No more ‘ruff’ days when pets at work

Everyone loves an office animal: Barry from accounts with his whacky tie Thursdays, Martha from HR with her crazy hair colours and Ted the resident sheep dog that sleeps on the job and only responds to “good boy”.

Pets and people are better together, which is why Nestlé Purina PetCare New Zealand (‘Purina’) has just launched “Purina Pets at Work Day” – a day to celebrate your other (other) half.

While your furry friends might be lacking in the qualifications to hit this month’s targets, they’ll definitely bring other key attributes to the table including helping to lower stress levels throughout the work day and higher levels of job satisfaction – the perfect antidote to a “ruff” day.

If your boss thinks you’ll be horsing around with pets in the office, they’re wrong. In fact, pets can increase productivity and make for an utterly delightful day (even if they do spend most of it just lying around).

Jennifer Chappell, head of Marketing at Purina says: “There’s nothing like having pets in the office, whether it’s a ‘mental health’ break to play games with them or bringing them to a new business meeting to break the ice, there are a heap of benefits to having some wagging tails around.”

“At Purina we have pets in the office every day and they’re so good for our spirits and our health, seeing as we’re always getting out in the fresh air to walk them! We want Kiwis to give it a go for just one day of the year to see how much fun it can be.”

How can you make your office pet friendly?

 

1) GET MANAGEMENT AND STAFF ON BOARD.

Be sure to engage management upfront, so you have full support for your program from the top down. 

2) WORK WITH MANAGEMENT TO ESTABLISH GUIDELINES.

Decide which types of pets can come to work e.g. dogs and/or cats and whether or not they need to be allocated different days. You also should establish a few “pet-free” areas in your office (areas like restrooms, food preparation areas and conference rooms).

You may also want to ask about any pet allergies in the office and find ways to respect others’ comfort with pets.

3) GET YOURSELF SET UP.

Make sure you have water bowls on hand for thirsty pets, a nice warm spot for them to curl up; some toys to entertain them and if you’ve got cats coming in, a litter box or two probably won’t go astray. It’s also a good idea to put a sign on your front door letting visitors know that there are pets running loose in the office, so they can be aware not to leave doors open and know to expect a friendly sniff when they arrive!

4) GET OUTSIDE.

Take dogs for a walk at lunchtime and make sure you have regular outside toilet breaks to avoid any little accidents. Yet another benefit to having pets in the office – it gets you out of your chair, in the fresh air, getting some exercise and stimulating the mind!