Furry friends at work - yay or nay?

Fuzzy furry friend lovers – rejoice! Friday is Bring your Dog to Work Day!??

It’s 2008 and you’re sat in your dreary office where grey desks merge into grey carpet and said desks can only be left at designated break times. Roll forward to 2022, and life is full of colour! Not only is the music pumping out from Alexa, but office bosses are realising that fun offices equal happy staff, and happy staff equal more productivity!??

Bringing your pet to work is becoming the norm for lots of businesses.? The perks of having a furry friend close by to share the love not only brings joy to the owners, but can also bond teams and bring about interactions between staff that would otherwise not occur. Not everyone is going to get along in an office, but pets can be a common ground to bond over.?

One of the biggest positives of having an office pet is that it reduces stress. Research shows that having a pet around can lower blood pressure, reduce anxiety and improve the mood. This then leads to better productivity in the office so it’s a win/win situation!??

There are already some big brands out there encouraging pets at work. Amazon have up to 7000 dogs attending their office for a day’s work and are well equipped to do so - they have a dog deck, play park and plenty of treats available at their campus, and they even have Lara Hirschfield, the “Woof Pack” Manager to oversee pup happiness.??

Attest have been voted best workplace for dogs in the UK. The consumer research company not only allows dogs in the office, but staff are also supported with up to 5 paid days off when they adopt a new pet and up to 8 weeks of extra flexible time to ensure they have adequate time with their new family member. How amazing!??

If you’re working from home the majority of the time, having a pet around is great for other reasons. More than 3.2 million pets were bought during lockdown.? Now that working from home has become the norm for lots of people, those pets are a lifeline to those who live alone.?? Not only are they there to offer comfort (a warm pillow to flop over your feet in the winter) and someone to talk to (even if they don’t always talk back), they’re also a great excuse to leave the house on a break instead of binging Netflix on your lunch break.??

At Formula we love pets – we’ve got a great selection of cats, dogs, rats and bunnies that benefit from our flexible working, and sometimes get to pop into the office with us! What pets are there to help you get through the working day? What are your thoughts on bringing them into the office???