Are Toilets The Enemies of Efficiency?
The toilet is the enemy of efficiency. Employers want to maximize the time of the workers. However, going to the toilet is a normal physical need of people. The management efficiency of a company ranks first, but the physical need of the employees should not be ignored. Regarding how long one should spending in the toilet, it's difficult to talk about humane management.
Recently, the staff of Chinese video-sharing mobile app company Kuaishou was shocked to see that timers had been installed above their toilet stalls at the work, in an attempt to monitor the duration of defecation.
Images of the toilets from an office of Beijing technology company Kuaishou were shared to Chinese Twitter-like site Weibo on Friday and show electronic timers hanging above each cubicle.
Sensors can be seen on the door frame that are used to trigger the timer.
The post quickly went viral on the social media site, prompting a wave of anger over the bathroom addition from the company.
“This is really miserable for workers that there is no toilet freedom,” one person said.
“Some people can be on the toilet for up to 30 minutes,” another person said.
“Toilets are not enemies of efficiency,” reads one of the top-ranked comments. “When endless overtime work becomes the norm, and when the absence of overtime pay becomes standard for the industry, in such an environment, you have to come up with other ways to reduce the intensity of work. People end up spending time in the toilet to make up for the lost time in their personal lives.”
Some defended the company, saying “People can be on the toilet for up to 30 minutes, just playing on their phones.” But overall, public response to the measures was decidedly negative.
Kuaishou responded to the backlash by saying that there was a misunderstanding with the timers. According to the company, they were intended to help with long lines and overcrowding in bathrooms.
They released a statement on Weibo saying, “the toilets in the building are currently limited, and the queue for employees to go to the toilet is very long, but the structure of the building makes it hard to install new bathrooms.” They explained, “timer was put in the bathroom to test how often the toilets are used per day and to help us determine how many portable toilets we need to install for the staff.”
Reference: Yahoo, radiichina.com