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Comment by 90s_dev | Hacker News Reader

> I've been telling people for years if businesses want employees to have better ideas, they should have more showers in their offices. So far everyone seems to think I'm joking. I'm not.

I have definitely noticed that some of my best ideas or breakthroughs come to me when showering, or sleeping, or eating, or driving, or doing the dishes, or basically any mundane autopilot task where my mind is free to wander. But yeah no, having a shower room in the office is both gross and weird. Maybe offices should.. encourage you to... wash some dishes?

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I've worked in an office with a very nice (clean, private, towels and soap dispensers provided) shower. Actually two (in separate rooms). And taken showers in them. It definitely was not gross, nor do I think anyone thought it weird, nor was I the only person who used them.

After a bicycle commute to work though, not randomly during the day.

Depends. In skyscrapers with multifloor offices, sure. Regular small-ish offices, the showers would be too proximal for comfort.

Still going to disagree... these are effectively equivalent to the bathrooms you would see in the average house. Designed for purpose of course (e.g. no tub, and a rack of rolled towels instead of a place to hang them).

If they were communal ones like you'd see in many gyms I'd see your point. Or if they weren't very well cleaned. But this was just... convenient and nice. Apart from enabling more active transport to work, I don't think anyone thought twice about them.

The office was technically multifloor, 2. Probably a few hundred people in the office on an average day (no clients, just employees). Solely in use by the company I was working for.

Taking a wild guess, was this at Fog Creek / Stack Overflow?

Nope, Bay Area not NYC.

That last 3 companies I've worked for have had this. 2 FAANGs and 1 mid size, household name, tech company.

Sinks where you wash dishes tend to be far more dirty than any shower.

Having showers at work is awesome, it means you can take a proper bike ride to work, and freshen up.

Most places I work have a shower - albeit not just off the main office. Usually part of the building infra. It's great if you cycle to work for example or play sport at lunchtime. It's a good thing if well placed.

What's the trick to finding it?

Finding a job with an office with a shower? Guess it is luck lol

I think that the shower just slows your brain down just enough to get into flow. I've found that walking and driving do the same for me as well.

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