Make every day “bring your dog to work day”?

Today is “Bring your dog to work day”. We can’t wait to see all those dog pics.

But what we see more and more often – especially in the agency world – is that every day could be “bring your dog to work day”. Many of our clients have resident office dogs, some even include dog related questions as part of their round one of the interviews.

What we hear from our clients is that having pets in the office of agency creates benefits for employees and the business alike. It’s not only an employee perk to be able to bring in a furry friend. Businesses see that it improves office morale and motivation; reducing sick days and helps with maintaining a healthy work-life balance. Even just taking the dog out for a 5 minute power walk during the day, as a brief ‘breather’ can do wonders.

The most common reasons we hear from our clients for having an office dog are:

Work-Life Balance

Making even long work hours flow and possible, pets remind them to take necessary (physical and mental) breaks and employees don’t need to rush home at a set time to walk or feed the dog.

Reduced Stress and Improved Productivity

Taking “breather breaks”, getting some fresh air every now and then, especially during long days in the office can help reduce stress. Just petting a dog has been proven to reduce stress. Also, taking the mind off briefly and actually moving helps employees feel and return refreshed – ready to get back into it. And a walk may inspire a new take or creative direction. Or it can create the space needed to see a problem from a new perspective even.

Communication and bringing the team together

Dogs do funny things – we’ve all seen the Youtube clips. They can trigger interactions and they can just simply make us happy, they’re shared and they’re loved. Also, going for a brief walk with the dog and a colleague can be a lot better overarchingly for employee and business than taking that “social” smoker break. Connections and communication can build trust and can bring the team closer together.

They help keep things positive and happy

Dogs can be a huge social support for people and they give genuine unconditional love at all times. A dog doesn’t care if the entire team is tense because of a deadline ahead and they don’t care if you’ve done something wrong, or are just having a grumpy kind of day.

A dog will be its cheerful self regardless of what else is going on in the office, helping to keep the mood positive and happy.