Lehman had just crashed. Markets were collapsing, people were losing jobs. Sub-prime crisis experts were cropping up like weeds overnight, pontificating across the internet.
But, it really hit us that the crisis had come visiting, when we walked into the office restroom one morning. The quality of the toilet paper had been slashed significantly, or as business transformationists would call it, been “rationalised”.
Morning shows the day, the adage goes.
After years in consulting traversing across and living in offices that were never mine own, I can assure you, my reader, that the real adage is - The restroom shows the way.
What a weird, pointless topic, you wonder, while wrinkling your noses in distaste.
Bear with me for a minute.
It was my first day in that country, in the client office. I walked into the restroom and walked out immediately. “Can you please ask someone to replenish the toilet paper?” I asked the person at the front desk. “We bring our own toilet paper,” they said, without batting an eyelid. All through my time in that country, I carried toilet paper in my handbag, thinking perhaps it is a cultural thing. No, it was just a cash strapped organization saving on toilet paper expenses, amongst other things.
There was this other time I walked into the restroom after my first meeting at the client organization. It smelt like bliss, was super clean and very spacious. And, wait for it, they didn’t even work on a ‘BYOT’ (Bring Your Own Toilet-paper) model. I drove that project for months, amidst great culture, camaraderie, and a client who treated us very well.
The simple things matter. Clean workspaces, well maintained toilets, working coffee machines, all of them actually signal the quality of the workplace. And I am not talking lavishness, just functional, everyday things.
So, what are you going to do the next time you attend an interview at an organization? Check the restroom out. It will tell you more than anyone ever can.
P. S. Views strictly personal. Post doesn’t refer to any organisation that I am currently associated with.
Agree! In an organisation that i was interning for we had Oreo biscuits in pantry, free noodles etc., but after i joined them full time we were down to Cremica biscuits and within 6 months, 2 of the sister teams in my org were dissolved, impacting few new employees who joined along with me as well!