Would Your Boss Allow Pets in the Office?
November 2nd 2008 21:00
Photo by Lezo. Used in accordance with the terms of Wikimedia Commons’ GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover Texts.
It’s amazing how some of the most wonderful ideas are often the simplest ones. I saw a story in the careers section of last Saturday’s Sydney Morning Herald about companies who allow employees to bring pets into the office. How lucky animal lovers must feel to be able to work for such companies.
One company, the appropriately-named Mars Petcare, even alternates between cat and dog days as to avoid conflict between the two species. And like real employees, pets brought into the office by Mars Petcare employees must wear their photo ID.
The Sydney Morning Herald story also mentioned a survey by pet industry body the Pet Information and Advisory Service that showed that among the 600 people surveyed, 84 per cent of them said they would take their pet to work if they were allowed and 69 per cent believed pets should be allowed in office environments.
This reminds me of a dog fanatic colleague I once worked with. She loved tiny dogs and designer handbags. One day, she purchased a tiny black dog from the local pet shop and smuggled the dog into the office by hiding it inside a large handbag. Once inside, she let the dog out of the bag. The people in our team spent the afternoon playing fetch with it. When it was time for her to go home, she simply placed the dog back inside her huge handbag and walked out with it. No one was the wiser and just as well for her sake – the big boss was known to be against people bringing their pets into the workplace.
Apart from issues such as hygiene and occupational health and safety, I couldn’t see why having her dog there would be such a big deal. All the people who saw the dog thought it was cute. As far as I know there were no complaints.
What about you? Are you lucky enough to work for a pet-friendly employer?
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