The Restroom & Breakroom Audit

I once worked for a company whose culture was unmatched.

If you want to find an organization like that, forget the glossy mission statement on the wall. There are only two places you need to audit during your interview: the restroom and the breakroom.

If you walk out of a beautiful conference room with a gorgeous mahogany table, and walk into a badly stocked restroom with flickering fluorescent lights and State Park toilet paper, a message is being broadcast loud and clear:

They care about appearances. They do not care about employees.

We’re not looking for fancy fixtures or a bathroom attendant. We're looking for operational respect. Is the space clean? Is it well-stocked? Or is there water everywhere from a dripping soap dispenser nobody’s bothered to fix for three weeks? If there is an ‘out of order’ sign, is it fresh? Or has it been aging there for months?

Next, hit the breakroom. Does it smell? Are there outdated corporate memos crumpling on the walls? Is there a sign-up sheet for cleaning out the fridge with only women’s names on it? You don’t need free snacks or a Nespresso machine - but is this a space you would actually want to eat your lunch in? (Bonus points for snacks, though).

When I worked at that unmatched company, the reality lived on the floor. Every single person who used the restroom used their paper towel to wipe the counter of any water they splashed. If there was paper on the floor, they picked it up - without wondering who left it there, and without resentment.

And when the sign-up sheet went up for the fridge clean-up? The CFO was the first person to put his name down.

A great culture isn’t just about hiring a good janitorial company and inspecting what you expect. It’s about building an environment so respected that people want to keep it that way. It’s about leadership that refuses to buy into a class system between the boardroom and the breakroom.

From deep-dive research before you apply, to knowing exactly what to audit during your interview, a company will tell you who they are in a hundred subtle ways.

Let EdgePoint HR teach you how to look under the hood, so your next career move is a step up - not a road to burnout.