We've come across a fun, furry idea to relieve workplace stress. Kitties and puppies! In a fun twist to the workday, many companies are allowing staff to bring their pets with them to the office, and the results are adorable!
Pets Relieve Stress
It's well-documented that pets reduce stress levels. Therefore, how nice would it be to pet an itty bitty kitty after experiencing a rough phone call with a customer? Or better yet, what about your faithful dog resting his face on your lap during an intense board meeting? With a few modifications to your company's policies and office layout, you can decrease stress levels while turning up the cuteness!
Pets Make for a More Sociable Work Environment
Having pets at work offers companies with increased team collaboration. This is due to animals being such wonderful ice breakers. Think about the typical office setup with the sound of workers typing away at their computers over awkward silence. Unless your staff resembles that of a workplace sitcom, it's likely that your office has some shy, or even antisocial people that can benefit from the easy conversations brought about by the itty bitty office kitty playing with a ball of string.
This new social dynamic can lead to office relationships being built that improve team communication and collaboration. Even customer relations can benefit from having pets around. Customers will want to pet the animals in your office and they will walk away from your company with a positive experience, along with a little bit of fur and slobber on their hand.
Pets Get People to Exercise
Another benefit to having a pet-friendly work environment is increased exercise. Think about it; Fido can't sit in an office for nine hours straight. Sooner or later, the pooch has to make an organic contribution to the outside world. This will require someone taking a leash and spending time outside circling the block. Without such an incentive to exercise, employees may spend all of their breaks indoors checking social media while carbohydrates turn into fat.
It's obvious that pets in the workplace can improve the office for the better. However, you probably don't want to allow everyone to bring in all of their pets to work without first taking some precautions. Here's a brief checklist that you will want to go through before opening the floodgate of cuteness.
- Get input from everybody on the team about their like or dislike of pets. For example, a worker terrified of dogs having to spend their day sitting next to a pitbull will not turn out well. You will also want to check for allergies.
- Have cleaning supplies handy along with a clear understanding of who's responsible for cleaning up the messes.
- Create a detailed policy that covers every possible pet problem. What types of pets or breeds aren't allowed? Should pets be vaccinated? Are there areas where pets aren't allowed? What are the consequences if an animal destroys company property? Having answers to these questions figured out in advance will save you a lot of stress for when the poop hits the carpet.
- What do you think? Do you want to bring Poochie to work with you, or would the pet mess be too much for you to handle? Share with us your thoughts in the comments!
