Should HR dictate bathroom behavior?

Image courtesy of Flickr user puroticorico

COMMENTARY According to the website Above the Law, the head of HR at a law firm issued a memo detailing how employees are supposed to behave in the bathroom. Everything from where to keep your eyes when you're at a urinal (up and ahead!) to counsel on waiting to conduct business until after you've finished using the facilities was covered.

All good advice, mind you, but what in the heck is the head of HR doing drafting such a memo? (Well, she or he didn't draft it -- there's evidence that it was copied from an eHow article.) But why spend time plagiarizing articles on bathroom etiquette when you could be doing something worthwhile, like reducing turnover, developing current employees or filling out government paperwork?

Should HR get involved in things like this? Most HR people have encountered an employee with a hygiene issue of some sort during their tenure. We usually get tapped to deliver the delicate news that you, well, stink, or that it's okay to wear different clothing every day. We also get to fire people for playing Angry Birds while hiding in a stall, but that's really where the bathroom supervision should end.

Besides, this memo didn't even address the real bathroom etiquette problem: Selfish people who leave the place in an unsanitary and unpleasant condition for their coworkers. This is how HR should handle bathroom policies:

1. There should be bathrooms with plenty of toilet paper and soap.

2. There should be either an employee or a janitorial service assigned to clean the bathrooms on a regular basis.

3. If there is an employee causing problems in the bathroom, then that employee should be spoken with.

That is all. HR should not take on a motherly role. We should not tell you to stop speaking to people in the bathroom because, presumably, you already know that. If you don't, then don't be surprised when people don't answer you back.

And a memo to my HR pals: Don't go moaning and complaining that you're not taken seriously and you don't have a seat at the lunch table when you're busy focusing on things like air freshener usage in the men's room.

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[parisdakar]

Many men's behavior in the BR is unbelievable. My co-workers and I actually have names for some of the worst offenders. I'm not talking about hand washing, that's minor compared to what some of these guys do.

Like the guys who spread their feet out into the adjacent stalls? Or how about the newspaper readers who are in there to avoid work (or perhaps they are waiting for the 'Tvrd Fairy')? How about the guys who are too stupid to notice shoes in the stall so they grab the door handle and rattle it like they're trying to break in? Or the guys who are apparently embarrassed to have made a BM, so they'll stay in the stall until everyone leaves before they come out, to avoid being ID'd. Then there's the guys who feel they just have to talk to you at the urinal. How about the loogie hockers, the huge f @ rters, the guys who start using loads of bad language? It's these idiots that need to grow up.

But HR making regs? No way. What would we do without "powder pete", and the "stealth bomber" to amuse us? AND, these pigs are fun to screw with. For example.

If you've got a "waiter", who's done but won't come out of the stall until everyone's left, try this. When you're done, just kill time, wash your hands real slow, look in the mirror, etc. See how long you can keep the "waiter" in there, hoping you'll leave. If he still won't come out, then walk to the door, open it, but don't leave, just stand still and let the door close. The "waiter" will think you've left and come out. Then he'll see you and have a freak out. Give this bozo a big smile.

[jsargent100]

3. If there is an employee causing problems in the bathroom, then that employee should be spoken with.

How do you expect to find the employee with the bad aim? Choose the one with the worst eye-sight? Perhaps you have some practical advice on that.

[anonnn100]

I have one better: A boss kept noticing a problem with the mens toilets. They kept noticing puddles in there and couldn't find a leak.

So they started having meetings standing outside the toilet door and checking the floor after each person came out of the toilet to find out who was "causing" the leak.

[Mini40100]

Definitely better. Dilbert worthy.

[JAKing1]

Why is HR in charge of anything to do with the washrooms - whether there is soap, etc.? Ridiculous. That is what a cleaning service, janitorial services or facilities is responsible for - full stop.

[LorinK100]

I think that's still better than the company where my friend's boss gathered all of the employees to announce that toilet paper usage was out of control...

[nurse_goodbody]

The original HR memo is no more ridiculous than including it in a blog. Wasted my time.

[Kahr100]

HR usually does not choose to do this "type" of work, draft this "type" of memo, or otherwise get involved in non-strategic efforts. I have been supporting myself for well over 25 years - small organizations, start-ups, medium companies, family owned companies, and large/worldwide organizations, and I have never "chosen" to write and/or get involved in addressing and writing a memo for such issues. Most often, it is a default that HR handles this type of issue.
For mswolfestock - I'm not sure where you have been working for 40 years; but you obviously haven't taken time to know HR people very well.

[Garyb173]

Surprised no one noticed story was allegedly about a law firm? Makes perfect sense to me to tell younger lawyers, don't talk in the stalls, don't talk in the elevators. You and your clients are not invisible and the walls and stalls have ears. As far a bad bathroom behavior, I officed in a small office building where a neighbor on the same floor always opened the door with a towel and threw it on the floor, like his mother worked in the building. No, it's ok to tell folks that there are rules of etiquette and that they apply to them.

[vicnapier]

Yet another in a long list of reasons to avoid traditional employment, start your own company, and do as much work as possible with your keyboard.
Vic Napier
www.JoblessEconomy.net

[antoniof123]

I just had to read this I couldn't believe that HR would spend even a second on something like this.