Company hopes to target offices with their toilet (the wall-mounted model is pictured) as they believe cutting down bathroom breaks would dramatically improve productivity. Photo / StandardToilet
Company hopes to target offices with their toilet (the wall-mounted model is pictured) as they believe cutting down bathroom breaks would dramatically improve productivity. Photo / StandardToilet
Well ... bathroom breaks have gone down the toilet.
A fixture that can cut down extended office bathroom breaks has been invented, making it unbearable for employees to sit on the toilet for longer than five minutes.
The "StandardToilet", created by a start-up company by the same name, has a tilted design which prevents people from sitting on it for too long.
The seat, which slopes down 13 degrees, increases strain on the legs similar to a gentle squat thrust, according to developer Mahabir Gill from StandardToilet.
The company, which already has interest from local councils and motorway service stations, hopes to target offices — and believes the design would cut down bathroom breaks and dramatically improve productivity.
"It is estimated that in the United Kingdom alone, extended employee breaks costs industry and commerce an £4 billion [$8b] per annum", Gill said.
"With the advent of flexible zero-hour contracts, it is easy to see why our StandardToilet can be an asset to a business."
Gill added that sloping the seat by 13 degrees makes it inconvenient for employees, but he highlighted that it's not harmful and actually has some health benefits, including improved posture.
"Anything higher would cause wider problems. Thirteen degrees is not too inconvenient, but you'd soon want to get off the seat.
"Medical studies have suggested that using the traditional WC can cause swollen haemorrhoids and weakening of pelvic muscles.
The seat is sloped forward by about 13 degrees to increase strain on the legs similar to a gentle squat thrust, according to developer Mahabir Gill. Photo / StandardToilet
'"The StandardToilet provides increased comfort through promoting the engagement of upper and lower leg muscles which helps reduce musculoskeletal disorders."
A survey by Protecting.co.uk carried out in July 2019 across eight UK cities found that some people were spending up to 28 minutes in the bathroom while at work.
The researchers found that with the average bathroom break in a London office sitting at 28 minutes and 35 seconds, companies might be losing up to two and a half hours of working time per week for each employee.
They worked out that at an average hourly wage in London of £12.78 [$25.51] this was costing companies £1533.60 [$3061.39] per year - per employee.
However, not everybody agrees that toilet time is time wasted.
"Viewing time spent in the toilet as a threat is the wrong way of looking at the issue entirely," Charlotte Jones, co-author of the Around the Toilet project, told Wired.
"I think the importance of the toilet as a refuge during the workday says more about inadequate workspaces, heavy workloads and unsupportive management, than it does about the workers themselves."
