Everyday Cool Tips: Bringing Your Dog to the Office

Wednesday, April 4, 2012

Bringing Your Dog to the Office

The author's dog, Miles the Chihuahua.

The International Journal of Workplace Health Management recently published a study investigating the presence of dogs in the workplace on employee stress and organizational perceptions. As a dog owner, I was interested to see what the results were.

The study focused on studying three groups of workers?those who bring their dogs to work (DOG group), those who have a dog but don?t bring them to work (NODOG group), and those who don?t have pets at all (NOPET group).

They gathered data on physiological and perceived stress, perceptions of job satisfaction, organizational affective commitment, and perceived organizational support.

What they found was over the course of the work day, stress declined for employees who brought their dog to work with them. Stress levels increased for the non-dog groups.

?A significant difference was found in the stress patterns for the DOG group on days their dogs were present and absent. On dog absent days, owners? stress increased throughout the day, mirroring the pattern of the NODOG group.? ?International Journal of Workplace Health Management

It has been widely accepted that pets have been associated with a number of positive health outcomes, including increased survival one-year after a heart attack, fewer doctor visits, less loneliness, and greater social report, the study says. Pets actually buffer the impact of stress for their owners. And a freelancer’s life is often stressful.

?The most strongly endorsed benefit of having pets in the workplace was perceived lowering of stress.? ?International Journal of Workplace Health Management

When I work from home, my Chihuahua, Miles, sits in his bed under my desk and keeps me company. I love bringing my dog to the office, but I don?t do it very often. I recognize that while I love having my dog around, and some of my coworkers love having my dog around, it?s not joyful for everyone. If you work in a coworking space or with other employees, here are some things to consider before bringing your buddy to work with you:

Ask Around

Before you bring your dog to your office, you should ask if it?s okay. Even if you own the business, if you have employees, you should make sure they are comfortable with it. Even though I now own a dog, I spent a good part of my life afraid of them.

Strange dogs make some people uncomfortable, and if your employees or coworkers are nervous about having a four-legged friend in the office, reconsider. You don?t want productivity and morale to go down because of your pet.

Is Your Dog Well Behaved?

I worked for a boutique editing company in Boston where the boss brought his sweet dog to the office practically everyday. He was a good dog, and our clients loved him. However, the UPS man was terrified of him?for good reason. This dog had a beef with the kind UPS deliveryman and would bark terribly whenever he would deliver a package. We could never figure out why?but clearly this dog was making this UPS man?s job harder. He was obviously scared of this dog and I always felt bad for him when he?d come to our office door.

One of the reasons I don?t bring Miles to the office with me a lot is because he is an 8-pound guard dog. Whenever someone walks in the door, he barks and runs to find out who it is. The barking doesn?t last long?he?s just alerting me to the fact that someone is here?but it can be off putting for anyone who visits our office. His bark makes him sound like a much bigger, and more ferocious, dog. This is not the way I want visitors welcomed to our workplace.

Also, my dog has a tendency to like, or not like, people for various reasons. He?s actually a pretty good judge of character. If he doesn?t like you, he will snarl and bark no matter how many treats you give him. Once he even snuck in to one of my coworkers offices that he didn?t like and pooped on his floor. Not good.

I bring Miles to the office when I know it?s going to be a quiet day without a lot of interruptions. I also have a door to my office that I can close if need be. Some dogs aren?t meant for cubicle dwelling.

Be Clean

No one wants to be around a smelly dog. You might not know your dog reeks because you live with them, but that doesn?t mean he or she doesn?t. To me, there is nothing worse than a smelly dog.

If you are going to bring your dog into the office, make sure they are groomed. You might not mind their stench, bad breath, or shedding fur, but, I assure you, others do mind.

These are just three things to consider before bringing your dog into your office environment. Do you have other suggestions? Please leave them as a comment for other readers to think about.