Stop Negotiating, Start Reframing

Bart has been in ecommerce for over 20 years, and can't imagine a better job to have. He is interested in all things agile, or anything new to learn.

  Communications Management   Organizational Project Management  

About a decade ago, I worked at Amazon during a period of explosive growth. Desks were packed closer together, some of them shared, and every available square foot was put to use. At one point, I had 15 people sitting within eight feet of my desk. It wasn't ideal, but we adapted. The problem we couldn't adapt to? The restrooms.

It wasn't unusual to walk into the men's room and find every stall occupied. Going to another floor didn't help. On particularly bad days, the fastest option was to leave the building and use the restroom across the street. The situation became so frustrating that someone filed a complaint with OSHA. After inspecting the building, OSHA concluded that Amazon met the minimum legal requirement for restroom capacity, assuming an even split between men and women. In a technology company where the workforce was overwhelmingly male, that calculation didn't reflect reality.

As the company debated possible solutions, the conversation became increasingly contentious. Some proposed converting women's restrooms into men's rooms, which understandably created new concerns. At the same time, growing attention to accessibility and gender inclusivity meant that any solution would need to address far more than simple capacity. Then Amazon did something unexpected.

Instead of debating how to divide the existing restrooms, the …

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