Pets in the Workplace: Enjoyment Up, Stress Down

Tomorrow is the 14th annual observation of Take Your Dog to Work Day. (Actually, for those of you feeling snubbed because you have an iguana or rabbit at home instead of a pooch, this entire week is apparently Take Your Pet to Work Week.)

But since it’s (temporarily) All About Cats here at Lull Central, I thought we could direct our focus to the mixed-species household, the one that embraces both cats and dogs. After the dog has been taken to work tomorrow, what is the feline thinking? What happens in the dog’s absence? Here are a few ideas from Stanley, the spokescat for the CATalyst Council:

“1. Your midday nap will not be interrupted by incessant, frenzied yapping sparked by the mail carrier’s arrival. Or a squirrel in the yard. Or the wind blowing the tree leaves. Or absolutely nothing at all.
2. No sliding in the drool puddles left behind on the tile floor.
3. You’ll finally get to eat your own food. All of it. No sharing.
4. A rare opportunity to use the dog bed as a scratching post. Or litter box—it’s your choice.
5. Being spared the humiliation of the most base of all canine greetings: the infamous and oh-so-annoying Butt Sniff. How uncivilized.”

Stanley cautions his brethren, though: “You must remember that if the dog is at work with your person, you can no longer frame the dog for any of your transgressions.”

I hope your employer is open to having pets in the workplace. For at least one day a year, management could pat itself on the back for having provided its workforce some humanity—in the form of nonhumans.

Read The Bark magazine for info on pets-in-the-workplace policies and a profile of the dogs at Jon Stewart’s The Daily Show.

[Dog art by Paul Boddum; cat quilt by Martha Tabis.]

It Takes Heart to Be a Leader

Nearly anyone can become a manager, but to be a true leader you must have compassion.

I was reminded of this last evening when I ran into a “dog acquaintance.” He immediately asked where our pooch was and we told him our tragic news.

He’s a teacher in a private elementary school and just that day his principal had commented to him, “Can you believe it? [A teacher] called in this morning to ask for the day off because her pet died.”

My friend said, Yes, he could believe it because he’d do the same. “If my dog dies, you won’t want me at work that day.”

This is the kind of scenario we brought up in the newsletters I used to oversee. We counseled readers on the soft skills of leadership—that is, the skills required to deal with and coexist with people in a workplace setting. An astonishing number of people in supervisory positions need to be reminded or taught that sensitivity is a critical element to earning trust and loyalty from employees.

The principal is a key example. Not only does he reveal his lack of compassion to another employee, he also reveals his lack of knowledge about the marketplace. Pets are a $45.5 billion industry and growing. Pets affect how people shop for cars, homes, landscaping, and jobs. A little awareness of how serious this bond is could go a long way with his staff.

The principal doesn’t even need to be an animal lover to show his compassion to the teacher. Surely he can draw on his own experience of loss to understand this employee’s emotional state. But if that’s not the case, then his responsibility as a leader is to first see the situation from the perspective of the employee before taking action. The principal had no excuse for discussing the issue with other employees, but that’s a separate matter deserving of its own post.

Bereavement policies are tricky ones to draw up. They’re a positive benefit for employers to offer, but they will no doubt fall short of many employees’ needs. These policies usually cover only immediate family members. Yet the loss of a best friend or animal companion may have a far greater impact on some employees than the loss of a sibling or parent. Without a policy to cover these circumstances, a manager’s response is not only personal but also—from the employee’s viewpoint—embodies the organization’s stand on the subject.

Funny, isn’t it? What some folks read newsletters to learn, my pooch had innately in spades.

[Art by Jim Dine.]