Does the thought of going to the bathroom in public terrify you? You’re not alone! Nobody wants to experience a “potty emergency,” especially when they’re at work, but a new survey is revealing the shocking lengths some employees will go to so their co-workers never catch them in the bathroom.
The report commissioned by QS Supplies, which polled over 1,000 employees, found that an astonishing one in 12 workers claim they’ve never pooped at their office. Another 34% say they’re downright terrified to do so. Overall, nearly one in five people (19%) say they absolutely “refuse” to poop at work, with one in four preferring to hold it all day and go at home.
This bathroom anxiety seems to hit younger workers the hardest, with 11% of Gen Z employees admitting they’ve never dared to go “number two” at work, compared to just 8% of all other workers. Women appear to struggle even more, with nearly half (48%) scared to use the office restroom, versus only 19% of men. Let’s just hope all those guys are giving everyone a courtesy flush!
With that in mind, the survey also uncovered some other unsavory office bathroom behaviors. Over 60% of workers have spotted a colleague’s unflushed poop, while one in 16 people admit they don’t even bother with a courtesy flush. Men do indeed rank as the worst offenders, with nearly half admitting to casually passing gas in front of co-workers.
On the opposite side of this public bathroom anxiety, researchers found that there are costs involved when employees take frequent bathroom breaks. According to the data, companies lose an estimated average of $3,565 per remote worker and $2,833 per in-office employee each year – all due to time spent in the bathroom during work hours. You could easily say that’s thousands of dollars down the drain.
On average, office workers take three bathroom breaks a day, totaling 780 trips to the toilet each year! Remote workers enjoy the comfort of their home toilet even more, taking an average of 1,040 bathroom breaks annually.
For those who choose to hold it in and focus on work, the physical damage can be just as bad. The survey finds that 64% experience discomfort and pain from holding it in at work all day. Another 45% feel stressed by refusing to poop at the office, and 34% believe holding it in is an even bigger distraction than just going to the bathroom. On a more serious note, 39% say holding it in at the office has actually left them constipated, and 30% claim they now have digestive problems.
So, how can companies combat the productivity and financial drains of excessive bathroom use? Experts suggest creating a more comfortable, private restroom environment, and encouraging a culture of open dialogue around this often taboo topic. After all, a little transparency can go a long way in keeping those bathroom breaks, well, brief.
Survey Methodology
For this campaign, researchers from QS Supplies surveyed 1,003 employees to explore their bathroom habits at work. Of the respondents, 50% were in-office workers, 37% were remote, and 13% worked in a hybrid model. The gender and generational breakdowns were as follows:
- Gen Z: 15%
- Millennials: 53%
- Gen X: 28%
- Baby Boomers: 5%
- Men: 44%
- Women: 55%
- Non-binary: 1%
To calculate the cost of employees going to the bathroom, researchers first estimated the average hourly wage based on the annual salary, assuming 260 workdays per year. Then, they multiplied the hourly wage by the total hours employees spend in the bathroom annually. This allowed researchers to quantify the annual cost to companies for the time employees spend in the bathroom.