to their manager copying in the building owner. It’s not acceptable.

As an employment lawyer I am in actual pain reading this. What was your employer thinking!

Report to HR every time there is a sexist, misogynist or sexual comment made. You are legally entitled to be safe from sexual harassment, sexism and discrimination at work and so if you’re regularly experiencing these things your HR department need to be dealing with it. If they can’t change the toilet set-up they need to contact the other organisation who need to discipline and manage their workforce.

• separate facilities for men and women, except where each toilet is in a separate room lockable from the inside

People keep quoting the HSE guidance above but it doesn’t actually say that the sink facilities need to be inside each room.

OP - you have said cubicles but do you mean fully enclosed floor to ceiling rooms with shared sinks outside, or cubicles as in standard toilets?

Schools have fully enclosed ‘rooms’ but shared sinks so I wonder if this is possible in a workplace. It written in an ambiguous way IMO.

I would definitely raise this with the company simply refuse to go into the office until this is resolved. As they are breaking the law they will be fined at the very least. I'm surprised the building has been rented on that basis. If you are seeking legal advice, check your home insurance cover if you have legal cover as it may cover you for employment issues.

Can you club together with other women and document every time you felt unsafe or an inappropriate comment was made, and by whom.

Basically bombard the office manager with evidence all females need a single sex toilets area.

Things like 'Id give it five minutes' though crass, is something either sex might say to cover embarrassment about smells. But the other comments you've mentioned sound awful.

There should be adequate ventilation and air fresher in each cubicle though.

I hope you get them to change it to single sex.

A quick google brings up this:
Key points about unisex sinks and toilets in UK workplaces:
• General Rule:
Separate toilet facilities (cubicles with WCs) for men and women are the norm. 





• Unisex Sinks:
Handwashing sinks can be unisex if they are in a lockable, single-user space, like an individual, fully enclosed toilet cubicle. 





• Unisex Toilets:
If the unisex toilet is a fully enclosed room with its own washbasin, it's permitted. 





• Signage:
Clear and appropriate signage is crucial to indicate whether a facility is single-sex or unisex. 





• Privacy:
Unisex facilities should offer adequate privacy for users. 





• Larger Workplaces:
In larger workplaces, providing separate male and female facilities is still the best practice.

Fine with unisex toilets - I’ve worked in and gone out to places with them for at least the last 20 years and it’s never bothered me. However, in all those years, I’ve never come across behaviour like that, even in the seediest of nightclub unisex bathrooms. It is entirely unacceptable and I don’t care that they’re young. That doesn’t mean they shouldn’t know how to behave decently around other people.

Make an absolute stink about it (pardon the pun). Get names, take photographic or video evidence. Build a dossier and tell the other company that if they don’t discipline their staff, you’ll consider a civil suit. And tell your own bosses that their inaction is causing you to operate in a hostile working environment and you’ll be escalating your concerns.

Honestly, I would be losing ten types of shit over this.

Always the poster who brushes off the sexual abuse of women as being the fault of the woman being abused.

Guess why the UK public toilets were designed to have single sex spaces and doors which were nowhere near each other??

But yea modern building with a basic and obvious designed fail for cheep fitout while failing comply with the law so a landlord / business owner can save a few pounds what could go wrong.

Sorry, but I wouldn't use them and I would make sure HR was fully aware of the comments made to you. Bang out of order. Are top management using same facilities? Is there potential to reinstate male and female toilets?

Our office had unisex loos until an anonymous employee satisfaction survey revealed that some female employees were not using the toilet at all during their working day as for religious reasons they couldn't use the same ones as the men, and there were no others. The loos were then quietly segregated, with one left as unisex for anyone who can't make their mind up. Maybe something to think about?

Despite agreeing those comments are inappropriate. It really has nothing to do with shared toilets.
If someone makes a comment as in OP it doesn't matter if it is in the office, a tea room or a toilet. It needs reported.

Hey we haven't had a toilet post for a while!

You report every comment. If you don't know them you follow them back to their office and report them, I'm pretty sure the comments will soon stop.

I refuse to believe any company would point blank refuse to deal with this issue

Yep nice rapist and nice violent men and nice perverts never work in offices.

And the nice perverts who happen to work in the OPs office and who are being abusive to the OP....... yup..... she is just being too sensitive.

The issue here isn’t unisex toilets, it’s the disgusting behaviour of the men using it.

This behaviour needs reporting regardless of whether it was made in a bathroom or other space.

Both.

The template letters on here might be useful for you OP.

www.letwomenspeak.org/toilet-letters

I read a story the other day that an aid agency was upset that its brand new toilets weren’t being used. Women refugees would rather defecate in their tents than go to the toilets as they thought it too dangerous to be in a cubicle with men around. That’s an extreme example, but it shows men harass women at toilets around the world and women change their behaviour because of it.

Toilets outside the home are usually divided by sex, all over the world, for very good reasons.

The building owner needs to be informed. I can understand the reticence of your boss as they probably are still reeling from organising the move, but this is not on. The employer has responsibility for the health and safety of his/her employees.

I would disagree with some posters and say the issue is that they are an unregulated unisex design. Young laddish men are known for pratting about in toilets when women are using them. That’s why a lot of schools have resorted to restricting use when they have unisex toilets.

The schools are breaking the law but its a different act

Read the full provision of what is required for washing areas:

https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1992/3004/regulation/21

Washing facilities
21.—(1) Suitable and sufficient washing facilities, including showers if required by the nature of the work or for health reasons, shall be provided at readily accessible places.
(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;
(b)they are provided in the vicinity of any changing rooms required by these Regulations, whether or not provided elsewhere as well;
(c)they include a supply of clean hot and cold, or warm, water (which shall be running water so far as is practicable);
(d)they include soap or other suitable means of cleaning;
(e)they include towels or other suitable means of drying;
(f)the rooms containing them are sufficiently ventilated and lit;
(g)they and the rooms containing them are kept in a clean and orderly condition; and
(h)separate facilities are provided for men and women, except where and so far as they are provided in a room the door of which is capable of being secured from inside and the facilities in each such room are intended to be used by only one person at a time.

'I refuse to believe any company would point blank refuse to deal with this issue'

You would be amazed at some of the outfits operating out there.

Their faces on the first day of the tribunal though 🤣🤣🤣. They always turn on their handmaidens' too.

This - what happened when you reported the spotty young one for asking you to join him? I'm assuming you did? Because that's blatant sexual harassment and needs to be dealt with. Your office has a misogyny problem, not a toilet one, if you're hearing comments like that regularly.

Edit: "Offices" I suppose, but I can't see a situation where I wouldn't follow that spotty lad back to the office / knock on the door and speak to a manager/email them about an employee who made that comment. OP: What did you do about it?

Your company has 2 problems: the unisex toilets and the twats. Don’t give up until both are sorted.