Call Center Management Featured Article
Does Increased Productivity Lie in Limiting Employee Bathroom Access?
There is some evidence that working humans have become about as productive as they can. Studies have shown that productivity has stalled in the last decade, yet employers are still searching for a magic solution that will squeeze a little more productivity out of them. They believe they’ve found it: in bathroom breaks.
Several years ago, a union in Chicago filed a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) because its company limited employees’ bathroom breaks to 30 minutes a week, which works out to six minutes per day. Workers were required to use their swipe cards so management could monitor their bathroom habits. The union alleged the company disciplined 19 workers over the policy and managers even offered financial incentives to employees who didn’t use the bathroom at all.
Are Uncomfortable Toilets the Answer?
More recently, the “employers versus bathroom breaks” issue came up in the UK with the announcement that a company had developed a toilet with a design just uncomfortable enough to discourage extended sitting. The idea was justifiable mocked in the press, and seemed to underscore endless employer greed, not to mention discrimination against employees with disabilities, illnesses or pregnancy.
“Meanwhile, in Scotland, call center staff were asked to sign a new contract limiting toilet breaks to one percent of their shift—just two minutes for those working a four-hour part-time day,” according to an article in Phys.org. “In Norway one company required female employees to wear red bracelets while menstruating, to show they were allowed to visit the toilet more often.”
In the contact center, extra long breaks that throw off the carefully crafted schedule are certainly a concern. In the era of smartphones, a bathroom break can turn into an extended news-reading or social media scrolling event. But is limiting bathroom breaks even legal?
Can You Legally Limit Employees’ Bathroom Habits?
From a legal perspective, employers must pay workers for breaks shorter than 20 minutes, according to the Fair Labor Standards Act, and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) dictates that employers can’t enforce unreasonable restrictions on use while also acknowledging that employees can’t take an excessive amount of extended bathroom breaks.
Does It Even Work?
One thing that most studies on the subject agree on: getting draconian about bathroom habits doesn’t work and it’s likely to foster more resentment among employees. Experts recommend that productivity can be improved much more efficiently by streamlining work processes and giving workers more voice and agency over their jobs. A study conducted by the Living Wage Foundation concluded that standardizing tasks while at the same time empowering employees to use their discretion can improve both productivity and profits, improving staff retention and motivation.
Edited by Maurice Nagle