Execs Embrace Wide-Open Spaces

The no-privacy era of cubicles and wide-open offices is prompting many American workers to find a retreat in an unlikely place: the bathroom.

The restroom also is replacing the traditional break room, experts said, and has become a place where ideas are developed and departmental lines are crossed. Corporate architects have taken notice too, borrowing the design ambience found in old-fashioned “fainting rooms” and applying it to office washrooms.

“The bathroom is a hangout,” said Sheri Costa, a 29-year-old San Francisco resident who works at a public relations firm. She estimates that a five-minute bathroom break can easily turn into a 30-minute gab fast. “If I’m having a bad day or I need to step away from a situation, I go there.”

The workplace trend follows one in home bathrooms, which many people view as stress-free sanctuaries. Home bathrooms have gotten bigger--nearly doubling in size over the last decade--and there is an increased emphasis on making them comfortable. Stereos, televisions, VCRs, chairs, telephones, coffee makers and mini-refrigerators are becoming more common, according the American Standard 2000 Bathroom Habits Survey.

People who use the home bathroom to relax associate those feelings with the bathroom at the office, said Joy Gaetano, a labor relations committee member for the Society for Human Resource Management.

And relaxation is hard to come by in open offices, where it is difficult to get away from co-workers’ phone calls and conversations.

“There are days when I feel like I’m going to break down,” said Costa, who has sat near several co-workers. “I just need to step away and vent or relax. The bathroom serves as a crisis-management center.”

Costa’s co-worker Clarissa Horowitz, 29, of Kensington, Calif., agreed. “I use the bathroom as a quiet, private moment to check-in with my wrinkles,” Horowitz said. “On difficult days, I try to figure out if they are getting worse from the stress.”

A Natural Place for Employees to Interact

By relaxing on a regular basis, employees become more energetic and willing to work, said Rick Shinn, director of the Mid-Atlantic Wellness Institute in Richmond, Va.

“It’s a no-brainer,” said Shinn, who teaches stress management to businesses. “Employees need a place to go and relax; it might as well be the bathroom. Companies should take notice. It costs very little to pump in some mellow music and add lounge chairs.”

Those touches also create an atmosphere in which employees are more willing to talk to co-workers and bosses. Gaetano, who also is vice president of corporate human resources at USFilter, a Palm Desert water-treatment company, said bathrooms serve as natural places to interact, producing an environment where the chain of command doesn’t matter.

Employees are more willing to discuss problems or brainstorm ideas.

Though USFilter executives don’t go out of their way to decorate its bathrooms, Gaetano said the company does recognize the importance of the office washroom.

“Our bathrooms are pretty plain--no frills or special extras,” she said. “Some may have a couple of plants, but that’s it. Still, we know that our employees will use the bathrooms to discuss things they can’t discuss in front of others. We respect that.”

Some corporate architects are designing workplace bathrooms that can easily double as lounges.

By intertwining elements found in old-time fainting rooms with the “casual Friday” comfort of today, designers can provide a room that serves the physical and relaxation needs of employees, said Barton Myers, a UCLA professor of architecture and a corporate designer.

‘Fainting Rooms’ Were a Model for Comfort

Fainting rooms were popular in performing-arts theaters throughout the United States and Europe in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. When theater-goers were tired or bored of the opera, they’d visit the fainting room, a lavishly decorated space with sofas and champagne bars, Myers said. That idea led to the enhancement of salons, common in hotels, and later, washrooms with adjoining cot rooms.

However, for many years, workplace bathrooms were ignored, he said.

“Employee interaction is one of the biggest issues a company deals with,” Myers said. “If the bathrooms can do this while providing a safe and comfortable environment, then why not make them better? It makes so much sense.”