Employees Who Often Take Their Dog to Work Report 22% Higher Work Satisfaction

Research from the University of Lincoln has shown employees who often bring their dogs to work report 22% higher satisfaction with their working conditions.

While some employers are concerned with dogs in the office being a distraction, it was found that those who bring their dogs to work report increase absorption in their work (33.4%) and more dedication towards their work (16.5%). They also report an overall increase in work engagement by 14.4%.

Dr Daniel Mills from the School of Life Sciences said: “If you told employers there was a simple way to increase their workforce overall satisfaction with the working conditions, they’d be very keen to learn more.

“Our results show that far from being a distraction, (a fear expressed by some in our earlier work) allowing dogs in the workplace has the potential to improve employees’ focus and probably productivity too. Forward-thinking companies should consider very seriously if they can accommodate dogs in the workplace and the Purina Pets at Work programme can enable them to do this efficiently.”

The research which was sponsored by Purina was published in Frontiers in Veterinary Science. The full research paper is available at https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fvets.2019.00138/full