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I would ask for an additional room in your building to pump in, since with that many women needing to use it, there's not enough time/space. I would also point out that a bathroom is not a suitable room for pumping, especially given the fact that there are so many unused offices.

ETA: I do love that you have a pumping room. I was pumping in a storage closet and had to balance everything on my knees.

I would for sure ask!!

Why not just use an empty office?? Just put up a sign?

@Adira: Assuming everyone works roughly an 8-5 schedule, that would not work at all. Person 1 would pump as soon as they walk in the door? Person 5 pump right before they leave for the day?

At some point you just need to tell them they need to offer an extra space. Our office had to come up with a second room because so many pumping moms needed it.

I would make a stink. Having an Outlook calendar or just a set schedule like @Adira: posted would never work for me. My pump schedule is based off of every three hours after my baby wakes up for the day and eats. Some times he eats at 5:30, so my first pump at work is 8:30.... sometimes he eats at 7, and my first pump at work is 10.

I would meet with all the other moms and try to figure out what the ideal schedules would be for everyone and then see how they could be staggered. Then figure out how many rooms you really need to accommodate those schedules. After figuring that out, I'd see if every mom would agree to keep persistently asking HR for the number of rooms you all agreed on and see if they do something if there are enough people asking.

HR probably does not understand that pumping cannot be done on command simply because it was scheduled into Outlook, there is biology involved and some of you will probably need to overlap schedules by necessity. So you guys will have to make that clear. Maybe even provide the specific schedules you guys want (all of you) to HR so they can see what you are up against.

@Mrs D: That stinks. Maybe ask the man and see what he says? Sometimes women can be more catty than men in these types of cases (I have seen cases of things like "well, if I did it in horrible conditions, than you should be able to as well...").

Oh man, I would be annoyed.

I work on a large campus and also pump (3rd baby). There are a few pumping rooms located throughout but still about ~10+ min walk. Each room has 2 stations and a privacy divider, mini fridge, blankets, rocker, napping cot, extra pump parts, ziplock bags, etc. It's first come first serve, but there is also a schedule in case some women need a specific time (appt is forfeited if you don't show up within 15 mins). For me, I don't like having a set time bc my first pumping time depends on when I last nursed LO in the morning and how busy I am with my actual work.

My boss knows of the pumping rooms but she has told me I am welcome to pump in her office, if I ever need to. I prefer not to bc that means she is room-less for 15-20 mins, but there have been times where I need to pump quickly and get to another task/mtg. I feel like a lot of my day is wasted walking 10+ mins each way, 2 times a day just to pump.

Right now, there is one office immediately across from my shared-office that is vacant MWF so she got in touch with Facilities to give me a key. So I only use the pump room T/Th.

I would totally make a stink about it bc I think having to put effort into scheduling pumping times is a waste of work/productivity time. Seems like an easy solution to have access to another room, considering there are vacancies... Maybe I've been spoiled by the pumping accommodations..

Just use an empty office until someone says something?

I ended up using an empty office near my cube with DS1 and not asking HR about it. Our facilities dept would not approve of that - I think they took the chair out of the office but I borrowed one from a nearby cube and pumped in there anyways.
Now they have added locks to the doors of our small conference rooms so there is an available room on every floor to pump.

Employers have to provide “reasonable break time for an employee to express breast milk for her nursing child for 1 year after the child’s birth each time such employee has need to express the milk.” EACH TIME---if you can't pump when you need to (and sharing a room with that many others there's no way!) they are breaking the law. I'd definitely go to the HR guy!

I as in a similar situation with the Outlook calendar and it was great in theory, but meetings, people situations, urgent deadlines, etc. kept popping up...it was a disaster.

@Mrs D: Look up the federal law and the law in your state. When we were designing our new office, my boss was planning to use the ADA bathroom as a pumping room. I printed the law out, highlighted the relevant sections, and handed it to him. As a result, we have four phone rooms and two of them have drywall instead of glass walls as originally planned so that they can be used for pumping.

@Adira: I disagree with your advice because I don't think it is reasonable for everyone to stick with rigid 30-minute increments. If a meeting runs late or has to be scheduled over your time slot, then you are screwed for the day. More flexibility is required for most professional jobs.

@Mrs D: I think you should confront your regular HR guy even though he is male. Why should his gender matter? In fact, it might make him uncomfortable and more motivated to accommodate you so he doesn't have to worry about it anymore!

ETA: Looks like @babypugs already addressed my comment about an overly tight schedule.

I would make a stink. Demand one of the empty offices be designated as another nursing room, and don't take no for an answer. Five of you pumping 3x a day in a closet-size space is ludicrous. I know when I was pumping I was adamant about not pumping after 3pm, so I could be sure I was ready when LO nursed before bed (when she was cranky from a long daycare day with little napping, and primed to get upset, so low supply was not going to cut it).

@avivoca: Agree! I used the shower/ storage room and had to balance the pump on an ironing board! Not ideal but I was the only pumping mom my employer had in 40 years of doing business.