Are you satisfied with working in an ordinary office? No? Then you should have animals in your office or bring pets into your office. Having pets in the office has a lot of benefits but also poses some problems. Due to COVID-19, more people have pets and have experienced working with pets at home when they cannot work at the office. This article discusses pets in the office.
How does having pets in the office affect productivity?
People might be exposed to many types of stress in their offices. Having pets in offices could be a solution to this stress because the existence of pets makes employees feel like they are not in the office anymore because they can touch, look, and even smell their pets. Many kinds of pets, such as dogs, cats, fish, etc., are taken care of in the office.
These are the main benefits of having pets in the office:
- Boost cooperation
Employees’ cooperativeness will improve through taking care of office pets. This chore for pets makes employees help each other.
- Improving morale
Morale in the workplace will affect any employee greatly. Pets rely on humans to live, so doing a chore for them will improve employees’ morale. Poor morale would lead to even a high level of turnover (Kaushik, 2019). So, having pets in the workplace could be a solution.
- Reduce the amount of stress in the workplace
Stress is a common reason for physical or mental disease. About two out of three people feel stress during work time. However, being able to have their pets in the office will relieve employees’ stress because of the pets’ behavior. Sometimes, cats might sleep on your lap while you are dealing with something difficult, or dogs might bring a leash to ask you to take a walk with their cute eyes.
Problems caused by office pets
On the other hand, there are a lot of problems that might be caused by having office pets. Some considerable problems are:
- Pets sometimes cough up a hairball onto paper;
- Pets sharpen their claws on chairs or furniture;
- Some employees might have allergies to animal hair;
- Pets may be a cause of distraction or disruption; and
- Pets may cause discomfort for some employees (Salmons, 2018).
Therefore, having pets in the office should require employees’ understanding and consideration.
Requirements for having office pets or bringing pets to the workplace
Before having office pets, several things must be in place. Firstly, drafting policies and making the employees sign off on them is essential to understand the risks of implementing such a change. Secondly, a medical document of pets with a history of vaccination is necessary to avoid diseases being transmitted to other animals or workers. Third, it is necessary for the company to provide an adequate environment for those pets. Pets deserve a safe place to live as long as humans have them.
Conclusion
People have pets more than before ever since COVID-19 spread around the world. So, the demand for having pets in the workplace has been rising lately. Having office pets or bringing pets into the office has a certain number of benefits and problems. To deal with them, workers need to understand the risks and take care of their pets with consideration.
References
Kaushik, P. (2019). 4 Reasons Why Employee Morale Is So Important | SB. [online] www.startingbusiness.com. Available at: https://www.startingbusiness.com/blog/employee-morale-importance [Accessed 31 August 2022].
Salmons, K. (2018). Eden Blog | A Short Guide to the Pros and Cons of Pets in the Office. [online] www.edenworkplace.com. Available at: https://www.edenworkplace.com/blog/a-short-guide-to-the-pros-and-cons-of-pets-in-the-office [Accessed 31 August 2022].
