When you’re at work, doing your job and collaborating with your coworkers, has it ever occurred to you that there might be something missing?
Something that would ease tension and stress, add fun and support to the work environment, and even increase productivity and morale?
How about dogs? From corporate boardrooms to small community businesses, many companies are placing more emphasis on job satisfaction, and including dogs in the workplace is proving to be one very successful way to accomplish this.
5 main benefits of bringing dogs to work
Happy, friendly, well-behaved dogs can enhance the well-being of everyone in a work environment, in several ways. They can:
1. Reduce stress
Dogs ease our mindsets and help us manage stress. Studies have shown that reducing anxiety in people on the job can lower their blood pressure and raise their levels of the good-feeling hormone, oxytocin. Many workers who toil away hour after hour can ease their stress simply by talking to a dog. Dogs don’t judge and they always listen!
2. Boost productivity
When a dog’s energy is present in the work environment, the ability to receive inspiration and work smarter somehow becomes more apparent. Creativity flows, difficult projects feel a little more approachable, and the dog’s relaxed and happy nature helps workers rid themselves of worry and get motivated.
3. Offer joy to break time
Everyone needs to step back from their work now and then. Whether it’s lunch break or 15 minutes of relief from thinking too much, having a dog around enhances this down time by offering joy and play. This on its own relieves stress and wonderfully distracts people from tasks that are perplexing or overwhelming them. Once break time is over, your heart feels lighter and your oxytocin levels are higher.
4. Raise morale
Poor workplace morale is one of the biggest contributors to low productivity and employee absenteeism. When dogs share a work environment with us, people feel happier and more relaxed, and are therefore more apt to get along better, and to look forward more to coming to work.
5. Enhance worker wellness
Spiritual, physical, emotional and mental wellness all get a boost from having dogs in the work environment. Their unconditional love and sociability, along with their ability to transform the atmosphere (both inside and out) helps reduce depression and anxiety, and that enhances overall health and well-being.
It’s also good for dogs!
Dogs are incredibly social animals. They need both physical and mental stimulation to thrive and be healthy in their own right. As your responsibility towards your job pulls you away from home, your dog gets left alone for hours at a time, leading to stress and separation anxiety, as well as boredom, depression and destructive behavior. By taking your dog to work with you, however, all that angst is eliminated, plus you don’t have to worry about what’s going on with him while you’re not home.
