Dog Friendly Workplaces: Some Considerations By Steph Rousseau

Across Europe, as many as one in five workplaces are now allowing dogs. Tech companies and other innovative businesses have led the way in this regard. In Ireland, some of the best-known companies to allow dogs include Google, Hubspot, AirBnB, and shared workspaces such as WeWork.

It’s really no surprise- millennials, the generation who increasingly dominate the workforce, are committed pet owners. Although less likely to be married or living with their partners, they are more likely to have pets than any other generation. Despite this increase in pet ownership, a lot of pet dogs are spending much of their time in social isolation.

Many are confined to houses, some to single rooms, and others to small ages while their owners spend often long hours at work. For a social species such as the dog, this is a very unnatural set-up, and unsurprisingly, many dogs suffer from separation anxiety.

The Benefits of a dog in the workplace

For those whose employers are open to the idea of allowing dogs in the workplace, taking your dog to work with you can provide a host of benefits to all involved. In opening their doors to employee’s pets, employers have been shown to benefit from:

An increase in employee productivity;
Reduced stress-related absenteeism;
Enhanced recruitment;
Improved staff-retention.

Staff who share their workplaces with dogs have been shown to have:

Reduced levels of stress;
Increased job satisfaction;
Lower blood pressure in stressful situations;
Increased social interaction;
Increased cohesion and team work,
Improved mood.

My book on office dogs is now available to pre-order on Amazon!#officedogs #DogTraining

— Happy Office Dogs (@HappyOfficeDogs) October 29, 2018

And the dogs get to have one of the things they value most in this world- companionship. In addition to this, they can benefit from a much more interesting life, experiencing new environments and interacting with colleagues- both human and canine. Without careful planning and consideration, however, adding a dog to the workplace can be a recipe for disaster!

Your miscreant dog running riot in your workplace is unlikely to reduce your stress levels- or anyone else’s. I’ve also had clients who had acquired a puppy on the understanding that he/she could come to work, the suggestion of a puppy joining the workforce met with unbridled delight from their colleagues, only for the same colleagues to quickly discover that the reality of having a puppy in the office was not actually to their liking!

Challenges with dogs in the workplace

As for challenges and risks associated with having dogs in the workplace, they do exist. Thankfully, however, the ever-increasing number of businesses opening their doors to pets is a testament to the fact that they can be overcome. Some of the most commonly cited concerns include:

A building lease prohibiting the presence of pets- speak to the landlord about negotiating an exception. Having a clear policy in place for the rules surrounding the dogs’ presence may be helpful in this regard.

Staff members with a fear or dislike of dogs- dividing the workplace into dog-friendly and dog-free zones (or loose dogs and on-lead dog areas) can go a long way to appeasing people who are nervous around dogs or who dislike them.

Staff members with allergies- again, limiting the areas to which dogs can have access and labelling accordingly can minimise the risk to those with allergies (and remember, most of the pet-owning workforce will be arriving to work with a dusting of pet allergens brought from home anyway!)

Dogs proving to be a distraction- recent research from the University of Lincoln suggests that the reverse is actually true!

Having spent a number of years researching the phenomenon of dogs in the workplace, and meeting office dogs and their humans across many industries, my number one piece of advice for anyone thinking of bringing their dog to work is, to be honest. Be honest with yourself about your dog’s personality, and how well suited they will be to your work environment. If you’ve got a dog who barks hysterically every time anyone stirs, and you work in an office with thirty people who are regularly on the move, you might want to reconsider.

Be honest with your colleagues about what they can expect from your dog, and what you’ll expect from them. Does Fido roll in every puddle he passes on a rainy day and then emit an odour of wet dog for the rest of the day? If your dog is still a puppy, the reality is that puppies like to investigate things… with their teeth. Will your colleagues be willing to keep things off the ground that they don’t want the puppy to find and destroy?

For bigger businesses, having dog-friendly and dog-free zones can go a long way towards keeping those less keen on dogs on the side. As part of the research for my book, I carried out a
a survey looking at people’s attitudes to dogs in the workplace and found that about 50% of the people who were against having dogs in the workplace would be open to persuasion if they could minimise their contact with the dogs in question through the implementation of dog-friendly and dog-free zones.

With Bring Your Dog to Work Day coming up on the 21 st June, there’s no better time to think about having dogs at work. For more tips on ensuring that having your dog in the office goes as smoothly as possible, consider arming yourself with a copy of my book, Office Dogs: The Manual!

Steph Rousseau is an Irish dog trainer and behaviourist with a particular interest in facilitating dogs in the workplace. Her book Office Dogs: The Manual, published by Hubble & Hattie, is available to order from Amazon and you can follow her work on her website www.happyofficedogs.com or Facebook & Instagram- @HappyOfficeDogs

And if you are looking for the best products for your dog, make sure to visit My Pet Needs That.

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