DOG FRIENDLY OFFICE — REALLY?

Much to your surprise, having canines around your workplace could be far more beneficial than you can imagine. The big companies have already realised the benefits it can reap from a dog friendly office policy, and also implemented the policy. To name a few are Google, Nestle, Amazon etc. Not only the top players but also small businesses have started making their office pooch friendly.

“Atmosphere in the office has now become warmer and sociable “, says Nestle`s PR head, after the implementation of dog friendly office policy.

What survey’s and researchers say-

About 4 years back, Professor Barker from University of Virginia carried out a study for determining stress-level in people who work in dog friendly office. He divided a set of participants in group of 3. First, participants who come to office with their dogs, second- who don’t have dogs and third, who have their dogs kept at home. To gauge the stress –level, he tested their saliva to check cortisol level (stress hormone level).

What he observed was that people with their pets in office had low stress levels than the ones who did not have pets at all, whereas those whose pets were at home, their stress levels shooted up at later hours in office. Thus concluding that people with their dogs in office are happier, stress-free and more productive.

In another study, the employees were divided in groups of two. They asked one set to interact with dogs and the other not to interact with the dogs. The two groups then were asked to demonstrate their trust in stranger by making an online transfer. The results as reported in Human-Animal Interaction Bulletin stated that those who played with dogs displayed 24% more trust than the other group.

As per Stephen Collarelli, psychologist at Central Michigan University, there are three major benefits of a dog friendly office. First, dogs in office reduce blood pressure, heart rate and stress, and make individuals feel less lonely. Second, People in dog friendly office are more social and friendly. And third, they are likely to increase cooperation among employees.

To boost its productivity and employee satisfaction, more and more companies are attempting to make their firms animal or dog friendly. Taking a look at what employees opine about this, following were the responses-

“Whenever I’m stressed at work, I get up and go to find a puppy in the office itself. To get some puppy love! Then, after a few minutes, I’m a different person!”, says Zoe Green, Nestle.

“We work long hours. If your dog were home, you would run home quicker. The fact that you can bring in your dog adds to your productivity. I feel stress free and can work hard and play with my dog in the office. I love my job and also this company,” says Herdner, Amazon.

“My dog gives me the much needed break during my working hours at office.”-Falcon, Replacements ltd.

PR Consultant and head says,“Companies have observed interactions between people who had never interacted before the dogs triggered them to. We have also observed increased level of understanding among the employees.

All said, there are downsides of dogs in your workplace. Not everybody is a canine lover. People in offices range from varying intensities of allergies to dogs. May be the mildly allergic ones could still survive in your office, keeping themselves feet away from dogs. But what about the severely allergic ones? If not that, then what about the dogs who are whining and ferocious and pose threat to any outsider visiting the office?

Dog friendly office policies…

Before any company decides to convert itself into a dog friendly one, it is essential that they come with a set of well analysed and employee compatible set of policies.

A few that we could enlist are :

Insure the dog, which takes care of cost for any damage that it may do to any person or belonging in the firm.

Vaccinate the dog as the environment outside home is not as safe for the dog as it is at home.

Ensure that the dog is a housebreaker and is not whining in the office, and is maintaining discipline there.

The firm should take legal permission from the landlord for dog keeping, if the firm is at lease.

Company should be very clear about its dog friendly environment while recruiting new employees.

It should ensure comfort of all employees in regard to presence of dogs in the office. It should be considerate to employees who are allergic to dogs or are asthmatic.

Firm should ensure high cleaning and maintenance in office.

It should keep dog on-leash except for their playing areas or areas created especially for them…

Ensuring enough safety and compliance of its employees, a firm could encourage a dog friendly office environment to boost its productivity and employee satisfaction.

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