Pros And Cons Of Pets In The Office

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Summary. Allowing pets in the office has several advantages, along with some disadvantages. Pets tend to improve morale, keep people calm and relaxed, and allow pet owners to spend more time at the office. However, they can be disruptive and messy, and not everyone is a pet person.

Deciding whether or not to allow pets in the office is going to depend on what sort of company culture you want to have. If you have a pet-friendly office, that’s going to be a major selling point, which means that you’ll want to retain and hire people who prefer having pets in the office and pass over those who don’t.

Key Takeaways:

Allowing pets in the office means that employees are able to bring their pets to work with them.
Having a pet-friendly office has the benefits of lowering stress, improving morale, being a selling point to potential hires, promoting work-life balance, and increasing attendance.
Employees bringing their pets to the office can have the downsides of the pets being disruptive, making a mess, having conflicts between coworkers’ pets, and making the office unusable for people with allergies or phobias.

Should Your Organization Allow Pets in the Office?

Allowing employees to bring their pets to work is a potential perk to offer. Currently, about 68% of households in the U.S. own a pet, with about 60 million of those being dogs. Millennials, in particular, have prioritized their pets, meaning that offering this policy can be a boon to that age range.

That doesn’t mean it’s without issues, however. Allowing dogs in the office has its own share of complications to consider. The question of whether or not your business should offer the perk is going to depend on your office, the culture, and the people who work there.

Pros of Allowing Pets in the Office

Having a pet-friendly workplace can have a number of benefits for employees and even clients. The pet industry is hugely profitable, reflecting how much pet owners are willing to spend on their four-legged friends. In addition, many large offices allow pets, such as Amazon, Etsy, Google, and Ben & Jerry’s – as well as pet-centric businesses, like Petco.

Here are the positive aspects of allowing pets in the office.

Lowers stress. Having pets around has been shown to lower stress levels. Many pets, particularly dogs, are also highly tuned to people and will go over to someone who’s stressed or anxious to help calm them down.
Talent acquisition. While not everyone loves the idea of a pet-friendly workplace, those that do will prioritize it. That means it can be used both to attract talent and to retain employees. As not very many workplaces are pet friendly, many employees will be reluctant to give the perk up.
Better work-life balance. Caring for a pet when working full time can be difficult, as it requires spending a lot of time away from them. Allowing your employees to bring their pets to the office allows them to spend more time with them and care for them more easily. It also requires them to take brief breaks from work to take care of their pet.
Higher employee satisfaction. Pet-friendly policies not only allow people to bring their pets, which they’ll value greatly, but they also show that their employer cares about them. Something as simple as liking animals can humanize an organization and make it feel less impersonal.
Employee savings. Full-time employees will often have to send their dogs to doggie daycare or hire dog sitters to look after their pets while they’re away. If they can instead bring them to the office to care for them themselves, it can save them a lot of money in pet care.
Improves morale. Dogs, cats, and other pets have a way of lightening the mood when things are tense or stressful. It keeps the workplace lighter and people calmer.
Increases attendance. As your workers won’t have to skip days to take care of their pets, nor will they have to run home to take them for a walk, their attendance is likely to rise. That will likely also lead to higher productivity.

Cons of Allowing Pets in the Office

Unfortunately, having pets in the office isn’t completely without downsides. As pets are beings with their own thoughts and feelings, they aren’t always going to be completely well-behaved. Here are some drawbacks to take into consideration before deciding on a pet policy.

Employee allergies. Some people are allergic to dogs or cats. Unfortunately, that would make a pet-friendly office inhospitable to them. That can either limit your ability to hire or make it so that current employee feels as though they have to leave due to their allergies.
Potential disruptions. As pets are living creatures, they’re not always going to do what they’re supposed to. That means that a dog may start barking during a meeting or presentation or while someone is on the phone. There are a lot of other potential disruptions that can limit productivity.

Those disruptions and distractions may not be limited to just the pet owner, either. Depending on the office plan and what the pet is doing, other people can end up distracted or interrupted by someone else’s pet.
Potential legal or insurance issues. With a pet-friendly policy, businesses can potentially be liable for pet-related injuries. For instance, if a dog bites someone, that can be an insurance issue or even a legal one under the right circumstances.
May be inequitable. As most public transportation doesn’t allow pets, the ability to bring pets to work can be limited to those who own a car. Chances are that not every type of pet will be allowed in the office, either. So that may mean that certain pet owners aren’t able to bring their pets in – such as parrots – while dog owners can bring their dogs.
Pets can cause messes. Sometimes pets end up causing a mess. This is particularly the case with puppies or kittens, who have yet to learn any better. Other times there can be accidents, or a dog may knock something down or mistake a pillow for a chew toy.
Not all pets get along. Due to the fact that pets have their own personalities, they may not all get along. That means that you may have to work a schedule so that two different pets aren’t at the office at the same time – or pay a dog trainer to do mediation.

Pets in the Office FAQ

Do employees like working in pet-friendly offices?

As a general rule, yes, employees like working in pet-friendly offices. As they have their pets in the office, they can spend more time with them. And they can save money on pet care during the day.

That being said, there are those who can’t work in a pet-friendly office, such as those who have allergies or phobias. Pets can also be messy and cause disruptions, which may annoy some people.
Should you keep an office pet?

Having an office pet has both benefits and drawbacks, which means that you’ll need to choose what’s best for your office. Having an animal that’s meant to be in the office all the time means it’s likely to be well-behaved and non-disruptive as it’ll be used to the environment.

However, depending on the type of pet, someone will need to care for it on the weekends. And the pet may require additional care, such as cleaning the critter’s habitat in the case of a guinea pig or fish.

Resources

Author

Di Doherty

Di has been a writer for more than half her life. Most of her writing so far has been fiction, and she’s gotten short stories published in online magazines Kzine and Silver Blade, as well as a flash fiction piece in the Bookends review. Di graduated from Mary Baldwin College (now University) with a degree in Psychology and Sociology.