It's long been known that owning a pet can be good for your mental and physical health, but new research indicates that it can also make your office a much happier and productive place.
That's the finding of a first-of-its kind study, which looked at the effects that man's best friend has on employees. In that research, dogs were demonstrated to have many positive benefits in the workplace, most notably that they reduce stress and make working more satisfying.
"Although preliminary, this study provides the first quantitative study of the effects of employees' pet dogs in the workplace setting on employee stress, job satisfaction, support and commitment," said principal investigator Randolph Barker, professor of management in the Virginia Commonwealth University School of Business. "Dogs in the workplace can make a positive difference. The differences in perceived stress between days the dog was present and absent were significant. The employees as a whole had higher job satisfaction than industry norms."I'm up for it, and I'm sure Skye would love to go along every day, but alas, the place I work is considered a wildlife refuge, and dogs are not permitted, even though we're all pretty sure that the occasional stray coyote wanders through. I don't see much reason for it, except that they could.
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