Are you lucky enough to have an office dog?
Well, if you are, there may some serious benefits to you and your working life.
A few years back, a study from the Virginia Commonwealth University found that having a dog in the office can reduce your stress level.
It can also boost productivity and make work more satisfying for other employees, too.
It makes perfect sense, in our opinion.
So, how exactly did the study work?
The researchers measured saliva samples of 550 people in an American company, and found that employees who brought their dogs to work had lower stress hormone levels than those who didn’t.
Speaking about these important (yes, important) findings, principal investigator Randolph T. Barker, Ph.D said:
“Although preliminary, this study provides the first quantitative study of the effects of employees’ pet dogs in the workplace setting on employee stress, job satisfaction, support and commitment.”
“Dogs in the workplace can make a positive difference,” he added.
“The differences in perceived stress between days the dog was present and absent were significant. The employees as a whole had higher job satisfaction than industry norms.”
According to Mr Barker, the research team observed special dog-related communication in the office, that might have contributed to employee performance.
Barker said that findings revealed mostly positive comments from employees, and we’re hardly surprised.
“The effect of pets in reducing the impact of stress and enhancing communication found in other settings may extend to the workplace,” he said.
“Pet presence may serve as a low-cost, wellness intervention readily available to many organisations and may enhance organisational satisfaction and perceptions of support.”
“Of course, it is important to have policies in place to ensure only friendly, clean and well-behaved pets are present in the workplace,” he added.
The study also found that employees who did not have a dog to bring into work were regularly requesting to bring their colleague’s dogs out for a walk.
The message here? We all need an office dog in our lives.
Oh and incase you need more convincing, read Jobbio’s own reasons on why office dogs make everything better.
