On the Floor

In our office, we have a colleague who frequently falls asleep on the job, steals others' lunches and randomly yells at passers-by on the street.  While this type of behaviour would typically not be tolerated in a busy workplace such as ours, these antics have come to be accepted and almost expected of this individual. The colleague of whom I am speaking is our office dog, Shogo.

Shogo is an enthusiastic, happy black lab mix who spends the majority of his days at work with his owner, Jenn. He's a very friendly animal, and aside from the occasional fit of hysterics when faced with an intruding courier, very quiet and well behaved.

I've never worked in an office where a pet was present, but I've come to really enjoy the levity Shogo brings to the mood in our workplace.  When things get to be a bit much around the office, a quick game of keep-away with long dog (Shogo's stuffed friend) always puts things in perspective, and affords everyone a good laugh.

This got me to wondering how commonplace animals in the workplace actually are.  I got used to seeing dogs in the workplace of smaller companies like ours when I was living in France.  Most every small business around us had a dog or two happily dozing away the workday.  A quick google brought back many examples of companies who are pet friendly and encourage their employees to bring to their pets to work.  Google is one of them (although they discriminate against cats).

Pets have long been known to have a positive impact health-wise on their owners, and it seems that many of the benefits also translate to the workplace.  In a recent survey conducted by the pet industry group (APPMA), 73 percent of the companies reported increased productivity thanks to their pets in the workplace.

Remarkably, a further 27 percent of the participating companies also recorded a decreased absenteeism rate. 53 million Americans believe having pets in the workplace decreases absenteeism and 46 million people who bring their pets to the workplace work longer hours.

I don't know that Shogo is making any of us work longer hours, but he makes the time we do spend at the office more pleasant.

UPDATE: We are very pleased to announce that Shogo has been promoted to management!