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We have 1 men's toilet + 1 urinal at work for about 15-20 men and 1 women's toilet for 3-4 women. The problem we have is that some of the employees don't check if everything has been flushed properly and that the bowl is clean.

According to the employees working here for a few years, this problem has been around for years. Management is getting notified of this issue a few times per year, notices have been hung out in the toilet room and it's even been mentioned on monthly meetings. But we still have this issue. It's unsanitary and unhealthy. The toilet is sometimes used by customers as well, so this also affects our public image.

What steps can be taken to ensure that this doesn't happen anymore?

Bernhard Barker
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Nzall
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    The problem we have is that some of the employees don't check if everything has been flushed properly and that the bowl is clean. Maybe not, the actual problem is that the toilets are perceived as dirty, employees not checking if everything has been flushed is already a possible cause (other include inadequate cleaning schedule or even no professional cleaning at all, insufficient capacity, etc.) Adding a toilet, while possibly impractical, would probably help a lot. – Relaxed Mar 06 '14 at 13:10
  • Use CCTV camera on bathrooms. :-P So management can identify who is the person not cleaning the washrooms. – I am the Most Stupid Person Aug 23 '17 at 11:19
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    @DonkeyKingandDonkeyKing That is a horrible invasion of privacy and even if it's a joke it's completely inappropriate. – Nzall Aug 23 '17 at 11:22
  • Even I wrote it as a joke, some military/security related government organization use CCTV camera on even wash rooms / bathrooms..... – I am the Most Stupid Person Aug 23 '17 at 11:33
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    @DonkeyKingandDonkeyKing In most countries having a camera facing the entrance or inside a bathroom is illegal. I've tried searching whether that's the case in sri lanka, but I just get a ton of porn... – Nzall Aug 23 '17 at 11:47
  • Agreed @Nzall. This is illegal in most countries. In a season of 24 TV series, conspirators met in the restroom which was the only place they were not under surveillance. 24 is set in the USA, so take your regulatory conclusions. But I am not offended by the joke – usr-local-ΕΨΗΕΛΩΝ Aug 23 '17 at 15:07

2 Answers2

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Consider the broken window theory. People will vandalize much more easily in an unclean environment.

In my previous workplace and my current workplace, the cleaning company comes around every day. They only have about 10 minutes of work mostly: emptying the trash cans, putting the mugs in the dishwasher, cleaning the toilets. Workers also kept them that way. This works, because any and all small issues (like a paper towel that missed the trash can) are cleaned up before they escalate due to Broken Window Syndrome. Suggest to do the same in your office.

Note: I always worked in high-end information worker positions; it was unthinkable to ask employees to clean the toilets.

parasietje
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    If the company can afford it, a cleaning crew is a clear investment. You will then have a happy administration that do not get piles of complains about dirty toilets and filled trashcans. And employees will also be happy for the same reasons. – Sharain Mar 05 '14 at 12:17
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    Great answer. Conversely, don't fall into a pattern of passive-aggressive behavior (e.g. angry notes, water cooler rants, etc.), which will only increase tension and decrease any real motivation to help (the beauty of the broken window theory approach is that the motivation is positive and self-induced rather than being caused by shame, fear, or anger). – Jason C Mar 06 '14 at 06:57
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    Ehm, Note: I always worked in high-end information worker positions; it was unthinkable to ask employees to clean the toilets.. Do you imply that physical workers or workers at lower levels can be asked to clean the toilet? Who has raised that arrogance/elitism into you? – phresnel Mar 06 '14 at 09:29
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    @phresnel: It's not that I'm above it. It just doesn't make any business sense. The higher the revenue per employee (i.e. per employee working hour), the more services get outsourced. At Google, it is unthinkable to have to bring/buy/prepare your own food: is that 'arrogance/elitism'? (see also http://www.interknowledgetech.com/profit%20per%20employee.pdf) – parasietje Mar 06 '14 at 11:54
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    @parasietje: That's really unobvious from what you actually wrote in your answer. And your comment is flipping around what I wrote: Of course it is not elitist if employees don't have to buy food (=convenience to make happy) or don't have to clean the toilet (=this should never be the case). But it's elitist to imply that "low-end" workers might be abused for jobs they were not contracted for. And even in most "low-end" jobs, cleaning the toilet makes no business sense at all. – phresnel Mar 06 '14 at 12:13
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    @parasietje: Thus, your last paragraph really sounds like elitist trolling (because it has no meaning), because asking employees to clean themselves really is unthinkable in almost any company, except there is an unsolicited agreement between affected people, or you are a cleaner. (on a sidenote: the business damage of a 200k$/year worker cleaning the toilet is almost naught. Say you clean it everyday, share it with 20 persons. It should take about 15 minutes, that's once per month, total working time is 20d8h60=9600 minutes/month. Therefore, toilet is 26$/month of salary; not relevant) – phresnel Mar 06 '14 at 12:26
  • To myself: I could have saved me the calculation by just stating that the percentage of working time spent on toilet cleaning is the same for every worker, disregarding the salary. If the latter is proportional to the revenue generated, the relevance is still the same. Only if "high-end" workers are overpaid in relation to their generated revenue, cleaning the toilet becomes more relevant. – phresnel Mar 06 '14 at 13:07
  • I think a valid consideration is the attire of the workers though, an employee in a suit would have to completely change clothes to clean a toilet. Physical workers may be in overalls or something more 'mucky' anyway. – Fiona - myaccessible.website Mar 06 '14 at 13:58
  • A $200k per year worker would be billing the customer at least $400 per hour if not more. So even using your "optimistic" numbers, for that one person the company would be losing out on $1500 per year in income, just to clean the toilets. Add in the rest of the lost income from the other 20 employees and tell me the company couldn't hire a full-time (let alone part-time) janitor and still not end up ahead. – Dunk Mar 06 '14 at 19:46
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    Don't forget about the mental cost of context-switching. To go from trying to solve a complex analytical problem and then have to stop and go mop up the bathroom would (could) interrupt the thought process of the thought-worker. We've all read Spolsky's work on how it takes 15 minutes for a knowledge worker to get back in the zone. As an aside, parasietje, I suggest using this comment thread to help clarify your post. If someone could perceive this as being on the arrogant side, and you can see why and eliminate that, it will make this great answer even more awesome. Hope this helps. – jmort253 Mar 07 '14 at 01:17
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    I am not sure what kind of toilets people use in their workplaces, but from the comments it looks like it is a toilet for elephants or something. One does not need to change into an astronaut suit to grab the brush, wiggle a few times and press the flush button. – WoJ May 21 '15 at 15:19
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    @WoJ: we are talking about the toilet room in general. Soap and toilet paper need to be replaced, the sink needs to be cleaned, clogged toilets need to be fixed, etc. Do not underestimate the effort a cleaning team does, and the difference they make! For extra niceness, add real cloth towels, pot-pourri, some fresh flowers, candles...; this needs to be maintained every day! – parasietje May 22 '15 at 09:50
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    @parasietje: quoting your question: The problem we have is that some of the employees don't check if everything has been flushed properly and that the bowl is clean. There was no mention about the other elements, just the fact that people do not clean up after themselves. – WoJ May 22 '15 at 13:23
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Start a toilet cleaning rota that has to be signed off when done (similar to pub toilets with the piece of paper on the wall!) and make it part of people's objectives/bring it up in performance reviews if not done.

It is the only way to foster any sort of collective responsibility for the state of the toilets as it is obvious everyone appears to think it is someone else problem

Failing that, employer a cleaner and inform everyone that there will be no bonuses this year due to the cost of having to employ a cleaner to clean up after everyone!

Mike
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    Not possible in high-end jobs. Are you going to ask a sales director to clean toilets? Please. – parasietje Mar 05 '14 at 10:16
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    @parasietje - no mention of grades within the question. The fact that employees were mentioned and then "management have been notified" sort of implies it's not the MD that is leaving the toilets in a state. And it is not about cleaning the toilets, it is about leaving the toilet clean - basic human cleanliness and manners – Mike Mar 05 '14 at 10:41
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    I completely agree though having re-read your comment in a different context - my propsed solution only works up to a certain grade – Mike Mar 05 '14 at 10:57
  • A brilliant idea for a smaller office, where a cleaning crew is either not affordable, or "redundant". Nobody wants to be "that guy" who did not do their job. As long as the proper cleaning tools are provided, it's a quick job to clean a few toilets. – Sharain Mar 05 '14 at 12:14
  • parasietje - If that sales director is using the toilet absolutely. What makes that directory special? Is that diector too good to clean a toilet? – Donald Mar 05 '14 at 12:19
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    Some people are of the mindset that I get paid x no matter what I do... so I'm not above doing y... some people are of the mindset that I get paid x and doing y is beneath my station. Who is going to enforce the former on upper management that believe in the latter? – WernerCD Mar 05 '14 at 14:47
  • Upper management can easily be above cleaning toilets - at that point they can ensure that the offices have cleaning staff / cleaning company contract who can handle that. – Peteris Mar 05 '14 at 16:56
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    I am paid to bill the customer. The company makes no money if I am charging for overhead activities like cleaning the restroom. It makes no sense for the company to ask me to clean toilets when they can hire a cleaning company to come in and clean the entire office a couple days over for the money and schedule they would lose while I am cleaning restrooms. Even if my company weren't billing a customer, I don't think they would like losing schedule so I and my team can clean restrooms. I certainly wouldn't give restroom cleaning time for free on top of my other work. It would replace my work. – Dunk Mar 05 '14 at 18:26
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    @WernerCD Or I'm of the mind set that I'm paid to do another job, not be the company janitor (unless that was the job I accepted). – Andy Mar 06 '14 at 01:32
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    @Andy Say I make $25 an hour... if my boss thinks its a good proposition to make me do menial stuff (maybe this... maybe answer phones... etc)... I do it. I get paid the same. Now... boss would be smarter to have me do my actual job and pay someone else $10 a hour, but that's why he's the boss. It's his decision. I'm of the first mindset (I'm not above that)... You obviously are of the other mindset. – WernerCD Mar 06 '14 at 02:50
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    A rota is only fair if everybody makes the same amount of mess, which is highly unlikely. Asking employees who don't make a mess to additionally go in and clean up the fecal matter of their inconsiderate co-workers is going to generate a huge amount of resentment. –  Mar 06 '14 at 10:30
  • @OrbWeaver - you are absolutely spot on but that resentment could be used as a positive thing to apply pressure on the people who ARE leaving the mess. Maybe it will make everyone start to take responsibility for their own mess (the original problem) to avoid being the one that the rest of the group hates – Mike Mar 06 '14 at 11:28
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    I would be way more interested in something to back your claim that "It is the only way to foster any sort of collective responsibility for the state of the toilets". Why is there no other way? – CMW Mar 06 '14 at 15:45
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    @CMW - good point, I suppose my claim is based on experience (in general, not toilet related!). If you do not make everyone accountable for something, then it is almost impossible to make everyone feel responsible for it. It's just human nature. It sounds like until a client pulls out of a deal due to rubbsih hygiene in the toilets, management are not going to bother themselves with this seemingly insignificant problem – Mike Mar 06 '14 at 16:02
  • That (general) experience would probably make one great edit to the answer. – CMW Mar 06 '14 at 16:04
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    @WernerCD Stop trying to create a false dichotomy. There's nothing wrong with expecting to actually do the job you were hired for. Cleaning toilets is not going to help move forward in my career, and its silly to think its not ok to object. – Andy Mar 06 '14 at 17:13