Some companies in certain countries don’t let their workers go to the bathroom, except during their breaks. Is this cruel and unusual treatment? Laws vary from country to country and I know very little about this situation. However, the psychological effects of being treated like a slave cannot be good. If you are working hard, particularly at a call center job, you need to relieve yourself, or the pressure can really mount up. Additionally, imagine how you will feel if someone else tells you when you may have permission to use the bathroom. You will resent such a person.
A place of escape
On a converse note, I will say that in my personal experience, the bathroom is a place of escape for uncommitted workers. This escape mechanism might be what is responsible for the oppressive rules. I once had a programmer who spent half her life in the bathroom. Every time I called, she was in the bathroom. Was she texting? What was she doing? Or was she just avoiding me? If you have a company to run, you can’t have workers go to the bathroom ten times a day and spend long hours in there. Women tend to spend a lot longer in the bathroom than men.
Employees who abuse their bathroom privilege
Having strict bathroom rules for all people is cruelty. But, for those individuals who abuse their bathroom privileges, there need to be rules. If you work eight hours a day and two are spent in the bathroom, that is horrible. For those that spend more than an average of twenty minutes a day in the bathroom, there needs to be some sort of rules. The first rule would be tracking. There should ideally be a way to track how many minutes a particular employee spends in the bathroom and at what times. If someone is abusing the privilege, then perhaps they should be fired.
I’m not sure how to handle the bathroom dilemma, but rules should only apply towards those who can’t function without rules! Gotta go. Never mind, someone else is in the bathroom. I’ll have to wait!