A dog can be a man’s best friend, and businesses in North-East UK believe in this sentiment. They regularly observe the ‘Bring Your Dog To Work’ Day, and this year this day is celebrated on 24th June 2022. On this day, businesses urge employees to bring their dogs to work instead of leaving them behind with dog-sitters or at their homes.
While many businesses observe this trend on the designated day, one firm urges its employees to bring their dogs daily. The firm believes that doing so benefits both the employees and their pets.
The firm in question is the performance marketing agency N21 which offers this facility to employees as a part of their wellness benefit. The CEO of N21, Neil Robbins , said that the United Kingdom is a country of dog lovers. As such, encouraging employees to bring their dogs to work is a natural benefit for them. He stated that there are 101 employees in his office, and many have dogs. This converts to multiple dogs in the office, which benefits his employees.
Neil Robbins also pointed out the financial aspect of this practice. He said that if employees were not allowed to bring their dogs, they would have to spend money on dog sitters or dog walkers. This would mean increased expenses, which his employees don’t need.
Regarding the positive impact on dogs, Robbins added that his company also considers the well-being of the pet dogs. As they can accompany their masters, they don’t have to spend long and lonely hours at their homes. This, in his opinion, is beneficial for dogs too.
According to experts, the presence of dogs in the workplace has multiple benefits. These include increased productivity and well-being of employees. Even studies corroborate this fact. Studies state that the presence of pets helps in reducing the stress level of employees in their workplace.
Sarah-Jayne Taylorson, a PR Manager in the firm N21, has recently adopted an ex-racing greyhound. She said it was lovely that she could take her pet, Jake , to her workplace. She said that she always wanted to rescue a dog. However, since her last workplace did not have a ‘Bring Your Dog To Work’ policy, such an action would not have been feasible. She is happy now that her current workplace allows this policy.
According to the National Dog Survey , dog ownership increased considerably during the COVID-19 pandemic. 3.2 million dogs joined UK families during the lockdown, which increased the aggregate dog population to 12.5 million.