Taking Dogs Into the Office: A Novel Strategy for Promoting Work Engagement, Commitment and Quality of Life

Abstract

Despite growing interest in “take your dog to work” days and the wellbeing benefits associated with interactions with a friendly dog (e.g., animal-assisted activities), there has been little quantification of the benefits of this. We analyzed responses to work-related (work engagement, turnover intention, work-based friendship acuity, social media use, and work-related quality of life) and dog-related (pet dog attachment and dog general health) scales from 749 employees. The predominantly female sample was comprised of 243 employees who brought their dog to work (167 = “often” brought dog to work; 76 = “sometimes” brought dog to work), the remaining 506 did not bring their dog to work. Employees who “often” took their dog to work reported higher than average work engagement on all factors (vigor, dedication, absorption, total), with significant differences reported in comparison to those who “sometimes” (vigor and total) and “never” (vigor, dedication, absorption, total) took their dog to work. Turnover intention was also significantly lower and work-based friendship acuity higher in the group of employees who “often,” compared to “never,” took their dog to work. Benefits of bringing your dog to work were also observed in terms of work-related quality of life, with higher scores on general wellbeing, home-work interface, job career-satisfaction, control at work, working conditions, and overall work quality of life in those who “often” compared to “never” take their dog to work. Employees who “never” took their dog to work reported lower use of social media during break times. We also identified factors which may be important to consider in developing dogs-in-the-workplace policies; dog-demographics including weight (i.e., size), breed-type, and training may be important to consider in defining the ideal office dog and deserve further research. Given the need to improve employee wellbeing and satisfaction to promote effective business performance and economic gain, these results have important implications for office based businesses considering allowing dogs in the workplace.

Dogs at the Workplace: A Multiple Case Study

“…While all of these factors might relate to job satisfaction, engagement, and turnover intentions, surprisingly, little research has addressed the topic. Hall and Mills [38] found significantly higher self-reported work engagement and lower turnover intention when petfriendly policies are in place. This takes further the findings of Barker [46], who reported that employees who are allowed to bring their pets to work scored higher on multiple job satisfaction scales.…”

“…In addition, dogs can also have positive influences on group dynamics, social interactions, and social behaviors [34,35], and trust is rated higher in groups in which a dog is present [34]. Dogs tend to improve the quality of social interactions in group therapy settings [35], with strangers and also with friends and acquaintances, which even leads to friendships and more social support in groups, thereby influencing long-term relationships in communities [36][37][38]. This might be related to a dog-related increase of oxytocin in humans, which is linked to an increase of pro-social behavior [39].…”

“…This is especially true considering that employees operate today in competitive and stressful environments and that employers realize that dogs can promote employee well-being. Petfriendly policies can be defined as "rules, guidelines, and procedures that accept, welcome and regulate the presence of pets into the working environment, in order to benefit from the human-animal bond and interaction" [38]. Tech companies in Silicon Valley, including Amazon, Google, and Apple, have had pet-friendly policies in place for years.…”

“…At Amazon, around 2000 dogs are regularly brought to work at the main campus [40]. In general, people bring dogs more often when working in smaller offices [38], in smaller and more creative companies, and in non-profit institutions [41].…”

“…This takes further the findings of Barker [46], who reported that employees who are allowed to bring their pets to work scored higher on multiple job satisfaction scales. Moreover, people who bring their dogs to work rate their companies higher on benefits and organizational support than employees who do not own or bring dogs to work [38,43].…”