What your workplace toilets say about your wellbeing strategy

New research finds that 82.5% of UK adults see the condition of workplace washrooms as a sign of how seriously employers take employee wellbeing. It is a less glamorous part of employee experience, but a hard one to ignore.

A company can put considerable effort into its wellbeing strategy. But what happens when employees walk into the toilets and find that the basics have been neglected?

New research suggests the answer matters more than employers might think. In a survey commissioned by Handy Dryers, the company behind Sterillo, and conducted by Censuswide, 82.5% of UK adults agreed that the condition and freshness of workplace washrooms indicate how seriously an employer takes employee wellbeing.

The Sterillo Washroom Hygiene Survey 2026 questioned 2,000 UK adults between 15 and 17 September. It asked about perceptions of washrooms in workplaces and other public settings.

That distinction matters. The finding does not mean that 82.5% of employees are unhappy with their own workplace toilets, or that the research measured the effect of washroom conditions on health. It shows how strongly people associate the everyday environment with an employer’s consideration for its people.

A small room can leave a big impression

The wider survey found that 95.2% of respondents consider it important for public washrooms to be free from unpleasant odours (I am assuming the remaining 5% lost their sense of smell in Covid..), while 81.8% said washroom odours influence their perception of an organisation.

Almost half (47%) said they would regard a visibly clean public washroom as unclean if it smelled unpleasant. More than a third (35.5%) reported having left a public washroom without using it because of its condition, smell or perceived hygiene.

Those figures relate to public washrooms generally, not exclusively to places of work. But the workplace finding makes the connection with employee experience particularly relevant.

In Britain, HSE guidance on workplace facilities says workers must have access to toilets and handwashing facilities, including soap and a means of drying their hands. Providing the facilities is one thing; making sure they remain clean, functional and properly stocked is another.

Wellbeing is also about the everyday basics

Of course, office toilets are not a substitute for fair workloads, good management or meaningful support. Nor should one survey of public attitudes be treated as proof of a direct link between washroom quality and employee wellbeing.

But it does raise a practical question for HR and facilities teams: are the everyday conditions employees encounter consistent with the organisation’s stated commitment to caring for people?

That gap between a wellbeing promise and the experience people actually trust is one we have explored before at EmEx. A clean, accessible, well-maintained washroom may never appear on the glossy benefits page. People will notice when it is missing, though.

The research was commissioned in connection with Sterillo, a washroom air-treatment range from Handy Dryers. Its findings describe respondents’ views and reported experiences, rather than testing any cleaning method or product’s performance.