Last week, we explored the importance of taking action. For various reasons, including medical concerns, public health, and preserving one's dignity, having an open restroom is so much more important than most of us realize.
Though, as with all issues, there are always two sides of the coin (and sometimes even more than two). As a business, there is a lot to consider when deciding to open your restroom to the public.
With the Open Stalls project, it is not at all in our mission to have every business open their restroom to the public. Our mission is to provide all businesses with the resources and support necessary to make a well-informed decision about what their space can handle.
Not all businesses are created equal and recognizing what is best and safest for your customers, your staff, and yourself is equally important to the Open Stalls project as having more facilities for people to answer nature's call.
Just like the safety videos in airplanes explain, before helping another with their oxygen mask, we must first put on ours. In other words, we cannot help others if we are not healthy and safe first.
Making this well-informed decision can start with a simple pros and cons list. Before making any decision it is always good to work through each side of the situation. The pros and cons listed below are a mixture of both business and community-focused ideas.
Pros
1. Potential increase in business.
Folks who come in to use the restroom might end up looking around and making a purchase. Or they might feel generous enough to make a purchase because of the kindness shown to them for being allowed to use the restroom.
In a recent study by the Crohn's and Colitis Foundation, 58% of respondents said they would “probably” or “definitely” spend more money at businesses that open their restrooms to the public. More than this, 57% said they intentionally visited a specific business because they had an open and well-kept restroom.
2. Improved community health and cleanliness of your storefront.
We discussed the idea of improved public health in last week's post, but it is an important and positive result of having more restrooms available to the public. Not only does it prevent the spread of disease, it keeps biowaste off the streets.
According to a study done in San Francisco, the implementation of the Pit Stop and an increase in access to public bathrooms in general, reduced feces reports, especially in places with high rates of people experiencing homelessness. This, in turn, reduces people's chances of coming into contact with feces which can host diseases that make people sick.
3. When the community thrives, so do you!
While opening your restroom can boost sales and improve public health, it's also just a nice thing to do. We don't always know what people are going through and simply affording them access to a resource that should already be a right, is a small act of kindness we can show each other.
When we show compassion and kindness to one another, we benefit and strengthen our community in so many ways. More than this, when people are taken care of, they have the time and resources to put money back into the economy.
Cons
1. Concerns over the staff's safety.
Safety concerns can be a big deterrent when deciding to open your restroom to the public. Whether it is substance use or inappropriate behavior, you and your employees will have to know how to best handle these situations in the event something happens. Moreover, your employees signed on to work at your business, and knowing how to deescalate or even administer naloxone might not have been in the job description.
With this in mind, it is also important to evaluate realistically how often a crisis might occur. Most people entering into a business to use the restroom are there to do just that. However, it is important to be prepared for anything. Plus, training your employees on general first aid can be helpful in any situation.
Check out some of these safety tips specifically for businesses by PHLUSH!
2. Increased maintenance.
Having more people use your restroom will mean having to restock and clean more often. This can be an added cost to consider as well as an extra task to ask of your employees.
3. You are left to fill a void the city should have filled ages ago.
It should not be your responsibility to carry on your own to provide a service that should have been provided by the city ages ago. Having public facilities throughout Seattle is something the city has tried and failed to do time and time again. Perhaps we aren't tackling it in the right way, or maybe it is not a priority for the city, but regardless of the reasons the fact of the matter is that the city is failing to provide its community with an incredibly important facility.
Worrying that opening your restroom to the public might disincentivize the city to solve this issue is a very valid concern. This is why opening your restrooms to the public can't be the only solution on the playing field.
This list is by no means exhaustive and will not cover all concerns or benefits of having your restroom open to the public, but it is a starting point for what to consider when making that decision.
As always, compassion and kindness are the most important factors to consider in this issue. When we show compassion and kindness in our community, which also includes your staff, we build better systems of support. With this in mind, it is also important to reiterate that we cannot help others unless we are both healthy and safe, first.
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