The Fin Review‘s BOSS magazine is widely respected for
its cutting analysis of management strategy and theory. But today’s
edition delves into another corporate paradigm – the office toilet.

“The office toilet is for many people a refuge from the stresses of the
workplace,” writes David Meagher, and as such it is “imperative” that
workers remember how to behave in this smallest of rooms and “treat the
office toilet with the same respect you would your home facility.”

His tips include the following:

  • Even if your company employs a cleaner, make sure you flush the toilet when you finish with it.
  • Do not leave reading material on the floor for the next person.
  • Do not festoon the stall with toilet paper or express your creativity on the walls.
  • Turn the tap off at the basin.
  • Do not conduct calls on your mobile phone.
  • Where men and women share facilities, you should leave the toilet seat lid in the down position.
  • The office toilet is not an annexe of the staff canteen; nor is it an extension of your desk.
  • Bear in mind some people don’t like to engage in conversation
    in the bathroom – even if they run into someone they would normally
    chat to in the outside world.
  • The workplace toilet should be viewed as neutral territory: you don’t need to stand on ceremony when you encounter superiors.
  • Be careful about gossiping in the toilet and check there are no occupied stalls before you converse with someone.
  • And wash your hands, Geoffrey.