Bunkabin Survey Reveals the Current State of Staff Facilities

Providing proper workplace facilities for staff is a basic expectation for employers - but a new survey from Bunkabin has suggested that many workplaces are falling short of the required standard.

We surveyed a total of 1,052 UK professionals about the standard of their on-site staff rooms and welfare facilities, finding that a large percentage of companies are failing to meet the basic needs of their workers - often in ways that are in direct contravention of health and safety law.

Lacklustre staff rooms

Notably, 67% of workers believe their employer could be doing more to improve staff room facilities, with many feeling that their staff areas would need to be larger, cleaner and more comfortable in order to be satisfactory. Indeed, 10% rated these staff facilities as being “bad” or “very bad”, while 39% of respondents said their workplaces do not have a staff room available at all.

When asked about the most sought-after additions to staff communal areas, the following answers emerged as the most popular choices:

• TV - 10%
• Coffee machine - 6%
• Vending machines - 4%
• Sofa - 4%
• Pool table - 4%

Of greater concern was the fact that 6% of workplaces with staff rooms didn’t provide access to clean drinking water, while 7% of workplaces failed to offer a seating area in their staff rooms - suggesting that many businesses are neglecting to provide their staff with even basic amenities.

Toilet facilities fail to meet legal standards

When asked about whether their employers had provided them with toilet and shower facilities, our survey respondents’ answers revealed some even more troubling trends.

It was shown that 28% of workplaces feature toilets that are not separate and lockable, while 11% of businesses do not have the right number of toilets for their workforce - rising to 19% for businesses with a workforce of between six and 25 employees. Meanwhile, 8% of workplaces didn’t have any toilet facilities at all - all of which means these workplaces are failing to uphold their basic requirements under UK health and safety law.

The survey also revealed that 47% of workers think their employers could do more to improve their toilet and shower facilities, with cleanliness regularly cited as one of the most important areas for improvement.

You can view the complete list of questions and answers from our survey below:

Does your workplace have a staff room?

Does your staff room have the following?

How would you rate your staff room facilities?

Do you think your employer could do more to improve the staff room facilities?

Does your workplace have toilet/shower facilities?

Does your workplace have the correct number of toilets for the number of employees?

How would you rate your toilet/shower facilities?

Do you think your employer could do more to improve the toilet/shower facilities?